Bhutan: The Last Place
May 23, 2002
9m
What happened when a new technology arrived in the kingdom of Bhutan, which had been secluded for hundreds of years?
May 23, 2002
9m
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In 1999, Bhutan, a Buddhist kingdom that had remained isolated in the Himalayan mountains for centuries, became the last country in the world to allow TV.
What happened when a new, globally-connected technology arrived in a traditional society that had been secluded for hundreds of years?
Bhutan: The Last Place was re-released digitally in July 2026 as part of an ongoing effort to make FRONTLINE’s archive widely accessible for streaming. The documentary originally aired as part of FRONTLINE/World, a special FRONTLINE series that ran from 2002-2010 and was developed in partnership with GBH in Boston and KQED in San Francisco.
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