| The Kingdom of Bhutan
is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the
Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic
of India and to the north by People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated
from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of
Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by West Bengal. The Bhutanese
call their country Druk Yul which means "Land of the Thunder Dragon".
Bhutan used to be one of the most isolated nations in the world, but developments
including direct international flights, the Internet, mobile phone networks,
and cable television have increasingly modernized the urban areas of the
country. Bhutan has balanced modernization with its ancient culture and
traditions under the guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Rampant destruction of the environment has been avoided. In 2006,
Business Week magazine rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the
eighth-happiest in the world, citing a global survey conducted by the University
of Leicester in 2006 called the "World Map of Happiness". |
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