Mustang District

Mustang district, a part of Dhawalagiri zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Jomsom as its headquarters, covers an area of 3,573 km and has a population (2001) of 14,981.Mustang was once an independent kingdom, although closely tied by language and culture to Tibet. From the 15th century to the 17th century, its strategic location granted Mustang control over the trade between the Himalayas and India. By the end of the 18th century, the kingdom was annexed by Nepal.The main feature of Mustang is the Gandaki river, its valley and tributaries. The river runs north-east to south-west towards Nepal Terai, bisecting the territory. It once served as the major trade route between Tibet and India, especially for salt. Part of the river valley, the Thak Khola, forms the deepest gorge in the world.The population is around 9,000, spread between three towns and approximately thirty smaller settlements; the people are either Thakalis or Tibetan.The district lies across the Himalayas in the Tibetan plateau and encloses the Lho Mang Thang, a small kingdom under one of the few Nepalese principality titular kings, King Jigme Palwar Bista. The district is famous for Muktinath (a popular Hindu pilgrimage site), its apples and distilled product Marpha brandy.