Bumthang District
Bumthang district
བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག | |
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District | |
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Map of Bumthang District in Bhutan | |
| Country | Bhutan |
| Headquarters | Jakar |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2,717 km2 (1,049 sq mi) |
| Population (2017) | |
| • Total | 17,820 |
| • Density | 6.6/km2 (17/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+6 (BTT) |
| HDI (2019) | 0.661 medium · 6th |
| Website | www |
Bumthang District (Dzongkha: བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: Bum-thang rzong-khag) is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is the most historic dzongkhag if the number of ancient temples and sacred sites is counted. Bumthang consists of the four mountain valleys of Ura, Chumey, Tang and Choekhor ("Bumthang"), although occasionally the entire district is referred to as Bumthang Valley.
Bumthang directly translates as "beautiful field" – thang means field or flat place, and bum is said be an abbreviation of either bumpa (a vessel for holy water, thus describing the shape and nature of the valley), or simply bum ("girl", indicating this is the valley of beautiful girls). The name is said to have arisen after the construction of Jambay Lhakhang.