Peace World: Nepal

Nepal

Capital
Kathmandu
Official languages
Nepali
Demonym
Nepali
Government
Interim government
King
Gyanendra
Interim Head of State
Girija Prasad Koirala
Prime Minister
Girija Prasad Koirala
Unification
December 21, 1768
Republic
December 28, 2007
Area
Total 147,181 km² (93rd) 56,827 sq mi
Water (%)
2.8
Population
July 2007 estimate
28,901,790 (40th)
2002 census
23,151,423
Density
184/km² (56th)
477/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2006 estimate
Total
$41.18 billion (87th)
Per capita
$1,500 (164rd)
Gini (2003–04)
47.2 (high)
HDI (2003)
0.526 (medium) (136th)
Currency
Rupee (NRs.)
Time zone
NPT (UTC+5:45)
Summer (DST)
not observed (UTC+5:45)
Internet TLD
.np
Calling code
+977

History of Nepal

Nepal is mentioned in Hindu scriptures. In the Narayana Puja Nepal is mentioned.The Atharva Siras (800-600 BC) also mention Nepal.Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 9,000 years. It appears that people who were probably of Tibeto-Burman ethnicity lived in Nepal 2,500 years ago. Around 1000 BCE, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the region. One of the princes of the Sakya confederation was Siddharta Gautama (563–483 BCE), who renounced his royalty to lead an ascetic life and came to be known as the Buddha ("the enlightened one"). By 250 BCE, the region came under the influence of the Mauryan empire of northern India, and later became a puppet state under the Gupta Dynasty in the fourth century CE. From the late fifth century CE, rulers called the Licchavis governed the area. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late eighth century and was followed by a Newari era, from 879, although the extent of their control over the entire country is uncertain. By the late 11th century, southern Nepal came under the influence of the Chalukaya Empire of southern India. Under the Chalukayas, Nepal's religious establishment changed as the kings patronised Hinduism instead of the prevailing Buddhism.

By the early 12th century, leaders were emerging whose names ended with the Sanskrit suffix malla ("wrestler"). Initially their reign was marked by upheaval before the kings consolidated their power over the next 200 years. By the late 14th century much of the country began to come under a unified rule. This unity was short-lived: in 1482 the kingdom was carved into three: Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhadgaon.

After centuries of petty rivalry between the three kingdoms, in the mid-18th century Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha ruler set out to unify the kingdoms. After seeking arms and aid from India, and buying the neutrality of bordering Indian kingdoms, he embarked on his mission in 1765. After several bloody battles and sieges, he managed to unify Kathmandu Valley three years later in 1768. However, the actual battle never took place while conquering the Kathmandu valley. It was during Indra Jatra when all the valley citizens were celebrating the festival. Prithvi Narayan and his troops took over the valley virtually without any effort. This event marked the birth of the modern nation of Nepal. There is historical evidence that at one time the boundary of Greater Nepal extended towards Tista River on the East; to Kangara across Sutlej River in the west. A dispute and subsequently war with Tibet over the control of mountain passes forced the Nepalese to retreat and pay heavy repatriations. Rivalry between Nepal and the British East India Company over the annexation of minor states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1815–16). The valor displayed by the Nepalese during the war astounded their enemies and earned them their image of fierce and ruthless "Gurkhas". The war ended with a treaty, the Treaty of Sugauli. This treaty ceded Sikkim and lands in Terai to the Company. Some parts of Terai Region were given back to Nepal by British East India Company as a friendly gesture to Nepal because of her role to help maintain control of their regime in India during the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. The decision to help British East India Company was taken by the Rana Regime, then led by Jang Bahadur Rana.

Factionalism inside the royal family had led to a period of instability. In 1846 was discovered a plot to overthrow Jang Bahadur, a fast-rising military leader by the reigning queen. This led to the Kot Massacre. Armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Bahadur emerged victorious and founded the Rana lineage. The king was made a titular figure, and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary. The Ranas were staunchly pro-British, and assisted the British during the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857, and later in both World Wars. In 1923 the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship, in which Nepal's independence was recognised by the UK.

In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Meanwhile, with the annexation of Tibet by the Chinese in 1950, India faced the prospect of a military expansion of her Northern neighbour and was thus keen to avoid instability in Nepal. Forced to act, India sponsored both King Tribhuvan as Nepal's new ruler in 1951, and a new government, mostly comprising the Nepali Congress Party. After years of power wrangling between the king and the government, the democratic experiment was suppressed in 1959, and a "partyless" panchayat system was made to govern Nepal until 1989, when the "Jan Andolan" (People's) Movement forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty parliament that took seat in May 1991.

In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) started a bid to replace the parliamentary system with a socialist republic. This has led to the Nepal Civil War in the deaths of more than 12,000. On June 1, 2001, the Heir Apparent Crown Prince Dipendra was accused of a massacre in the royal palace, a violent response to his parents' refusal to accept his choice of wife. After the massacre, the King and the Queen were dead and the Crown Prince would have committed suicide. However, there are lots of speculations and doubts among Nepalease citizens about the person(s) responsible for the Royal Massacre. Following the carnage, the throne was inherited by Birendra's brother Gyanendra. In the face of unstable governments and a Maoist siege on the Kathmandu Valley in August 2004, popular support for the monarchy began to wane. On February 1, 2005, Gyanendra dismissed the entire government and assumed full executive powers to quash the Maoist movement. In September 2005, the Maoists declared a three-month unilateral ceasefire.

Following the 2006 democracy movement, the king agreed to relinquish the sovereign power back to the people and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives on April 24, 2006. Using its newly acquired sovereign authority, on May 18, 2006, the newly resumed House of Representatives unanimously passed a motion to curtail the power of the king and declared Nepal a secular state. As of December 2007, a bill was passed in parliament which declared Nepal a "federal democratic republic" constitutionally.The bill, however, will not come into force until immediately after the forthcoming elections of April 2008.