The Hill Region

Situated south of the Mountain Region, the Hill Region (Pahar in Nepali) is mostly between 700 and 4,000 metres (2,297 and 13,123 ft) altitude. This region begins at the Mahabharat Lekh (Lesser Himalaya) where a fault system called the Main Boundary Thrust creates an escarpment 1,000 to 1,500 metres (3,281 to 4,921 ft) high, to a crest between 1,500 and 2,700 metres (4,921 and 8,858 ft). These steep southern slopes are nearly uninhabited, thus an effective buffer between languages and culture in the Terai and Hill regions. Northern slopes are gentler and moderately well populated.
North of this range, Nepali-speaking Hindus and Newar merchants who also speak Newari densely populate valleys suited to rice cultivation as high as 2,000 metres (6,562 ft). The increasingly urbanized Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys fall within this region. Indigenous janajati ethnic groups—natively speaking highly localized Tibeto-Burman languages and dialects—populate hillsides up to about 3,000 metres (9,843 ft). This group includes Magar and Kham Magar west of Pokhara, Gurung south of the Annapurnas, Tamang around the periphery of Kathmandu Valley and Rai and Limbu further east. Beyond microclimates suited to rice cultivation and proximity to water for irrigation, these cultivate maize, millet, barley and potatoes as staple crops. Temperate and subtropical fruits are grown as cash crops. Marijuana is grown and processed into Charas (hashish), but less than was produced before international pressure persuaded the government to outlaw it in 1976. There is increasing reliance on animal husbandry with elevation, using land above 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) for summer grazing and moving herds to lower elevations in winter. Outside the rice-growing lower valleys, hill populations suffer chronic food deficits. Many menfolk find employment in the Terai, in India or overseas to earn cash for imported grain. The Hill region ends dramatically where the main Himalayan Range abruptly rises thousands of meters