Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was born to Tenpai Nyima and Sonam Pelgyi Buthri in 1594 at Ralung monastery in Tibet.
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal gave to the Dzong system a larger dimension, and a new ideology. He built almost all the principal Dzongs in Bhutan - Simtokha, Tongsa, Punakha, Wangdiphodrang, Gasa, Tashichhodzong, and the Rinpung Dzong at Paro.