Sikkim is a in northeastern . It borders Tibet in the north and northeast, in the east, in the west, and in the south. Sikkim is also close to India's near . Sikkim is the and among the Indian states. A part of. the , Sikkim is notable for its . including and climates, as well as being a host to , the and Sikkim's and largest city is . Almost 35% of the state is covered by the aa‘The Sikimese culture finds expression in it's beautiful art and craft. Ynotted woollen carpets with the dominating dragon emblem, and cight auspicious signs: wood carvings, _Lepcha handlooms in traditional designs and vich colours for clothes, bags, linen and accessories; leather jackets and handbags, articles of homemade paper, Thanka (religious seroll paintings) and Sikkimese Dragon Jewellery make a fascinating collection of handiceafts, inspired by an age old culture. 7he Gumpa heing performed in _/achung during the Buddhist festival of eLosar. 4Sikkim has 71 official languages: Nepali, Bhutia, Lepcha (since 1977), Limbu (since 1981), Newari, Rai, Gurung, Mangar, Sherpa, Tamang (since 1995) and Sunwar(since 1996): English is taught in schools and used in government documents: Sikkim is the only state in India with an ethnic Nepalese majority: The predominant religions are Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism Gangtok is the capital and largest city: Sikkim's economy is largely dependent on agriculture and tourism, and the state has the fourth- smallest GDP among Indian states although it is also among the fastest-growing:ClimateAWK Legend has it that the Buddhist saint Guru Rinpoche visited Sikkim in the 9th century, introduced Buddhism Indeed, the Namgyal dynasty was established in 1642. Over the next 150 years, the kingdom witnessed frequent raids and territorial losses to Nepalese invaders. It allied itself with the British rulers of India, but was soon annexed by them, Later, Sikkim became a British protectorate, before merging with India following areferendum in 1975.The Sikkimese Nepalese celebrate all major Hindu festivals such as Diwali and Dussera. Local festivals like Maghe’Sankranti and Bhimisen Puja are ‘common. Losar, Loosong 1 (Fibetan New institutions are te Id-ul-fitr and ‘Muharram. Christnias has also been promoted in Gangtok to attract tourists during the off-season: Buddhist festivals. During the Lo ‘Yeat) most offices and éducation: closed for a week-Muslims celebDan a oe “Coan mon sports in Sikkim are © Football andcricket Hang ban c Bian ar es ane ee 2 S a 1 © also be ice sea ae order. aSeeeeeceeeeeeee eee Literacy in Sikkim is 69.68%, which } breaks down into 76.73% for males and ! 61.46% for females. There are atotal of ! 1157 schools, including 765 schools run ! by the State government,/central ! government schools and 385 private ! schools.[93] Twelve colleges and other ! institutions in Sikkim offer higher | education. The largest institution is the ! Sikkim Manipal University of ; Technological Sciences, which offers | higher education in engineering! = medicine and management. It also runsa! ! host of distance education programs in !Please visit Sikkim Its beautiful as heavenifie eacific * Beautiful World.