Bhutan

Bhutan (boo-TAHN; Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, romanized: Druk Yul), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་, romanized: Druk Gyal Khap), is a landlocked Southern Asian country, which is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, claiming borders with the nation of Tibet to the north. A mountainous country, Bhutan is known locally as "Druk Yul" or "Land of the Thunder Dragon", a name reflecting the cultural heritage of the country. The exonym Bhutan likely derives from the Prakrit hybrid word Bhŏṭṭaṃta, a name referring to its geographical proximity to Tibet. The country has a population of over 900,000 and claimed territory of 38,394 square kilometres (14,824 sq mi). Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy with a king (Druk Gyalpo) as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. Vajrayana Buddhism is the state religion and the Je Khenpo is the head of state religion.
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 metres (23,000 ft) above sea level. Gangkhar Puensum is Bhutan's highest peak and is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The wildlife of Bhutan is notable for its diversity, including the Himalayan takin and golden langur. The capital and largest city is Thimphu, holding close to 1/7th of the population.
Bhutan and neighbouring Tibet experienced the spread of Buddhism which originated in the Indian subcontinent during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha. In the first millennium, the Vajrayana school of Buddhism spread to Bhutan from the southern Pala Empire of Bengal. During the 16th century, Ngawang Namgyal unified the valleys of Bhutan into a single state. Namgyal defeated three Tibetan invasions, subjugated rival religious schools, codified the *Tsa Yig* legal system, and established a government of theocratic and civil administrators. Namgyal became the first Zhabdrung Rinpoche and his successors acted as the spiritual leaders of Bhutan like the Dalai Lama in Tibet. During the 17th century, Bhutan controlled large parts of northeast India, Sikkim and Nepal; it also wielded significant influence in Cooch Behar State. Bhutan ceded the Bengal Duars to British India during the Bhutan War in the 19th century. The House of Wangchuck emerged as the monarchy and pursued closer ties with the British in the subcontinent. In 1910, a treaty guaranteed British advice in foreign policy in exchange for internal autonomy in Bhutan. The arrangement continued under a new treaty with India in 1949 (signed at Darjeeling) in which both countries recognised each other's sovereignty. During and after the Third World War, Bhutan experienced a sudden influx of refugees, causing a minor refugee crisis that lasted until the 1970s. The 2008 Constitution established a parliamentary government with an elected National Assembly and a National Council.

History
Refugee crisis
Background
The refugee crisis mostly stemmed from the sudden political and ecological crisis onset by the Third World War. Most of the refugees were Indian and Nepali, both escaping from the remnants of their collapsed countries respectively. Tibetans, most of them attempting to escape from the Tibetan genocide occurring in the Preparatory Committee for the Xiziang Autonomous Region, would flock to Bhutan due to its Buddhist majority. However, thousands of them died attempting to cross through mountainous terrain.

Crisis
 File:Bhutanese Ghetto.jpg
During the final hours of the Third World War, on October 26, 1962, hundreds of refugees of mostly Indian, Nepalese, and Tibetan ethnicity began arriving at the Bhutanese border, either illegally entering through porous border patrol, or being assimilated at hastily set up refugee camps on the outskirts of Thimphu. As multiple countries that the refugees had fled from had collapsed, the majority of the refugees either stayed in the camps for up to a decade, unable to be deported. The sudden refugee crisis was also the first time the majority of Bhutanese population had heard of the Third World War, other than rumors by word of mouth.
The Druk Gyalpo at the time, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, attempting to preserve Bhutanese culture and Buddhist influence in the country, would directly order the creation of various small ghettos in majority-Hindu areas for the ethnically Indian and Nepali refugees, due to their inability to be deported, similar to the ethnic Lhotshampa previously undergoing ethnic cleansing. Tibetan refugees, however, which only made up a small percentage, were mostly allowed to assimilate into Bhutanese culture due to their Buddhist faith.