Bhutan occupies 38,394 square kilometers in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and India to the south, east, and west. The country stretches approximately 300 kilometers east to west and 170 kilometers north to south. Elevations rise from 100 meters in the southern foothills to Gangkhar Puensum at 7,570 meters, which remains the world's highest unclimbed mountain due to a government prohibition on mountaineering above 6,000 meters enacted in 2003. The Black Mountains divide the country longitudinally into distinct western and eastern zones. The northern border with Tibet follows high Himalayan ridges including Jomolhari at 7,326 meters, considered sacred in Bhutanese Buddhism and closed to summiting. Rivers flow south from these ranges through deep valleys that historically isolated communities and preserved separate dialects.
Thimphu sits at 2,320 meters in a valley of the western zone. Paro Valley to the west at approximately 2,250 meters contains the country's only international airport. Punakha Valley lies lower at 1,200 meters where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers meet, producing warmer temperatures and earlier rice harvests. Phobjikha Valley in central Bhutan is a glacial valley at 3,000 meters that serves as winter habitat for black-necked cranes migrating from Tibet each October. Bumthang Valley in central Bhutan comprises four smaller valleys between 2,600 and 4,000 meters and forms the spiritual heartland with the highest concentration of ancient temples. Eastern valleys including those around Trashigang and Mongar receive less tourist traffic due to distance from the western entry point at Paro.
Bhutan's 2023 population estimate stands at approximately 770,000, making it one of the least populous countries in Asia. Population density averages 20 people per square kilometer, though most settlement concentrates in valleys. Thimphu holds roughly 115,000 residents. The Ngalop ethnic group dominates western and central regions, speaking Dzongkha and practicing Drukpa Kagyu Buddhism. The Sharchop people inhabit eastern valleys, speaking Tshangla and related languages while also practicing Buddhism. Lhotshampa communities in the south descend from Nepali migrants who arrived primarily between 1890 and 1930 during British colonial rule of India, speak Nepali, and practice Hinduism. Between 1988 and 1993, the government conducted a census asserting that many Lhotshampa had immigrated illegally and revoked citizenship from tens of thousands. An estimated 100,000 people left or were expelled to refugee camps in Nepal, with most eventually resettled in third countries including the United States between 2007 and 2016.
Dzongkha is the national language, declared officially in 1961. English serves as the language of instruction in schools from grade four onward, a policy established in the 1960s. Bhutanese students study Dzongkha as a subject throughout schooling. Tshangla speakers outnumber Dzongkha speakers, but Dzongkha holds administrative primacy. Other languages include Kheng, Bumthang, Kurtöp, Dzala, Chöke (classical Tibetan), Nepali, and several smaller tongues. The 2017 census recorded literacy at 71 percent for adults over 15, up from 59 percent in 2005.
Tibetan chronicles record that in 746, Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) flew to Bhutan on a tigress's back and meditated in a cave on a cliff face in Paro Valley. The site became Taktsang monastery, Bhutan's most sacred Buddhist location. Archaeological evidence of habitation dates earlier, but recorded history begins with Guru Rinpoche's introduction of Vajrayana Buddhism. Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo constructed Kyichu Lhakhang and Jambay Lhakhang in the 7th century as part of his project to build 108 temples across the Himalayan region to pin down a Tibetan demoness.