Trongsa District

Coordinates: 27°20′N 90°25′E / 27.333°N 90.417°E / 27.333; 90.417

Trongsa District (Dzongkha: ཀྲོང་གསར་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie transliteration: Krong-gsar rdzong-khag) is one of the districts of Bhutan. It is the most central district of Bhutan and the geographic centre of Bhutan is located within it at Trongsa Dzong.

Languages

Trongsa is a linguistically diverse district. In the north and east inhabitants speak Bumthangkha, and in the extreme southeast Khengkha is spoken. Nyenkha is spoken in the western half of the district, straddling the border with Wangdue Phodrang District. To the north, along and across the same border, live speakers of Lakha. In the extreme south, the national language Dzongkha is spoken. Across the mid-south, tiny communities of autochthonous 'Olekha (Black Mountain Monpa) speakers have all but disappeared.

Historically, Bumthangkha and its speakers have had close contact with speakers of Kurtöpkha, Mangduepikha and Khengkha, nearby languages of central and eastern Bhutan, to the extent that they may be considered part of a wider collection of "Bumthang languages." Nyenkha, also related to the Bumthang languages, is more divergent while 'Olekha is only distantly related.

Trongsa

Trongsa, previously Tongsa (Dzongkha: ཀྲོང་གསར་, Wylie: krong gsar ), is a town and capital of Trongsa District in central Bhutan. The name means "new village" in Dzongkha. The first temple was built in 1543 by the Drukpa lama Ngagi Wangchuk, who was the great-grandfather of Ngawang Namgyal, Zhabdrung Rinpoche, the unifier of Bhutan.

Trongsa Dzong

Chökhor Raptse Dzong at Trongsa which was built in 1644, used to be the seat of power of the Wangchuck dynasty before it became rulers of Bhutan in 1907. Traditionally the King of Bhutan first becomes the Trongsa Penlop (governor) before being named Crown Prince and eventually King. Built on a mountain spur high above the gorges of the Mangde Chhu, the dzong controlled east-west trade for centuries. The only road connecting eastern and western Bhutan (the precursor to the modern Lateral Road), passed through the courtyard of the dzong. At the command of the penlop the massive doors could be shut, dividing the country in two.

Higher yet on the mountainside is a watchtower, called "Ta Dzong"(watch tower), to guard the dzong from enemies.