Most Monpas live in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 50,000, centered in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng.

The Monpa are believed to be the only nomadic tribe in Northeast India – they are totally dependent on animals like sheep, cow, yak, goats and horses.

Tibetan Buddhists texts present "Monyul" (literally, "low land") as the territory immediately to the south of Tibet below the Himalayan crest line.

"Monpa" were the people of Mon and they were distinguished from "Lopa" (also spelt "Lhopa"), who were the wild and intractable tribes of the Assam Himalayan region.

[6] Most Monpas live in the Indian administered region of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of around 60,000, centred in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng.

These places fall completely outside of the Tibetan plateau and south of the Himalayan crest, and as a result have very low altitude, especially Mêdog County, which has a tropical climate unlike the rest of Tibet.

They are namely:[citation needed] A state of Lhomon or Monyul is believed to have existed from 500 B.C to 600 A.D. centered in the present day Bhutan.

[9][better source needed] In the 11th century, the Northern Monpas in Tawang came under the influence of the Tibetan Buddhism of the Nyingma and Kagyu denominations.

[5] Around the 14th century, Monyul came under increasing Tibetan political and cultural influence, which was apparent in the years when Tsangyang Gyatso, an ethnic Monpa, became the 6th Dalai Lama.

[11][better source needed] Monyul remained an autonomous entity, with local monks based in Tawang holding great political power within the kingdom, and direct rule over the area from Lhasa was established only in the 17th century.

[citation needed] One of the first British-Indian travellers into Monyul, Nain Singh Rawat, who visited the area from 1875 to 1876, noted that the Monpa were a conservative people who shunned contact with the outside world and made efforts to monopolise trade with Tibet.

According to tradition, only one individual is allowed to hunt the tiger on an auspicious day, upon the initiation period of the shamans, which can be likened to a trial of passage.

The Monpa are generally adherents of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which they adopted in the 17th century as a result of the influence of the Bhutanese-educated Merag Lama.

During Losar, people generally offer prayers at the Tawang Monastery to pray for the coming of the Tibetan New Year.

Due to the temperate climate of the eastern Himalayas, the Monpa, like most of the other ethnic groups in the region, construct their houses of stone and wood with plank floors, often accompanied with beautifully carved doors and window frames.

However, the gradual influx of tourists from other parts of India and with the influence of the western culture among educated younger generation there is a radical changes in the youth's diet habits.

Cash crops such as paddy, maize, wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, peppers, pumpkin and beans are planted.