1.
Nepal
–
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Canyon
–
A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains, the Alps. Usually a river or stream and erosion carve out such splits between mountains, examples of mountain-type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite National Park in Californias Sierra Nevada. Canyons within mountains, or gorges that have an opening on one side are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons, often with smooth walls, steep-sided valleys in the seabed of the continental slope underwater are referred to as submarine canyons. Unlike canyons on land, submarine canyons are thought to be formed by turbidity currents, the word canyon is Spanish in origin, with the same meaning. The word canyon is used in North America while the words gorge and ravine are used in Europe and Oceania, though gorge. In the United States, place names generally use canyon in the southwest and gorge in the northeast, in Canada, a gorge is usually narrow while a ravine is more open and often wooded. The military-derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom, most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau or table-land level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion, Canyons are much more common in arid than in wet areas because physical weathering has a more localized effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons, water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Sometimes large rivers run through canyons as the result of geological uplift. These are called entrenched rivers, because they are unable to alter their course. In the United States, the Colorado River in the Southwest, Canyons often form in areas of limestone rock. As limestone is soluble to an extent, cave systems form in the rock. When these collapse, a canyon is left, as in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire, England
4.
Gandaki River
–
The Gandaki River is one of the major rivers of Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. In Nepal the river is notable for its gorge through the Himalayas. It has a catchment area of 46,300 square kilometers. The basin also contains three of the worlds 14 mountains over 8,000 metres, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri is the highest point of the Gandaki basin. It lies between the similar Kosi system to the east and the Karnali system to the west, the Kali Gandaki river source is at the border with Tibet at an elevation of 6,268 metres at the Nhubine Himal Glacier in the Mustang region of Nepal. The headwaters stream on some maps is named the Chhuama Khola and then, nearing Lo Manthang, in Kagbeni a major tributary named Johng Khola, Kak Khola or Krishnaa descends from Muktinath. If one measures the depth of a canyon by the difference between the height and the heights of the highest peaks on either side, this gorge is the worlds deepest. The portion of the river directly between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I,7 kilometres downstream from Tukuche), is at an elevation of 2,520 metres, the river is older than the Himalayas. As tectonic activity forces the mountains higher, the river has cut through the uplift, south of the gorge, the river is joined by Rahughat Khola at Galeshwor, Myagdi Khola at Beni, Modi Khola near Kushma and Badigaad at Rudrabeni above Ridi Bazaar. The river then turns east to run along the edge of the Mahabharat Range. The largest hydroelectricity project in Nepal is located along this stretch of the river, the Gandaki then crosses the outermost foothills of the Himalayas—Sivalik Hills—into the Terai plains of Nepal. From Devighat, the river flows southwest of Gaindakot town, the river later curves back towards the southeast as it enters India where it is called the Gandak. Below Gaindakot the river is known as the Narayani or Sapt Gandaki and these are the Kali Gandaki, the Trishuli River, and the five main tributaries of the Trishuli known as the Daraudi, Seti, Madi, Marsyandi and Budhi. The entry point of the river at the Indo–Nepal border is also the confluence called Triveni with rivers Pachnad, pandai river flows into Bihar from Nepal in the eastern end of the Valmiki Sanctuary and meets Masan. The Gandak flows southeast 300 kilometres across the Gangetic plain of Bihar state through West Champaran, Gopalganj, Saran and it joins the Ganges near Patna just downstream of Hajipur at Sonepur. Its drainage area in India is 7,620 square kilometres, from its exit from the outermost Siwaliks foothills to the Ganges, the Gandak has built an immense megafan comprising Eastern Uttar Pradesh and North Western Bihar in the Middle Gangetic Plains. The megafan consists of sediments eroded from the rapidly uplifting Himalaya, the rivers course over this structure is constantly shifting. It is said that the river has shifted 80 kilometres to the east due to tectonic tilting in the last 5,000 years, the Gandaki river basin is reported to contain 1025 glaciers and 338 lakes
5.
Himalayas
–
The Himalayas, or Himalaya, form a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayan range has the Earths highest peaks, including the highest, the Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall. The Himalayas are spread across five countries, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, the Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia, many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate and its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, is just west of the bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east, the name of the range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya, from himá and ā-laya. They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas, formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinsons poetry and Henry David Thoreaus essays. The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi, the Himalaya or The Land of Snow in Tibetan, the Hamaleh Mountain Range in Urdu, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice, the amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant. The extremes of high altitude combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms, the unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations, the oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some species, especially rhododendron, apple. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres in Southeastern Tibet, the Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock
6.
Annapurna Massif
–
Annapurna is a massif in the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes one peak over 8,000 metres, thirteen peaks over 7,000 metres, and sixteen more over 6,000 metres. The massif is 55 kilometres long, and is bounded by the Kali Gandaki Gorge on the west, the Marshyangdi River on the north and east, at the western end the massif encloses a high basin called the Annapurna Sanctuary. Annapurna I Main is the tenth highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres above sea level, the entire massif and surrounding area are protected within the 7,629 square kilometres Annapurna Conservation Area, the first and largest conservation area in Nepal. The Annapurna Conservation Area is home to several world-class treks, including the Annapurna Circuit, by March 2012, there had been 191 summit ascents of Annapurna I Main, and 61 climbing fatalities on the mountain. This fatality-to-summit ratio is the highest of any of the eight-thousanders, in particular, the ascent via the south face is considered, by some, the most difficult of all climbs. In October 2014, at least 39 people were killed as a result of snowstorms and avalanches on and around Annapurna, Annapurna is a Sanskrit name that literally means full of food, but is normally translated as Goddess of the Harvests. According to Devdutt Pattanaik, Annapoorna devi is, without her there is starvation, a universal fear, This makes Annapurna a universal goddess. Her most popular shrine is located in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River and her association with the giving of food led her in time to be transformed into Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition led by Herzog, ichac made a documentary of the expedition, called Victoire sur lAnnapurna. Its summit was the highest summit attained for three years, until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest and they were, however, beaten to the second ascent of Annapurna by a matter of days by a British Army expedition led by Colonel Henry Day. In 1978, the American Womens Himalayan Expedition, a team led by Arlene Blum, the first summit team, composed of Vera Komarkova and Irene Miller, and Sherpas Mingma Tsering and Chewang Ringjing, reached the top at 3,30 pm on October 15,1978. The second summit team, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz and Vera Watson, died during this climb, in 1981 Polish expedition Zakopane Alpine Club set a new route on Annapurna I Central. Maciej Berbeka and Bogusław Probulski reached the summit on May 23,1981, the road called Zakopiańczyków Way was recognized as the best achievement of the Himalayan season in 1981. On 3 February 1987, Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer made the first winter ascent of Annapurna I, the first solo ascent of the south face was made in October 2007 by Slovenian climber Tomaž Humar, he climbed to the Roc Noir and then to Annapurna East. The ratio of 34 deaths per 100 safe returns on Annapurna I is followed by 29 for K2 and 21 for Nanga Parbat, gangapurna was first climbed in 1965 by a German expedition led by Günther Hauser, via the East Ridge. The summit party comprised 11 members of the expedition, Annapurna South was first climbed in 1964 by a Japanese expedition, via the North Ridge. The summit party comprised S. Uyeo and Mingma Tsering, Hiunchuli is a satellite peak extending east from Annapurna South, Hiunchuli was first climbed in 1971 by an expedition led by U. S. Mount Machhapuchchhre, named after its resemblance to a fish-tail, is another important peak, Mount Machhapuchchhre and Hiunchuli are prominently visible from the valley of Pokhara
7.
Thakali people
–
The Thakali are an ethnolinguistic group originated from the Thak Khola region of the Mustang District in the Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thak-sat-se is the area of the Thakali community, which lies in the salt trading zone on the south of Tukuche mountain. According to 2001 census, Thakalis population of around 13,000 constitute only 0. 06% of Nepals population, there are around 30,000 Thakali in Nepal, of which are Buddhist, Hindus and some both. The Thakalis are some of Nepals most successful businessmen and they trade in places like Tukuche and Thaksatse. Furthermore, many are owners of Nepals hotels and motels, however, due to extensive trade all over Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet, many Thakalis have resettled in Pokhara, Kathmandu and in southern Nepal. You will also see good number of them in Japan and in England these days, due to this, the Thakalis outside their homeland follow a form of Tibetan Buddhism, Thakalis in southern Nepal practice Buddhism with bit Hindu flavor. Those in Mustang remain much more traditionally Buddhist, the Thakalis are a strictly endogamous group, distinctly divided into four exogamous clans. Thus, a member of the Thakal community is expected to marry another Thakali, the four clans are equal in status socially and ritually. However, on the basis of precedence in worship, the Sherchan/Serchan usually comes first, followed by Gauchan, Bhattachan and Tulachan. Each clan group has a distinct clan god represented by a totem, such as dragon, elephant, snow leopard, and yak for Gauchan, Tulachan, Sherchan/Serchan. The Thakalis are very organized people and they have neat kitchens and keep tidy houses. Lhafewa, Tornala and Falo are the festivals of the Thakali. Dhnom is the title of the Thakali priest who works as the local shaman, madaal, Khaprang, and Thamken are their main musical instruments. Three types or varieties of Thakali exist in the Thakkhola valley, Three village Thakali called as Tin Gaule Thakali, Marphali Thakali also known as PUNEL, among the Yhulkosompaimhi they are also divided into subgroup. The Thakali have their own Thakali language and their own culture regarding birth, marriage and they have their own festivals like Tungla and Fala. Untersuchungen zur Sprache des Dorfes Marpha im Oberen Kali-Gandaki-Tal/Nepal, Nepal Mustang District Dhaulagiri The Thak Archive
8.
Graben
–
In geology, a graben is a depressed block of the Earths crust bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch or trench, the plural form is either graben or grabens. A graben is a valley with an escarpment on each side caused by the displacement of a block of land downward. Graben often occur side-by-side with horsts, horst and graben structures indicate tensional forces and crustal stretching. Graben are produced from parallel normal faults, where the displacement of the wall is downward. The faults typically dip toward the center of the graben from both sides, horsts are parallel blocks that remain between graben, the bounding faults of a horst typically dip away from the center line of the horst. Single or multiple graben can produce a rift valley, in many rifts, the graben are asymmetric, with a major fault along only one of the boundaries, and these are known as half-graben. The polarity of the bounding faults typically alternates along the length of the rift. The asymmetry of a half-graben strongly affects syntectonic deposition, comparatively little sediment enters the half-graben across the main bounding fault because of footwall uplift on the drainage systems. The exception is at any offset in the bounding fault. Most of the sediment will enter the half-graben down the hanging wall side. S. Central Graben, North Sea Viking Graben, North Sea Fossa
9.
Dhaulagiri
–
The Dhaulagiri massif in Nepal extends 120 km from the Kaligandaki River west to the Bheri. This massif is bounded on the north and southwest by tributaries of the Bheri River, Dhaulagiri I is the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres above sea level. It was first climbed on May 13,1960 by a Swiss/Austrian/Nepali expedition, the mountains name is धौलागिरी in Nepali. This comes from Sanskrit where धवल means dazzling, white, beautiful, Dhaulagiri I is also the highest point of the Gandaki river basin. Annapurna I is 34 km. east of Dhaulagiri I, the Kali Gandaki River flows between the two in the Kaligandaki Gorge, said to be the worlds deepest. The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center, in 1808 A. D. survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed. This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga took its place, followed by Mount Everest in 1858, Dhaulagiri Is sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled. It rises 7,000 m from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast, the south and west faces rise precipitously over 4,000 m. The south face of Gurja Himal in the massif is also notably immense. Most ascents have followed the northeast ridge route of the first ascent, as of 2007 there had been 358 successful ascents and 58 fatalities. Between 1950 and 2006,2. 88% of 2,016 expedition members and staff going above base camp on Dhaulagiri I died. On all 8,000 metre peaks in Nepal the death rate was 1. 63%,1950 – Dhaulagiri I reconnoitered by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. They do not see a feasible route and switch to Annapurna, 1953–1958 – Five expeditions attempt the north face, or Pear Buttress, route. 1959 – Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec makes the first attempt on the northeast ridge. 1960 – Swiss-Austrian expedition led by Max Eiselin, successful ascent by Kurt Diemberger, P. Diener, E. Forrer, A. Schelbert, Nyima Dorje Sherpa, Nawang Dorje Sherpa on May 13. First Himalayan climb supported by an aircraft, which eventually crashed in Hidden Valley north of the mountain during takeoff and was abandoned. 1969 – American team led by Boyd Everett attempt southeast ridge, seven team members,1970 – second ascent, via the northeast ridge by a Japanese expedition led by Tokufu Ohta and Shoji Imanari. Tetsuji Kawada and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa reach the summit,1973 – American team led by James Morrissey makes third ascent via the northeast ridge
10.
Shaligram
–
Shila, or Shaligram refers to a fossilized shell used in South Asia as an iconic symbol and reminder of the God Vishnu as the Universal Principle by some Hindus. Shaligrams are usually collected from river-beds or banks such as the Gandaki river in Nepal and they are considered easy to carry and popular in certain traditions of Vaishnavism, as an aniconic representation of the divine. They are typically in the form of spherical, black-coloured Ammonoid fossils, although Hinduism has many anthropomorphic murtis of gods, aniconism is equally represented with such abstract symbols of God such as the Saligrama and Shiva lingam. Historically, the use of Shaligrama Shilas in worship can be traced to the time of Adi Shankara through the latters works, the largest and heaviest Shaligrama can be seen at the Jagannath Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, at Puri in Orissa. The main ISKCON temple in Scotland, called Karuna Bhavan is famous for housing the largest number of Shaligram Shilas outside of India, a Shaligrama – which has the marks of a shankha, Chakra, gada and padma arranged in a particular order – is worshiped as Keshava. With the change in the order of the four symbols, the name of the Shaligrama stone is also different, the various orders and names are given for the twenty four permutations. These are well known names, which are the different names by which Lord Vishnu is known in the Hindu pantheon, the various versions of the Saligrama Shilas or stones vis-a-vis the order of the four symbols are, Shiva linga Dzi bead Ammonite fossils www. shalagram
