Wangdue Phodrang

District

Wangdue Phodrang ( Dzongkha: དབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང་རྫོང་ཁག་ ) is the main town of the same name Dzongkhag in western Bhutan.

Location and meaning

The old town and the Dzong lie on a narrow mountain ridge above the Puna Tsang Chhu at an altitude of around 1,250 m. This tributary of the Brahmaputra is crossed below the old town by the road from Thimphu, here is located at the junction of the road to Sarpang a control body.

With its determined after a 2005 census figure of 6,714 residents, the town is an important center of this part of the country is, of economic importance is in addition to agriculture in particular the trade, which by the role as a major transport hub on the Paro - Samdrupjongkhar - street, from is here or in the area leave the Wangdue - Tsirang - road as well as the route to Khuruthang, Punakha and Gasa, promoted. In recent years, the tourism infrastructure was expanded, as in Wangdue Phodrang and in its immediate vicinity numerous attractions.

History

Legend has it that the Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel in search of a site for construction of a Dzong to protect against encroaching from the south invaders on the shores of widening here Punak Dzang Chhu a playing boy named Wangdi found and in 1638 built on the mountain spur Dzong Palace named after this Wangdis.

Early on, the favorable climate town became a trading center at the foot of the way to central Bhutan over the Pele La and the Lawa La, at the same time offered the valley of Punak Dzang easy access to Assam.

Increased traffic forced at the beginning of the 21st century, a partial shift of the place on a plain east of the river about four miles north of the Dzong. After Prophecies for 2006 and 2007 predicted such a shift to be unfavorable, the relocation of the residential district, meanwhile, has begun large parts of the infrastructure are, however, still in the old town.