ABSTRACT

Geographically speaking, Bhutan is a very small country, covering an area of approximately 18,000 sq. miles or 47,000 km2. It is relatively compact with a maximum north-south distance of 170 km and a maximum east-west distance of 300 km. The geographical location and land-locked nature of Bhutan isolates it from the rest of the world. On the north, it is bounded by Tibet, whereas on the south it is surrounded by the plains of the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, and the Golpara, Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam. Bhutan is sandwiched between the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, Sikkim and Darjeeling in the west and the Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh in India, on the east side.