The Madhesh is a region located in southern plains of Nepal. People who live in this region, are known as Madhesi peoples. The region's name in Urdu as referred by Nepali Muslims is tarai meaning "lands lying at the foot of a watershed" or "on the banks of a river; low ground flooded with water, valley, basin, marshy ground, marsh, swamp; meadow". The region was historically separate from Nepal until 1860 when the British Raj rewarded it to Nepal.