Bumthang District
27°45′N 90°40′E / 27.750°N 90.667°E
Bumthang district
བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག | |
|---|---|
District | |
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 contains numerous temples and Buddhist sacred sites. The district is divided into four gewogs (village blocks), each corresponding to a major glacial valley: Choekor, Tang, Ura, and Chhume. The latter valley is also called Bumthang, lending its name to the whole district.
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.