Geography of Nepal : Himalayas, Hilly and Terai Region

Geography of Nepal: Himalayas, Hilly, and Terai Region

Get a post about the geography of Nepal. Nepali is divided into three division that is mountain, hills and Terai region. Get facts about the geography of Nepal. Regionalism in Nepal has been created and practiced on two bases: based on geography (natural) and based on administrative regions.

The natural regionalism has divided Nepal into three regions and the administrative regionalism into five political regions. The natural regionalism has been the result of nature itself whereas administrative regionalism was introduced for balanced development in the nation. However, the administrative regionalism has not been able to fulfill its objectives due to several reasons.

How high is Nepal?

Nepal is a small Himalayan Country in the South Asia sandwiched between two giant countries; China and India. Nepal is widely recognized for being one of the most naturally beautiful countries in the world. Moreover, it is recognized as the land of the World’s tallest mountains, Mt. Everest and land of Lord Buddha.

Nepal does have the world’s 8 tallest mountains among 10 in the world, but people always wonder how high Nepal itself is? Where is Nepal located in the world and what is its geographic position? if you are also wondering about this, then you are about to get your answer. We are here with the geographic information about Nepal including its position, length, altitude, and coordinates.

Geography of Nepal

Nepal has a total area of 147181 square kilometers and stretches over 800 kilometers from east to west and about 90-230 Kilometers from North to the south. It is landlocked on three sides (East, West, and South) of India and by China’s autonomous region (Tibet) to the north. It is located 30 ° 26 ‘north to 30 ° 26’ north latitude and 80 ° 03’ east to 88° 15’ west longitude. Talking about the elevation of Nepal, it starts at 70 m above the sea level and ends with 8848 M above the sea level, which is also the height of Mt. Everest. It has the population of 22 million people

Quick Facts about Geography of Nepal

Landform regions

Based on the geography of Nepal, it can be divided into three different regions or belts; Hill, Mountain, and Terai region. Terai region begins from the Indian border and covers all the southernmost part of the flat region. Similarly, Hilly regions (Pahad in Nepali) is mostly average altitude. This belt starts at the Mahabharat Range to a crest between 1500 to 2700 meters above the sea level. Finally, the last region is mountain region which starts after Mountain region as the altitude rises from 3000 meters.  Few kilometers extra north, the great Himalaya sharply increase along the Main Central Thrust fault zone beyond the snow line at 5,000 to about 5,500 m (16,400 to 18,000 ft). Over here, around 90 of peaks exceed 7,000 m (23,000 ft) and 8 exceed 8,000 m above the sea level (26,247 ft) including Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha)at 8,848 m (29,029 ft) and Kanchenjunga at 8,598 m above the sea level (28,209 ft).

All in all, though Nepal is a small country, it has varied geographic locations and the altitude varies from place to place. While the lowest valley is 70 m above the sea level, the highest mountain Mt. Everest makes the highest altitude of Nepal to be 8848 m above the sea level.

Geography of Nepal : The Himalayas, Hills and Terai Region

Regionalism in the division of a country into various regions on the basis of geography or population or both. The physical build of Nepal is of extreme diversity. Its surface configuration consists of mainly mountains, hills, plateaus, basins and valleys of varying altitude and magnitude. It also ought to be noted that the variation in landform along a latitudinal direction is far greater than that along longitudinal one.

That the topographic elevation increases from below 100 meters in the terai region on the south to over 8,800 meters in the Himalaya Mountain on the north proves the validity of this statement. It is estimated that about 75% of its land surface is built of varied mountains and hills including river basins and tectonic valleys entrapped in between them. Nepal has been divided into 3 regions and five administrative regions. On the basis of landforms and their elevation, the Kingdom of Nepal can be divided into three broad physiographic divisions each having three sub-units as noted below:—

1. Himalayan Region

• Great Himalayas
• Inner Himalayas
• Tibetan Marginal the Himalayas

2. Hilly Region

• Midland
• Mahabharat Leks
• Churia Hills

3. Terai Region

• Outer Terai
• Inner Terai
• Bhabar Tract

 1. The Himalayan Region

Himalayan region lies in the northern part and is least developed. This Himalayan Mountain situated on the north part of Nepal is the youngest and loftiest fold mountain of the world. Its tremendous height is supposed to be due to subsequent uplifts during later periods of Tertiary Era. This mountain zone encompasses about 25% of the total area of the country.

The height of the mountain runs from about 3,600 m. to 8,848 m. above sea level. Here, snowline occurs at the altitude of about 5,000 m. and the portions above this line are perpetually capped with snow. It is alleged that 4 peaks of over 8,100 m., 13 peaks of over 7,600 m. and 240 peaks of over 6,000 m. are confined to this mountain region. The northern part of Nepal is the Himalayan Region covering around 15% of the total land area of our country. It stretches between 3300 m up to 8848 m. consisting of rocky and snow-clad mountains.

It also possesses a   number of   gorges,   passes,   glaciers, waterfalls and fascinating peaks. Out of the highest peaks in the world, eight including Mt. Everest (world’s highest) and Mt Kanchenjunga (world’s third highest) fall in this region.

The Himalayan Mountain extends in an east-west direction for about 850 km. and commands a north-south breadth ranging from 24 Km. to 48 Km. The glaciers formed out of sliding snow have produced several U-shaped valleys and lake basins. Almost all the prominent rivers of Nepal are conceived to have originated out of the melting of glaciers. These rivers and glaciers have greatly molded the original landscape of this mountain zone.

Though stretching the entire length of north Nepal, the Himalayan Mountain is not a single continuous range; for it is carved at its various sections by various antecedent rivers like the Karnali, Gandaki, Kosi, etc. Near the river breaks on or close to the border are located various high passes such as Kodari, Rasuwa, Mustang, Namja and so on. But most of the Himalayan passes, owing to the thick deposit of snow, remain closed during winter months. Trade and communication between Nepal and Tibet are, however, conducted through those passes during other months of the year.

The climate is cold and topography is harsh. It consists of coniferous (lower part) and alpine and tundra (upper part) vegetation. Due to difficult and harsh topography, this region is less developed in terms of infrastructures. Though unsuitable for agriculture and poor in infrastructures, the region has great potential of development: tourism, animal rearing, and horticulture. It is the shelter for 6.7 % of the total population of Nepal, It is sparsely populated with the settlement of 34 people per sqr km. Though not much suitable for agriculture and infrastructural development, the Himalayan Region is suitable for tourism, animal rearing, and horticulture.

The Himalayan Mountain may also be divided into three sub-units as described below:—