Talk:Terai

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[edit] Inner/outer

There is an "outer" and "inner" terai.

"Outer terai" refers to the alluvial, generally forested and often marshy terrain that is transitional between the 1,000 meter Siwalak Range -- the first and lowest range of Himalayan foothills -- and the Gangeatic plain proper. In Nepal, it is conventionally taken to include any extent of Gangeatic Plains proper extending from this transition zone south to the Indian border.

"Inner Terai" refers to various elongated valleys lying between the Siwalak Range and the 2-3,000 meter Mahabharat Range further north. In India these valleys are also called "Duns", e.g. "Dehra Dun". In some places these two mountain ranges lie next to one another, but in other places they are separated by valleys approximately five to ten kilometers wide and tens of kilometers long.

Major examples in Nepal are Chitwan southwest of Kathmandu and the parallel Dang and Deukhuri valleys in western Nepal. Inner terai valleys were agriculturally productive, but infested with malaria. An indigenous group the Tharu had a degree of inherited resistance and populated these areas until the government began using DDT to control the mosquitos and other ethnic groups were able to live there.