As you have read in the earlier section where it talks about the elevation and gradient of the land in the kingdom, people have settled in the places that best suited their life style and choices of livelihood. Most of the southern belts are settled by the Nepalese origin people – to the present day we call ourselves “Lhotshampas” meaning “people in the south”. They are generally Buddhist and Hindus. Others settled in the interior parts of the kingdom are the Easterners and the Westerners. You will get the details from other sources as well – this is just to give you the outlook. Ngalops are the ones settled in the western parts of the country that includes Wangdue, Punakha, Paro, Thimphu and Haa. While the ones settled in the Eastern parts of the Kingdom are called “Sharchops” meaning the “people in the east”. However, our visionary fourth Monarch commanded to mix the settlement of people from different origins so that we fulfill the one-ness value of Tha-damtsi-lay-gyudrey (equivalent to ‘how you sow, so shall you reap’!). ONE NATION ONE PEOPLE! We have people living in the high mountains herding cattle and sheep and yak. Their lifestyle and culture is a beautiful story to explore.
To this modern day, we have a trend of rural-urban migration which was worrying. Our villages were getting empty and cultivable lands were being left fallow, yet our country’s policies have been framed in such way that pull people back to their country-side houses and accepted the value and meaning of farming. Many of our people have started modern farming and cooperative farming, which earns their livelihood as well save revenue for their personal usage.
