Bhutan

**Bhutan** (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, romanized: *Druk Yul*,), officially known as the **Kingdom of Bhutan** (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་, romanized: *Druk Gyal Khap*), is a landlocked country in the Eastern Himalayas in South Asia. It is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north and India to the south. Bhutan is geopolitically in South Asia and is the region's second-least-populous nation after Maldives. Thimphu is its capital and the largest city, while Phuntsholing is its financial center.

In South Asia, Bhutan ranks first in economic freedom, ease of doing business and peace and is the least corrupt country in the region as of 2016. It continues to be a least developed country, but expects to graduate from this status by 2023. Hydroelectricity accounts for most of its exports. The government is a parliamentary democracy; the head of state is the King of Bhutan, known as the "Dragon King." Bhutan maintains diplomatic relations with 54 countries and the European Union, but does not have formal ties with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of the United Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, and the Non-Aligned Movement. The Royal Bhutan Army maintains a close relationship with the Indian Armed Forces.

Bhutan is also notable for pioneering the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). The policy has been criticized as a disguise for regressive and racist policies by some foreign critics  and this has not resulted in significant improvement in the living standards of the ordinary citizens.

The subalpine Himalayan mountains in the north rise from the country's lush subtropical plains in the south. In the Bhutanese Himalayas, there are peaks higher than 7,000 meters (23,000 ft) above sea level. Gangkhar Puensum is Bhutan's highest peak and may also be the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The wildlife of Bhutan is notable for its diversity.

Bhutan's *de facto* independence has endured for centuries, although it has historically been part of India's sphere of influence as a protected state. It has never been colonized in its history. Situated on the ancient Silk Road between Tibet, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Bhutanese state developed a distinct national identity based on Buddhism. Headed by a spiritual leader known as the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, the territory comprised many fiefdoms and was governed as a Buddhist theocracy. Following a civil war in the 19th century, the House of Wangchuck reunited the country and established relations with the British Empire. After the end of the British Raj, Bhutan fostered a strategic partnership with India during the rise of Chinese communism; it currently has a disputed border with China. In the early 1990s, the government forcefully deported (members of human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch describe it as ethnic cleansing) much of the country's Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa minority in southern Bhutan; this sparked a refugee crisis in nearby Jhapa, Nepal. In 2008, Bhutan transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and held the first election to the National Assembly of Bhutan. The National Assembly is part of the bicameral parliament of the Bhutanese democracy.

The kingdom has a history of banning religious proselytizing, which critics denounce as a violation of freedom of religion and a policy of ethnic cleansing. Starting in the 1980s, Bhutan adopted a policy of "One Nation One People" to exert cultural (in language, dress and religion) and political dominance of the majority Drukpa people. The policy manifested in banning of teaching of Nepali language in schools and denial of citizenship to those who were not able to prove officially issued land holding title prior to 1950 specifically targeting ethnic Nepali speaking minority groups ("Lhotshampa"), representing one-third of the population at the time. This resulted in widespread unrest and political demonstrations. In 1988, the Bhutanese authorities carried out a special census in southern Bhutan, region of high Lhotshampa population, resulting in mass denationalization of Lhotshampas, followed by forcible deportation of 107,000 Lhotshampas, approximately one-sixth of the total population at the time. Those who had been granted citizenship by the 1958 Nationality Law were stripped of their citizenship. Members of Bhutanese police and army were involved in burning of Lhotshampa houses, land confiscation and other widespread human rights abuses including arrest, torture and rape of Lhotshampas involved in political protests. Following forcible deportation from Bhutan, Lhotshampas spent almost two decades in refugee camps in Nepal and were resettled in various western countries such as the United States between 2007–2012.