Dadeldhura Districtडडेलधुरा जिल्ला

Dadeldhura is the gateway hill district of the far west: 1,538 km² of forested ridges standing between the Tarai districts of Kailali and Kanchanpur to the south and the deeper hills of Doti and Baitadi beyond. The headquarters town of Amargadhi sits on a ridge at about 1,848 m, where temperatures have ranged from −5°C in winter to 34°C in early summer; over half the district is subtropical slope, watered by roughly 1,350 mm of rain a year. With just seven local levels — two municipalities and five rural municipalities — it is administratively the most compact district in the province.

The 2021 census counted 139,602 people, slightly down on 2011. Chhetris (53.7%), Bahuns (14.2%) and Kamis (12.3%) are the main communities, and the language mix is distinctive: Nepali (about 40%) narrowly leads Doteli (37.8%), with a tenth of residents reporting the local Dadeldhuri variety. Literacy, at 78.2%, is the second-highest in the province after Kanchanpur. The economy combines hill farming with trade along the Mahakali Highway corridor that climbs through the district linking the Tarai to Baitadi and Darchula.

The town and district are inseparable from Amargadhi Fort, the hilltop stronghold associated with the Gorkhali general Amar Singh Thapa, commander of Nepal's western armies during the unification campaigns and the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814–16; the headquarters municipality is named for him and his statue stands at the fort. The Ugratara temple is the district's principal shrine, and Aalital rural municipality takes its name from a lake of the same name in the district's south. In modern politics Dadeldhura is known nationally as the home district of Sher Bahadur Deuba, who has served as prime minister of Nepal five times.