Sagarmatha Zone

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Sagarmāthā Zone (Template:Langx, Template:IPA "Sagarmāthā Anchal") was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones into provinces. The headquarters of Sagarmatha is Rajbiraj. Sagarmāthā is a Nepali word which as per some sources, is derived from सगर ("sagar", sky) and माथा ("māthā", head).

It includes mountain districts of the Himalayas (including the world's highest peak Mount Everest)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in the north, hill districts in the center, and valley districts of the Terai in the south. It is bordered by China to the north, India to the south,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Kosi Zone to the east and the Janakpur Zone to the west.

Administrative subdivisions

Sagarmāthā was divided into six districts; since 2015 the four northern districts have been redesignated as part of Province No. 1, while the two southernmost districts have been resigned as part of Province No. 2.

District	Type	Headquarters	Since 2015 part of Province
Khotang	Hill	Diktel	Province No. 1
Okhaldhunga	Hill	Okhaldhunga
Solukhumbu	Mountain	Salleri
Udayapur	Inner Terai	Triyuga
Saptari	Outer Terai	Rajbiraj	Province No. 2
Siraha	Outer Terai	Siraha	Province No. 2

The main city of the Sagarmāthā Zone was Rajbiraj which was also the headquarters. Other towns of the Sagarmāthā hill area were Katari, Okhaldhunga, Diktel, Salleri and Namche Bazaar; while Kathauna, Lahan, Fatepur, Rajbiraj and Siraha are in the outer Terai. Triyuga is an emerging city in the zone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Name origin

Sagarmāthā Zone took its name from "Sagarmāthā" which is the Nepalese name for Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā), which is located in the very north of the zone within the Sagarmatha National Park (1,148 km²) in the Solu Khumbu district of Nepal.

Sagarmāthā means "the Head in the Great Blue Sky"<ref>Exceed English Series 1, New Edition (2006), p. 48.</ref> derived from सगर (sagar) meaning "sky" and माथा (māthā) meaning "head" in the Nepali Language.