Sherpa (Tibetan: “eastern people”, from shar “east” + pa “people”) are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Most Sherpa people live in Nepal’s eastern regions; however, some live farther west in the Rolwaling valley and in the Helambu region north of Kathmandu. Tengboche is the oldest Sherpa village in Nepal. The Sherpa language belongs to the south branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages; however, this language is separate from Lhasa Tibetan and unintelligible to Lhasa speakers. The number of Sherpas immigrating to the West has significantly increased in recent years, especially to the United States. New York City has the largest Sherpa community in the United States, with a population of approximately 2,500. The 2001 Nepal Census recorded 154,622 Sherpas within its borders, of which 92.83% were Buddhists, 6.26% were Hindus, 0.63% were Christians and 0.20% were Bön.
