Monpa people

The Monpa or Mönpa are a major people of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India.

Currently they are also one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China.

The origin of monpa people is not clearly defined.

As other tribes of North East India, Monpa people are believed to have migrated to Tawang.

Monpa people are believed to be the only nomadic tribe in Northeast India, viz., they were totally depended on animals like sheep, cow, yak, goats and horses and had no permanent settlement or attachment to a particular place.

This is the theory that claims Monpa people might have migrated through the Western Himalaya, traveling via the Sikkim route, and might have settled in the Tawang area.

This theory also claims that Monpa people have connections to the Bhutias of the State of Sikkim.

Most Monpas live in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 50,000, centered in Tawang and West Kameng districts.

Around twenty-five thousand Monpas can be found in Cona County in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

They can also be found in Pelung Township in Nyingchi County, and Medog County.

These places have a low altitude, especially Medog County, which has rare tropical scenery in contrast to the landscape elsewhere in Tibet.

Of the forty-five thousand Monpas who live in Arunachal Pradesh, about twenty thousand of them live in Tawang district, where they constitute about ninety-seven percent of the district's population, and almost all of the remainder can be found in West Kameng district, where they form about seventy-seven percent of the district's population.

A small number of them may be found in bordering areas of East Kameng district and Bhutan (twenty-five hundred).

The Monpa share very close affinity with the Sharchops of Bhutan.

Their languages have usually been assumed to be a part of the Tibeto-Burman languages separate from the Tibetic cluster.

They are written with the Tibetan alphabet.

The Monpa are sub-divided into six sub-groups because of their variations in their language.

They are namely:
    Tawang Monpa
    Dirang Monpa
    Lish Monpa
    Bhut Monpa
    Kalaktang Monpa
    Panchen Monpa