[1] The Sharchops are an Indo-Mongoloid[dubious – discuss] people who migrated from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, or possibly Burma,[2] c. 1200 – c. 800 BC.
[3] Van Driem (1993) indicates that Sharchops are closely related to the Mönpa and that both are descendants of the indigenous Tibetic peoples (pre-Ngalop) of Bhutan.
[8] Together, the Ngalop, Sharchop, and tribal groups constituted up to 72 percent of the population in the late 1980s, according to official Bhutanese statistics.
[10] The World Factbook, however, estimates that the "Bhote" Ngalop and Sharchop ethnic groups together comprise approximately 50% of Bhutan's population, at 354,200 people.
Tshangla is also spoken by the Monpa (Menba) national minority across the border in China, distributed in Mêdog, Nyingchi and Dirang.