| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 212,500[citation needed] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| EasternBhutan (Lhuntse,Trashiyangtse,Mongar,Pemagatshel,Trashigang,Samdrup Jongkhar) Southwest China (Tibet Autonomous Region) Northeast India (Assam andArunachal Pradesh (Monpa tribes: Khalaktang, Dirang; Memba tribe: Tuting)) | |
| Languages | |
| Tshangla · Monpa languages · Dzongkha · Tibetan Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Tibetan Buddhism · Bon | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Monpa · Ngalop · Tibetan people |
TheSharchops (Dzongkha:ཤར་ཕྱོགས་པ,Wylie:shar phyogs pa; "Easterner") are the populations of mixedTibetan,Southeast Asian andSouth Asian descent that mostly live in the eastern districts ofBhutan.[1]
The Sharchops are an Indo-Mongoloid[dubious –discuss] people who migrated fromAssam,Arunachal Pradesh, or possiblyBurma,[2] c. 1200 – c. 800 BC.[3]Van Driem (1993) indicates that Sharchops are closely related to theMönpa and that both are descendants of the indigenous Tibetic peoples (pre-Ngalop) of Bhutan. Due to the societal prominence and political power of Dzongkha-speaking Bhutanese, however, Sharchops are marginalized in Bhutan.[4] The Sharchops are the largest ethnic group in Bhutan.[5][6]
The Sharchops comprise most of the population of eastern Bhutan, a country whose total population in 2010 was approximately 708,500.[7] Although they have long been the largest single ethnic group in Bhutan, the Sharchop have been largely assimilated into the culturally and politically dominant Tibetic Ngalop culture.[8] Together, the Ngalop, Sharchop, and tribal groups constituted up to 72 percent of the population in the late 1980s, according to official Bhutanese statistics.[8][9] The 1981 census claimed that Sharchops represented 30% of the population, and Ngalops approximately 17%.[10]The World Factbook, however, estimates that the "Bhote" Ngalop and Sharchop ethnic groups together comprise approximately 50% of Bhutan's population, at 354,200 people.[7] Assuming Sharchops still outnumber Ngalops at a 3:2 ratio, the total population of Sharchops in Bhutan is approximately 212,500.
Most Sharchops speakTshangla, aTibeto-Burman language; fewer speak theOlekha language.[11] They also learn the national language,Dzongkha. Because of their proximity to Northeastern India, some speakAssamese.Bodo is also known to many of them because of socio cultural and trade relations.
Tshangla is also spoken by theMonpa (Menba) national minority across the border inChina, distributed inMêdog,Nyingchi andDirang. Tshangla is similar to the Kalaktang and Dirang languages spoken by the Monpa ofArunachal Pradesh, India.[12]
Sharchop peoples practiceslash-and-burn andtsheri agriculture, planting dry rice crops for three or four years until the soil is exhausted and then moving on,[8] however the practice has been officially banned in Bhutan since 1969.[13][14]
Most of the Sharchops followmatrilineal lines in the inheritance of land and livestock.[15]
Most Sharchops followTibetan Buddhism with some elements ofBön, although those who live in theDuars followAnimism.[8]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Robert L. Worden (September 1991). Andrea Matles Savada (ed.).Bhutan: A Country Study.Federal Research Division. Ethnic Groups. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Robert L. Worden (September 1991). Andrea Matles Savada (ed.).Bhutan: A Country Study.Federal Research Division. Society. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Robert L. Worden (September 1991). Andrea Matles Savada (ed.).Bhutan: A Country Study.Federal Research Division. Farming.