A report on Uttarakhand and Terai

Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.

In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India.

It is colloquially called Terai in the Ganges Basin east to Nepal, then Dooars in West Bengal, Bhutan and Assam east to the Brahmaputra River.

Each end crosses the border into India's states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In Uttarakhand, the Himalayas rise again as the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas with the high peaks of Nanda Devi and Kamet.

It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region.

On 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand), was created from Uttar Pradesh's western Himalayan hill region.

The larger Gangetic Plain region is in the north; it includes the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, the Ghaghra plains, the Ganges plains and the Terai.

The Tharu people are an ethnic group indigenous to the Terai in southern Nepal and northern India.

In the Indian Terai, they live foremost in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Kumaon (Kumaoni: Kumāū; ; historically romanized as Kemāon ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand.

However, all the major cities of the region like Haldwani, Rudrapur and Kashipur are concentrated in the southern plain areas of Bhabar and Terai.