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about nepal |
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 History of NepalFor centuries the
Kingdom of Nepal remained divided
into many principalities. Kirats
ruled in the east, the Newars in
the Kathmandu Valley, while Gurungs
and Magars occupied the mid-west.
The Kirats ruled from 300 BC and
during their reign, Emperor Ashoka
arrived from India to build a pillar
at Lumbini in memory of Lord Buddha.
The Kirats were followed by the
Lichchhavis whose descendants today
are believed to be the Newars of
the Kathmandu Valley. During this
period, art thrived in Nepal and
many of the beautiful woodcarvings
and sculptures that are found in
the country belong to this era.
With the end of the Lichchhavi dynasty,
Malla kings came to power in 1200
AD and they also contributed tremendously
to Nepal's art and culture.
However, after almost 600 years
of rule, the kings were not united
among themselves and during the
late 18th century, Prithvi Narayan
Shah, King of Gorkha, conquered
Kathmandu and united Nepal into
one Kingdom. Recognizing the threat
of the British Raj in India, he
dismissed European missionaries
from the country and for more than
a century, Nepal remained in isolation.
During the mid-19th century, Jung
Bahadur Rana became Nepal's first
Prime Minister to wield absolute
power. He set up an oligarchy and
the Shah kings remained figureheads.
The Ranas were overthrown in a democracy
movement of the early 1950s.
Today, Nepal enjoys a multiparty
democratic system with a constitutional
Monarch. |
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GEOGRAPHY
The Kingdom of Nepal covers an area of
147,181 square kilometers, and stretches
145-241 kilometers north to south and
850 kilometers west to east. The country
is located between India in the south
and China in the north. At latitudes 26
and 30 degrees north and longitudes 80
and 88 degrees east, Nepal is topographically
divided into three regions: the Himalayas
to the north, the hills consisting of
the Mahabharat range and the Churia Hills
in the middle, and the Terai to the south.
Elevations are varied in the kingdom.
The highest point is Mt. Everest (8848
m) in the north and the lowest point (70
meters above sea level) is located at
Kechana Kalan of Jhapa District. Altitude
increases as you travel south to north.
To the north temperatures are below -40
degrees Celsius and in the Terai, temperatures
rise to 40 degrees Celsius in the summer.
During June, July and August, the kingdom
is influenced by monsoon clouds. |
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PEOPLE
The population of Nepal is estimated at
around 20 million. Nepal has an assortment
of races and tribes, of varying colors
and contrasts; living in different geographic
regions; wearing various costumes and
speaking different dialects. The people
live under quite diverse geographic conditions,
from low land in the south, northwards
through the middle hills and valleys,
to the high Himalayan alpine patches. |
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RELIGION
In Nepal, Hinduism and Buddhism are the
two main religions. The two have co-existed
down the ages and many Hindu temples share
the same complex as Buddhist shrines.
Hindu and Buddhist worshippers may regard
the same god with different names while
performing religious rites.
Though Nepal is the only Hindu Kingdom
in the world, many other religions like
Islam, Christianity and Bon are practiced
here. Some of the earliest inhabitants
like the Kirats practice their own kind
of religion based on ancestor worship,
and the Tharus practice animism. Over
the years, Hinduism and Buddhism have
been influenced by these practices, which
have been modified to form a synthesis
of newer beliefs. |
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