12 Facts About Terai

Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

The Terai is part of the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.

Terai is crossed by the large perennial Himalayan rivers Yamuna, Ganges, Sarda, Karnali, Narayani and Kosi that have each built alluvial fans covering thousands of square kilometres below their exits from the hills.

In India, the Terai extends over the states of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Until the mid 18th century, the Nepal Terai was divided into several smaller kingdoms, and the forests were little disturbed.

Related searches

The Tulsipur State in the Dang Valley of Nepal's western Terai was an independent kingdom, until it was conquered in 1785 by Bahadur Shah of Nepal during the unification of Nepal.

Since the late 18th century, the Shah rulers encouraged Indian people to settle in the Terai and supported famine-stricken Bihari farmers to convert and cultivate land in the eastern Nepal Terai.

Far-western and mid-western regions of the Nepal Terai called 'Naya Muluk' lay on the northern periphery of the Awadh dynasty.

Indian Terai remained largely uninhabited until the end of the 19th century, as it was arduous and dangerous to penetrate the dense and marshy malarial jungle.

Between 1961 and 1991, the annual population growth in the Terai was higher than the national average, which indicates that migration from abroad occurred at a large scale.

Terai is the most productive region in Nepal with the majority of the country's industries.

The Terai is known for beekeeping and honey production, with about 120,000 colonies of Apis cerana.