3
1.1 Nepal
The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
1
is a country in South Asia which shares a
border to the north with Tibet in the People‘s Republic of China, and to the east, west, and south, with the Republic of India. Nepal with its capital, Kathmandu, is a
mountainous country with an area of 147,181 square kilometers, a population of 29,391,883 July 2011 estimate
2
of which ninety percent live in rural areas, and a per capita gross domestic product of 427 2009 estimate.
3
Figure 1: Map of Nepal
4
Nepal is divided into fourteen zones and seventy-five districts that are grouped
into five development regions. In this landlocked country, there are three distinct ecological regions extending the length of the country in an east-west direction: the
1
The official name of Nepal has been changed since May 28, 2009. It was previously the Kingdom of Nepal.
2
This information comes from the web site of the World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency, https:www.cia.govlibrarypublicationsthe-world-factbookgeosnp.html Retrieved on April 21, 2011.
3
This information comes from the website of GDP per capita of the World Bank, http:data.worldbank.orgindicatorNY.GDP.PCAP.CDcountries Retrieved on April 21, 2011.
4
This map is retrieved [April 27, 2011] from the web site of the United Nations Cartographic Section, www.un.orgDeptsCartographicmapprofilenepal.pdf.
4 Himalayan mountain ranges and high plateau, the Hill region with its fertile valleys, and
the Terai region. Most of the inhabitants in the highest mountain zone in the north are Tibeto-Burman speakers. The numerous high hills and fertile valleys lie south of the high
Himalayas and make up the central region of Nepal. The lowland plain region, the Terai, extends from the Indian border to the bottom of the foothills. Because of its topography,
adequate water supply, the relative ease of transportation, and warmer weather, the Terai has become a popular area for extensive agricultural andor industrial development, and
subsequent migration Eagle, 2000:5. Nepal is a multilingual and multicultural country. There are 332 ethnic groups
5
speaking 124 different languages
6
in Nepal. These languages can be classified into four different language families: Austroasiatic, Dravidian, Indo-European Indo-Aryan, and
Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman branch. The first two language groups have relatively small numbers of speakers. The Indo-Aryan group has the largest number of speakers in
Nepal, followed by the Tibeto-Burman group which has a larger number 36 of the major languages in Nepal than Indo-Aryan 14 Eagle, 2000:8. The national language of
Nepal is Nepali which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language group and is spoken by 48.6 of the population. The other major languages which are spoken as mother tongues in
Nepal are as follows: Maithili 12.30, Bhojpuri 7.53, Tharu 5.86, Tamang 5.19, NewariNepal Bhasa 3.63, Magar 3.39, Awadhi 2.47, Rai 2.79,
Limbu 1.47, and Bajjika 1.05. The national literacy rate is 59.5: 72 for males
5
The information is based on the data of Joshua Project-Unreached Peoples of the World: Nepal-People group. http:www.joshuaproject.netcountries.php?rog3=NP. Retrieved on Sept. 4, 2010.
6
Referring to the Ethnologue, 2009, there are two other Nepali languages, but there are no known speakers in Nepal.
5 and 46.9 for females UNESCO-UIS, 2010.
1.2 Tamang
Kategori