Nepal 230 Pieces Travel Photos People Wildlife Scenery Tibet Mt Everest VillageL
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Nepal 230 Pieces Travel Photos People Wildlife Scenery Tibet Mt Everest VillageL. Nepal 230 Pieces Travel Photos People Wildlife Scenery Tibet Mt Everest Village There are just over 230 photos in this collection. The pictures are all in focus and many are professional quality. The photographer has a good eye and a steady hand. It appears that 3 gentlemen took this journey, visiting the countryside and towns, meeting people and experiencing tradition along the way. Some, just a few, of the photos show modern homes, too. They may have visited friends or family. Some pictures may have been taken in neighboring countries. I am unsure. All of the photos are snapshot sized and from the same time period. Some are matte and some are gloss, all are color. My guess is 1990's. Most of the pictures are numbered on the back. Some have names, written, but no denting through pics. It is possible some have been published, but I do not know if this is so
Nepal,[a] officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,[b] is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The Nepalese Armed Forces are the fifth-largest in South Asia; and are notable for their Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Etymology Main article: Name of Nepal "Nēpāla" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350–375 CE).[15] Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as Nepal.[c] The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Nepal appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century BC.[which?] An absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the early modern period. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.[17] According to Hindu mythology, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called Ne, referred to variously as Ne Muni or Nemi. According to Pashupati Purāna, as a place protected by Ne, the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as Nepāl.[18][19][d] According to Nepāl Mahātmya,[e] Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati.[20] According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that Adi-Buddha Ne would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of Ne, the valley would be called Nepāl.[21] According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled c. 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatināth upon investigation, was also named Ne.[17] Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that Nepāla was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya meaning abode), and so Nepāla meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered Ne Muni to be a fabrication.[22] Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either Newara is a vulgarism of sanskritic Nepala, or Nepala is Sanskritisation of the local ethnic;[23] his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology.[24][25][26][17] It has also been proposed that Nepa is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of Ne (cattle) and Pa (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were Gopalas (cowherds) and Mahispalas (buffalo-herds).[17] Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed Nepal originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – Ne, of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and pala or bal, whose meaning is lost entirely.[27] History Main article: History of Nepal Ancient Nepal Ancient Nepal This painting in a Laotian temple depicts a legend surrounding the birth of Gautama Buddha c. 563 BC in Lumbini, Western Nepal. In the premises of the Changu Narayan Temple, is a stone inscription dated 464 AD, the first in Nepal since the Ashoka inscription of Lumbini (c. 250 BC). By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[28][29][30] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[31] The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.[32] After 6500 BC, evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan.[33] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley civilisation,[34][33] the first urban culture in South Asia.[35] Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district.[36] The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley civilisation. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 6300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border.[37] By 4000 BC, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both.[38] Stella Kramrisch (1964) mentions a substratum of a race of pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the Newars, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.[39] By the late Vedic period, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad.[40] The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'.[41] The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts.[42] According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita. Around 600 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, and came to be known as Gautama Buddha (traditionally dated 563–483 BC).[43] Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet,[44] and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. By 250 BC, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire. Emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini and erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, the inscriptions on which mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal.[45] Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautama Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the Gupta Empire.[f][46] In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, and the Licchavi dynasty came into power c. 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them.[47][44] In 641, Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates Nepal. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire.[48] The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri rule. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.[49] Medieval Nepal Medieval Nepal Sinja Valley, thought to be the place of origin of the Khasas and the Nepali language, was at the heart of the Khas Malla empire. Patan Durbar Square, one of the three palace squares in the Kathmandu Valley, was built by the Mallas in the 17th century. The Durbar Squares are a culmination of over a millennium of development in Nepali art and architecture. In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. By the 14th century, the empire had splintered into loosely associated Baise rajyas, literally 22 states as they were counted. The rich culture and language of the Khas people spread throughout Nepal and as far as Indo-China in the intervening centuries; their language, later renamed the Nepali language, became the lingua franca of Nepal as well as much of North-east India.[44] In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years,[50] even ruling over Kathmandu for a time.[51] After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur.[50] In the eastern hills, a confederation of Kirat principalities ruled the area between Kathmandu and Bengal. In the Kathmandu valley, the Mallas, who make several appearances in Nepalese history since ancient times, had established themselves in Kathmandu and Patan by the middle of the 14th century. The Mallas ruled the valley first under the suzerainty of Tirhut but established independent reign by late 14th century as Tirhut went into decline. In the late 14th century, Jayasthiti Malla introduced widespread socio-economic reforms, principal of which was the caste system. By dividing the indigenous non-Aryan Buddhist population into castes modelled after the four Varna system of Hinduism, he provided an influential model for the Sanskritisation and Hinduisation of the indigenous non-Hindu tribal populations in all principalities throughout Nepal. By the middle of the 15th century, Kathmandu had become a powerful empire which, according to Kirkpatrick, extended from Digarchi or Sigatse in Tibet to Tirhut and Gaya in India.[52] In the late 15th century, Malla princes divided their kingdom in four – Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur in the valley and Banepa to the east. The competition for prestige among these brotherly kingdoms saw the flourishing of art and architecture in central Nepal, and the building of famous Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares; their division and mistrust led to their fall in the late 18th century, and ultimately, the unification of Nepal into a modern state.[44][53] Apart from one destructive sacking of Kathmandu valley in the mid 14th century,[54] Nepal remains largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India that began in the 11th century. The Mughal period saw an influx of high-caste Hindus from India into Nepal. They soon intermingled with the Khas people and by the 16th century, there were about 50 Rajput-ruled principalities in Nepal, including the 22 (Baisi) states and, to their east in west-central Nepal, 24 Chaubisi states. There emerged a view that Nepal remained the true bastion of unadulterated Hinduism at a time when Indian culture had been influenced by centuries of Mughal, followed by British rule. Gorkha, one of the Baisi states, emerged as an influential and ambitious kingdom with a reputation for justice, after it codified the first Hinduism-based laws in the Nepalese hills.[44] Unification, expansion and consolidation (1768–1951) Main article: Kingdom of Nepal Prithvi Narayan Shah, began the unification process of what would become the present-day country of Nepal During Bhimsen Thapa's premiership Nepal reached its zenith Jung Bahadur Rana, who established the autocratic Rana regime in 1846 and instituted a pro-British foreign policy During King Mahendra's reign, Nepal experienced a period of industrial, political, and economic change. In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha king, set out to put together what would become present-day Nepal. He embarked on his mission by securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms. After several bloody battles and sieges, notably the Battle of Kirtipur, he managed to conquer the Kathmandu Valley in 1769.[55] The Gorkha control reached its height when the Kumaon and Garhwal Kingdoms in the west to Sikkim in the east came under Nepalese control. A dispute with Tibet over the control of mountain passes and inner Tingri valleys of Tibet prompted the Qing Emperor of China to start the Sino-Nepali War compelling the Nepali to retreat to their own borders in the north.[56] The rivalry between the Kingdom of Nepal and the East India Company over the control of states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepali War (1815–16). At first, the British underestimated the Nepali and were soundly defeated until committing more military resources than they had anticipated needing. Thus began the reputation of Gurkhas as fierce and ruthless soldiers. The war ended in the Sugauli Treaty, under which Nepal ceded recently captured lands.[57][44] Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846, a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. 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. Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged victoriously and founded the Rana dynasty, and came to be known as Jung Bahadur Rana. 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 them during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (and later in both World Wars). In 1860 some parts of the western Terai region were gifted to Nepal by the British as a friendly gesture because of her military help to sustain British control in India during the rebellion (known as Naya Muluk, new country). In 1923, the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship that superseded the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.[58] The Hindu practice of Sati, in which a widow sacrificed herself in the funeral pyre of her husband, was banned in 1919, and slavery was officially abolished in 1924.[59] Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.[60][61] Contemporary history In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Following the success of Indian Independence Movement which Nepalese activists had taken part in, with India's support and cooperation of King Tribhuvan, Nepali Congress was successful in toppling the Rana regime, establishing a parliamentary democracy. After a decade of power wrangling between the king and the government, King Mahendra (ruled 1955–1972) scrapped the democratic experiment in 1960, and a "partyless" Panchayat system was made to govern Nepal. The political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled.[62] The Panchayat rule modernised the country, introducing reforms and developing infrastructure, but curtailed liberties and imposed heavy censorship. In 1990, the People's Movement forced King Birendra (ruled 1972–2001) to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty democracy.[62][63] In 1996, the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic.[62] This led to the long Nepali Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths.[64] With the death of both the King and the Crown Prince in a massacre in the royal palace, King Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne in 2001[62] and subsequently assumed full executive powers aiming to quash the Maoist insurgency himself.[65] The Maoist Party joined mainstream politics following the success of the peaceful democratic revolution of 2006;[66] Nepal became a secular state,[67] and on 28 May 2008, it was declared a federal republic,[66] ending its time-honoured status as the world's only Hindu kingdom.[68] After a decade of instability and internal strife which saw two constituent assembly elections,[69][70][71][72] the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces.[73][74] Geography Main articles: Geography of Nepal and Geology of Nepal A topographic map of Nepal Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about 800 kilometres (500 mi) long and 200 kilometres (120 mi) wide, with an area of 147,516 km2 (56,956 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 26° and 31°N, and longitudes 80° and 89°E. Nepal's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[75] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate.[75] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[75] The rising barriers blocked the paths of rivers creating large lakes, which only broke through as late as 100,000 years ago, creating fertile valleys in the middle hills like the Kathmandu Valley. In the western region, rivers which were too strong to be hampered, cut some of the world's deepest gorges.[76] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[77] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[78] Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the 2,400 km (1,500 mi)-long Himalayas,[79][80][81][82][83][84] with a small strip of southernmost Nepal stretching into the Indo-Gangetic plain and two districts in the northwest stretching up to the Tibetan plateau.[76] Mount Everest, the highest peak on earth, lies on the Nepal–China border. Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as Himal–Pahad–Terai.[g] Himal is the mountain region containing snow and situated in the Great Himalayan Range; it makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including 8,848.86 metres (29,032 ft) height Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's "eight-thousanders" are in Nepal or on its border with Tibet: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. Pahad is the mountain region that does not generally contain snow. The mountains vary from 800 to 4,000 metres (2,600 to 13,100 ft) in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) to alpine climates above 3,600 metres (11,800 ft). The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,900 to 9,800 ft), is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and very low above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), where snow occasionally falls in winter. The southern lowland plains or Terai bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Terai is the lowland region containing some hill ranges. The plains were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of the foothills called Sivalik Hills or Churia Range, cresting at 700 to 1,000 metres (2,300 to 3,280 ft), marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain. Broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys (Bhitri Tarai Upatyaka) lie north of these foothills in several places. Köppen climate classification for Nepal The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about 50 mm (2.0 in) per year.[85] This makes Nepal an earthquake-prone zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development.[86] Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean.[87] Saptakoshi, in particular, carries a huge amount of silt out of Nepal but sees extreme drop in Gradient in Bihar, causing severe floods and course changes, and is, therefore, known as the sorrow of Bihar. Severe flooding and landslides cause deaths and disease, destroy farmlands and cripple the transport infrastructure of the country, during the monsoon season each year. Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres (3,900 to 7,900 ft), the cold zone 2,400 to 3,600 metres (7,900 to 11,800 ft), the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres (11,800 to 14,400 ft), and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft). Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia in the winter and form the northern limits of the monsoon wind patterns. Biodiversity Main article: Wildlife of Nepal See also: List of protected areas of Nepal and Community forestry in Nepal This land cover map of Nepal using Landsat 30 m (2010) data shows forest cover as the dominant type of land cover in Nepal.[88] Nepal contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals, relative to its size.[89][90] Nepal, in its entirety, forms the western portion of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, with notable biocultural diversity.[91] The dramatic differences in elevation found in Nepal (60 m from sea level in the Terai plains, to 8,848 m Mount Everest)[92] result in a variety of biomes.[89] The Eastern half of Nepal is richer in biodiversity as it receives more rain, compared to western parts, where arctic desert-type conditions are more common at higher elevations.[90] Nepal is a habitat for 4.0% of all mammal species, 8.9% of bird species, 1.0% of reptile species, 2.5% of amphibian species, 1.9% of fish species, 3.7% of butterfly species, 0.5% of moth species and 0.4% of spider species.[90] In its 35 forest-types and 118 ecosystems,[89][h] Nepal harbours 2% of the flowering plant species, 3% of pteridophytes and 6% of bryophytes.[90] The greater one-horned rhinoceros roams the sub-tropical grasslands of the Terai plains. Nepal's forest cover is 59,624 km2 (23,021 sq mi), 40.36% of the country's total land area, with an additional 4.38% of scrubland, for a total forested area of 44.74%, an increase of 5% since the turn of the millennium.[93] The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.23/10, ranking it 45th globally out of 172 countries.[94] In the southern plains, Terai–Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion contains some of the world's tallest grasses as well as Sal forests, tropical evergreen forests and tropical riverine deciduous forests.[95] In the lower hills (700 m – 2,000 m), subtropical and temperate deciduous mixed forests containing mostly Sal (in the lower altitudes), Chilaune and Katus, as well as subtropical pine forest dominated by chir pine are common. The middle hills (2,000 m – 3,000 m) are dominated by oak and rhododendron. Subalpine coniferous forests cover the 3,000 m to 3,500 m range, dominated by oak (particularly in the west), Eastern Himalayan fir, Himalayan pine and Himalayan hemlock; rhododendron is common as well. Above 3,500 m in the west and 4,000 m in the east, coniferous trees give way to rhododendron-dominated alpine shrubs and meadows.[90] Among the notable trees, are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in traditional herbal medicine,[96] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepal,[97] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[98] and under which Gautam Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[99] The Himalayan monal (Danphe), the national bird of Nepal,[100] nests high in the Himalayas. Most of the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest of the lower Himalayan region is descended from the Tethyan Tertiary flora.[101] As the Indian Plate collided with Eurasia forming and raising the Himalayas, the arid and semi-arid Mediterranean flora was pushed up and adapted to the more alpine climate over the next 40–50 million years.[101][102] The Himalayan biodiversity hotspot was the site of mass exchange and intermingling of the Indian and Eurasian species in the neogene.[103] One mammal species (Himalayan field mouse), two each of bird and reptile species, nine amphibia, eight fish and 29 butterfly species are endemic to Nepal.[90][i] Nepal contains 107 IUCN-designated threatened species, 88 of them animal species, 18 plant species and one species of "fungi or protist" group.[105] These include the endangered Bengal tiger, the red panda, the Asiatic elephant, the Himalayan musk deer, the wild water buffalo and the South Asian river dolphin,[106] as well as the critically endangered gharial, the Bengal florican,[89][107] and the white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[108] The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Nepali wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1973 with the enactment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973,[109] was substantially expanded. Vulture restaurants[90] coupled with a ban on veterinary usage of diclofenac has seen a rise in the number of white-rumped vultures.[110][108] The community forestry programme which has seen a third of the country's population directly participate in managing a quarter of the total forested area has helped the local economies while reducing human-wildlife conflict.[111][112] The breeding programmes[113] coupled with community-assisted military patrols,[114] and a crackdown on poaching and smuggling, has seen poaching of critically endangered tigers and elephants as well as vulnerable rhinos, among others, go down to effectively zero, and their numbers have steadily increased.[115] Nepal has ten national parks, three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve, three Conservation Areas and eleven buffer zones, covering a total area of 28,959.67 km2 (11,181.39 sq mi), or 19.67% of the total land area,[116] while ten wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[117] Politics and government Politics Ram Chandra Poudel President Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prime Minister Main article: Politics of Nepal Nepal is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system.[118] Nepal used to be referred as the 'Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal' until the Nepal Government decided to use just 'Nepal' as official name of the country.[119] It has seven national political parties recognised in the federal parliament: Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, People's Socialist Party and Janamat Party.[120][118] Of the two major parties which both officially espouse democratic socialism, CPN(UML) is considered leftist while Nepali Congress is considered centrist.[121] During most of the brief periods of democratic exercise in the 1950s and the 1990s, Nepali Congress held majority of seats in parliament; CPN (UML) was its competitor in the 1990s.[122] After the Maoists entered the political process in 2006, they emerged as the third largest party.[69] In the aftermath of the 2017 elections, the first one according to the new constitution, NCP, formed by the merger of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) had become the ruling party at the federal level and in six out of seven provinces.[123] After the 2022 general election, the House of Representatives of 2nd Federal parliament was formed as hung parliament and a coalition government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal was formed in December 2022.[124] Portrait of B. P. Koirala B.P. Koirala led the 1951 revolution, became the first democratically elected Prime Minister, and after being deposed and imprisoned in 1961, spent the rest of his life fighting for democracy. In the 1930s, a vibrant underground political movement arose in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1936,[62] which was dissolved seven years later, following the execution of the four great martyrs. Around the same time, Nepalis involved in the Indian independence movement started organizing into political parties, leading to the birth of Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal.[125] As communism was trying to find its footing, Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Rana regime in 1951 and enjoyed the overwhelming support of the electorate.[126] In the partyless Panchayat system initiated in 1962 by King Mahendra, monarchy loyalists took turns leading the government; political leaders remained underground, exiled or in prison.[62] A communist insurgency was crushed in its cradle in the 1970s, which led to the eventual coalescence of hitherto scattered communist factions under the United Left Front. After the joint civil resistance launched by the United Left Front and Nepali Congress overthrew the Panchayat in 1990,[126][127] the Front became CPN (UML), adopted multi-party democracy, and in the brief period, it was in government, introduced welfare programmes that remain popular.[122] After the Maoist Party joined mainstream politics, in the aftermath of the peaceful revolution of 2006, it also adopted multi-party democracy as its official line. The transition period between 2006 and 2015 saw sustained protests from the newly formed ethnocentric nationalist movements, principal among them the Madhes Movement. Government Main articles: Government of Nepal and Constitution of Nepal Nepal is governed according to the Constitution of Nepal. It defines Nepal as having multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-cultural characteristics with common aspirations of people living in diverse geographical regions, and being committed to and united by a bond of allegiance to the national independence, territorial integrity, national interest, and prosperity of Nepal.[3] Singha Durbar, the seat of government in Kathmandu The Supreme Court Parliament House The Government of Nepal has three branches:[3] Executive: The form of governance is a multi-party, competitive, federal democratic republican parliamentary system based on plurality. The President appoints the parliamentary party leader of the political party with the majority in the House of Representatives as Prime Minister, who forms the Council of ministers that exercises the executive power. Legislature: The Legislature of Nepal, called the Federal Parliament, consists of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. The House of Representatives consists of 275 members elected through a mixed electoral system and has a term of five years. The National Assembly, consisting of 59 members elected by provincial electoral colleges, is a permanent house; a third of its members are elected every two years for a six-year term.[128] Judiciary: Nepal has a unitary three-tier independent judiciary that comprises the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, headed by the Chief Justice, seven High Courts, one in each province, the highest court at the provincial level, and 77 district courts, one in each district. The municipal councils can convene local judicial bodies to resolve disputes and render non-binding verdicts in cases not involving actionable crime. The actions and proceedings of the local judicial bodies may be guided and countermanded by the district courts.[3] Administrative divisions Main article: Administrative divisions of Nepal SudurpashchimKarnaliLumbiniGandakiBagmatiMadheshKoshi Province Capital Governor Chief Minister Districts Area (km2) Population Census 2011 Population Census 2021 Density (people/km2) 2021 Human Development Index Map Koshi Province Biratnagar Somnath Adhikari Hikmat Kumar Karki 14 25,905 4,534,943 4,972,021 192 0.553 Madhesh Province Janakpur Hari Shankar Mishra Saroj Yadav 8 9,661 5,404,145 6,126,288 634 0.485 Bagmati Province Hetauda Yadav Chandra Sharma Salikram Jamkattel 13 20,300 5,529,452 6,084,042 300 0.560 Gandaki Province Pokhara Prithvi Man Gurung Khagaraj Adhikari 11 21,856 2,403,757 2,479,745 113 0.567 Lumbini Province Deukhuri Amik Sherchan Leela GIri 12 19,707 4,499,272 5,124,225 260 0.519 Karnali Province Birendranagar Govinda Prasad Kalauni Raj Kumar Sharma 10 30,213 1,570,418 1,694,889 56 0.469 Sudurpashchim Province Godawari Ganga Prasad Yadav Rajendra Singh Rawal 9 19,539 2,552,517 2,711,270 139 0.478 Nepal Kathmandu President Ram Chandra Poudel Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 77 147,181 26,494,504 29,192,480 198 0.579 Nepal is a federal republic comprising 7 provinces. Each province is composed of 8 to 14 districts. The districts, in turn, comprise local units known as urban and rural municipalities.[3] There is a total of 753 local units which includes 6 metropolitan municipalities, 11 sub-metropolitan municipalities and 276 municipalities for a total of 293 urban municipalities, and 460 rural municipalities.[129] Each local unit is composed of wards. There are 6,743 wards in total. The local governments enjoy executive and legislative as well as limited judicial powers in their local jurisdiction. The provinces have unicameral parliamentary Westminster system of governance. The local and provincial governments exercise some absolute powers and some powers shared with provincial or federal government. The district coordination committee, a committee composed of all elected officials from the local governments in the district, has a very limited role.[3][129] Laws and law enforcement Main article: Law enforcement in Nepal Nepal has made progress with regard to minority rights in recent years. The Constitution of Nepal is the supreme law of the land, and any other laws contradicting it are automatically invalid to the extent of the contradiction.[130] The specific legal provisions are codified as Civil Code and Criminal Code, accompanied by Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code respectively.[131] The Supreme Court is the highest authority in the interpretation of laws and it can direct the parliament to amend or enact new laws as required. Nepali laws are considered generally more progressive compared to other developing countries, and in some instances, many developed ones. The death penalty has been abolished.[132] Nepal also has made progress in LGBT rights and gender equality. It recognises marital rape and supports abortion rights. Owing to a rise in sex-selective abortion, however, constraints have been introduced. Nepal is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, Conventions/Treaties on the prohibition of Biological, Chemical and Nuclear weapons,[133] International Labour Organization Fundamental Conventions, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Paris climate accord. Some legal provisions, guided by socio-economic, cultural and religious sensibilities, remain discriminatory. There is gender-based discrimination against foreign nationals married to Nepali citizens.[j] Paternal lineage of a person is valued and required in legal documents. Many laws remain unenforced in practice. Traffic Police personnel manually direct traffic at the busiest roads and junctions. Nepal Police is the primary law enforcement agency. It is an independent organisation under the command of the Inspector General, who is appointed by and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. In addition to maintaining law and order, it is responsible for the management of road traffic, which is undertaken by Nepal Traffic Police. Nepal Armed Police Force, a separate paramilitary police organisation, works in cooperation with Nepal police in routine security matters; it is intended for crowd control, counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism actions, and other internal matters where the use of force may be necessary. The Crime Investigation Department of Nepal Police specialises in criminal investigation and forensic analysis.[135][136][137][138][139] The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority is an independent investigative agency that investigates and prosecutes cases related to corruption, bribery and abuses of authority. At 2.16 per 100,000 in 2016, Nepal's intentional homicide rate is much lower than average; police data indicates a steady increase in the crime rate in recent years.[140] Nepal was ranked 76 out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI) in 2019.[141] Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Nepal Gurkha Memorial, London Nepal depends on diplomacy for national defence. It maintains a policy of neutrality between its neighbours, has amicable relations with other countries in the region, and has a policy of non-alignment at the global stage. Nepal is a member of SAARC, UN, WTO, BIMSTEC and ACD, among others. It has bilateral diplomatic relations with 167 countries and the EU,[142] has embassies in 30 countries[143] and six consulates,[144] while 25 countries maintain embassies in Nepal, and more than 80 others maintain non-residential diplomatic missions.[145] Nepal is one of the major contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions, having contributed more than 119,000 personnel to 42 missions since 1958.[146] Nepali people have a reputation for honesty, loyalty and bravery, which has led to them serving as legendary Gurkha warriors in the Indian and British armies for the last 200 years, with service in both world wars, India-Pakistan wars as well as Afghanistan and Iraq,[147] though Nepal was not directly involved in any of those conflicts, and winning the highest military awards, including the Victoria Cross and the Param Vir Chakra.[148] Nepal is one of the major contributors to UN peacekeeping missions. Nepal pursues a policy of "balanced relations" with the two giant immediate neighbours, India and China;[149][150] the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India provides for a much closer relationship.[151] Nepal and India share an open border with free movement of people, religious, cultural and marital ties. India is Nepal's largest trading partner, which it depends upon for all of its oil and gas, and a number of essential goods. Nepalis can own property in India, while Indians are free to live and work in Nepal.[152] Relations between India and Nepal, though very close, have faced difficulties stemming from territorial disputes,[153] economics, and the problems inherent in big power-small power relations.[154][failed verification] Nepal established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on 1 August 1955, and signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1960; relations since have been based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Nepal maintains neutrality in conflicts between China and India. It remains firmly committed to the One China Policy and is known to curb anti-China activities from the Tibetan refugees in Nepal.[155][156] Citizens of both countries can cross the border and travel as far as 30 km without a visa.[157] China is viewed favourably in Nepal owing to the absence of any border disputes or serious interference in internal politics, coupled with its assistance in infrastructure development and aid during emergencies; favourability has increased since China helped Nepal during the 2015 economic blockade imposed by India.[158] Subsequently, China granted Nepal access to its ports for third-country trade, and Nepal joined China's Belt and Road Initiative.[159] Nepal emphasises greater cooperation in South Asia and actively pushed for the establishment of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the permanent secretariat of which, is hosted in Kathmandu.[160] Nepal was one of the first countries to recognise an independent Bangladesh, and the two countries seek to enhance greater cooperation, on trade and water management; seaports in Bangladesh, being closer, are seen as viable alternatives to India's monopoly on Nepal's third-country trade.[161] Nepal was the first South Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and the countries enjoy a strong relationship;[162] it recognises the rights of the Palestinians, having voted in favour of its recognition at the UN and against the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[163] Countries that Nepal maintains a close relationship with, include the most generous donors and development partners—the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Japan and Norway, among others.[164] Military and intelligence Main article: Nepali Army The multipurpose Kukri knife (top) is the signature weapon of the Nepali armed forces, and is used by the Gurkhas, Nepal Army, Police and even security guards. The President is the supreme commander of the Nepali Army; its routine management is handled by the Ministry of Defence. The military expenditure for 2018 was $398.5 million,[165] around 1.4% of GDP.[166] An almost exclusively ground infantry force, Nepal Army numbers at less than one hundred thousand;[167][168][169] recruitment is voluntary.[170] It has few aircraft, mainly helicopters, primarily used for transport, patrol, and search and rescue.[171] Directorate of Military Intelligence under Nepal Army serves as the military intelligence agency;[172] National Investigation Department tasked with national and international intelligence gathering, is independent.[167] Nepal Army is primarily used for routine security of critical assets, an anti-poaching patrol of national parks, counterinsurgency, and search and rescue during natural disasters;[173] it also undertakes major construction projects.[174] There are no discriminatory policies on recruitment into the army, but it is dominated by men from elite Pahari warrior castes.[175][176] Economy Main article: Economy of Nepal Nepal is a developing country, which ranks 165th in the world[k] in nominal GDP per capita[177] and 162nd[l] in GDP per capita at PPP.[178] Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019 was $34.186 billion.[179][180] With an annual growth rate calculated at 6.6% in 2019,[181] and expected 2.89% in 2021,[182] Nepal is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.[citation needed] Nepal has been a member of WTO since 23 April 2004.[183] The 16.8-million-worker Nepali labour force is the 37th largest in the world.[184] The primary sector makes up 27.59% of GDP, the secondary sector 14.6%, and the tertiary sector 57.81%.[185] Nepal's foreign exchange remittances of US$8.1 billion in 2018, the 19th largest in the world and constituting 28.0% of GDP,[186] were contributed to its economy by millions of workers primarily in India, the Middle East and East Asia, almost all of them unskilled labourers.[187][188] Major agricultural products include cereals (barley, maize, millet, paddy and wheat), oilseed, potato, pulses, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, milk and water buffalo meat.[189][190] Major industries include tourism, carpets, textiles, cigarettes, cement, brick, as well as small rice, jute, sugar and oilseed mills.[189] Nepal's international trade greatly expanded in 1951 with the establishment of democracy; liberalisation began in 1985 and picked up pace after 1990. By the fiscal year 2016/17, Nepal's foreign trade amounted Rs 1.06 trillion, a twenty-three folds increase from Rs 45.6 billion in 1990/91. More than 60% of Nepal's trade is with India. Major exports include readymade garment, carpet, pulses, handicrafts, leather, medicinal herbs, and paper products, which account for 90% of the total. Major imports include various finished and semi-finished goods, raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemical fertilisers, electrical and electronic devices, petroleum products, gold, and readymade garments.[191] Inflation was at 4.5% in 2019.[192] Foreign exchange reserves were at US$9.5 billion in July 2019, equivalent to 7.8 months of imports.[192] Real GDP per capita development of Nepal Nepal has made significant progress in poverty reduction bringing the population below the international poverty line (US$1.90 per person per day) from 15% in 2010 to just 9.3% in 2018, although vulnerability remains extremely high, with almost 32% of the population living on between US$1.90 and US$3.20 per person per day.[192] Nepal has made improvement in sectors like nutrition, child mortality, electricity, improved flooring and assets. Under the current trend, Nepal is expected to eradicate poverty within 20 years.[193][194] The agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable as it is highly dependent on the monsoon rains, with just 28% of the arable land being irrigated, As of 2014.[195] Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18%, and manufacturing and craft-based industry 6%.[196] Private investment, consumption, tourism and agriculture are the principal contributors to economic growth.[192] The government's budget is about $13.71 billion (FY 2019/20);[197] expenditure of infrastructure development budget, most of it contributed by foreign aid, usually fails to meet the target.[198] The country receives foreign aid from the UK,[199][200] India, Japan, the US, the EU, China, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries. The Nepali rupee has been tied to the Indian rupee at an exchange rate of 1.6 for many years. Per capita income is $1,004.[201] The distribution of wealth among the Nepalis is consistent with that in many developed and developing countries: the highest 10% of households control 39.1% of the national wealth and the lowest 10% control only 2.6%. European Union (EU) (46.13%), the US (17.4%), and Germany (7.1%) are its main export partners; they mainly buy Nepali ready-made garments (RMG).[202] Nepal's import partners include India (47.5%), the United Arab Emirates (11.2%), China (10.7%), Saudi Arabia (4.9%), and Singapore (4%). Besides having landlocked, rugged geography, few tangible natural resources and poor infrastructure, the ineffective post-1950 government and the long-running civil war are also factors in stunting the country's economic growth and development.[203][204][205] Debt bondage even involving debtors' children has been a persistent social problem in the western hills and the Terai, with an estimated 234,600 people or 0.82% of the population considered as enslaved, by The Global Slavery Index in 2016.[206] In 2022, Nepal limited import of non-essential goods after its foreign currency reserves dropped. COVID-19 pandemic caused a decline in tourism spending and the money sent home by Nepalis working abroad, which in turn lowered country's foreign currency reserve.[207] Tourism Tourists view a greater one-horned rhinoceros from an elephant in Chitwan National Park. Main article: Tourism in Nepal Tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in Nepal, employing more than a million people and contributing 7.9% of the total GDP.[208] The number of international visitors crossed one million in 2018 for the first time (not counting Indian tourists arriving by land).[208][209] Nepal's share of visitors to South Asia is about 6%, and they spend much less on average, with Nepal sharing 1.7% of the earnings.[210] Premier destinations include Pokhara, the Annapurna trekking circuit and the four UNESCO world heritage sites—Lumbini, Sagarmatha National Park (home to Mount Everest), seven sites in the Kathmandu Valley collectively listed as one, and Chitwan National Park. Most of Nepal's mountaineering earning comes from Mount Everest, which is more accessible from the Nepalese side.[citation needed] Nepal, officially opened to westerners in 1951, became a popular destination at the end of the hippie trail, during the 1960s and 1970s. The industry, disrupted by the civil war in the 1990s, has since recovered but faces challenges to growth, owing to a lack of proper facilities for high-end tourism termed the "infrastructure bottleneck", mounting issues facing Nepal Airlines, and a handful of destinations properly developed and marketed.[citation needed] The home-stay tourism, in which cultural and eco-tourists stay as paying guests in the homes of indigenous people, has seen some success.[211] Foreign employment While adults are employed in slavery-like conditions abroad, hundreds of thousands of children in the country are employed as child labour (not including the agricultural sector). The rate of unemployment and underemployment exceeds half of the working-age population,[212] driving millions to seek employment abroad, mainly in India, the Gulf, and East Asia. Mostly unskilled, uneducated, and indebted to loan sharks, these workers are swindled by the manpower companies and sent to exploitative employers or war-ridden countries under fraudulent contracts.[213][214] They have their passports seized, to be returned when the employer grants them leave or terminates their contracts. Most do not get paid minimum wage,[215] and many are forced to forfeit all or part of the wages.[216] Many Nepalis work in extremely unsafe conditions; an average of two workers die each day.[217] Due to restrictions placed on women, many depend on traffickers to get out of the country, and end up victims of violence and abuse.[218] Many Nepalese are believed to be working under slavery-like conditions, and Nepal spends billions of rupees rescuing stranded workers, on remuneration to the indebted families of the dead, and in legal costs for those arrested in foreign countries.[219][220] Though millions have raised themselves out of poverty, due to a lack of entrepreneurial skills, the remittance is largely spent on real estate and consumption.[221][220] Infrastructure Energy Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Dam. Nepal has significant potential to generate hydropower, which it plans to export across South Asia. The bulk of energy in Nepal comes from biomass (80%) and imported fossil fuels (16%).[222] Most of the final energy consumption goes to the residential sector (84%) followed by transport (7%) and industry (6%); the transport and industry sectors have been expanding rapidly in recent years.[222] Except for some lignite deposits, Nepal has no known oil, gas or coal deposits.[222] All commercial fossil fuels (mainly oil, LPG and coal) are imported, spending 129% of the country's total export revenue.[223] Only about 1% of the energy need is fulfilled by electricity.[222] The perennial nature of Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal conditions for the development of hydroelectric projects. Estimates put Nepal's economically feasible hydro-power potential at approximately 42,000 MW.[222] Nepal has been able to exploit only about 1,100 MW. As most of it is generated from run-of-river (ROR) plants, the actual power produced is much lower in the dry winter months when peak demand can reach as high as 1,200 MW, and Nepal needs to import as much as 650 MW from India to meet the demands.[224] Major hydro-power projects suffer delays and setbacks.[225][226][227] Nepal's electrification rate (76%) is comparable to that of other countries in the region but there is significant disparity between the rural (72%) and urban (97%) areas.[222] The position of the power sector remains unsatisfactory because of high tariffs, high system losses, high generation costs, high overheads, over staffing, and lower domestic demand.[228] Transportation Nepal remains isolated from the world's major land, air and sea transport routes, although, within the country, aviation is in a better state, with 47 airports, 11 of them with paved runways;[229] flights are frequent and support a sizeable traffic. The hilly and mountainous terrain in the northern two-thirds of the country has made the building of roads and other infrastructure difficult and expensive. As of 2016, there were just over 11,890 km (7,388 mi) of paved roads, 16,100 km (10,004 mi) of unpaved roads, and just 59 km (37 mi) of railway line in the south.[229] As of 2018, all district headquarters (except Simikot) had been connected to the road network.[174] Most of the rural roads are not operable during the rainy season; even national highways regularly become inoperable.[230] Nepal depends almost entirely on assistance from countries like China, India and Japan, for building, maintenance and expansion of the road network. The only practical seaport of entry for goods bound for Kathmandu is Kolkata in India. The national carrier, Nepal Airlines, is in poor shape due to mismanagement and corruption, and has been blacklisted by the EU.[231] Internally, the poor state of development of the road system makes access to markets, schools, and health clinics a challenge.[203] Communication According to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority MIS August 2019 report, voice telephony subscription rate was at 2.70% of total population for fixed phones and 138.59% for mobile; 98% of all voice telephony was through mobile phones.[232] Similarly, while an estimated 14.52% had access to fixed broadband, an additional 52.71% were accessing the internet using their mobile data subscriptions; almost 15 million of them with 3G or better.[232] The mobile voice telephony and broadband market was dominated by two telecommunications companies, the state-owned Nepal Telecom (55%) and the private multinational, Ncell (40%).[232] Of the 21% market share enjoyed by fixed broadband, around 25% was again shared by Nepal Telecom, with the rest going to the private Internet Service Providers.[232] Although there is high disparity in penetration rate between the rural and urban areas, mobile service has reached 75 districts of the country covering 90% of land area, and broadband access is expected to reach 90% of the population by 2020.[229] Media Main article: Mass media in Nepal As of 2019, the state operates three television stations as well as national and regional radio stations. There are 117 private TV channels and 736 FM radio stations licensed for operation, at least 314 of them, community radio stations.[229] According to the 2011 census, the percentage of households possessing radio was 50.82%, television 36.45%, cable TV 19.33%, and computer 7.28%.[233] According to the Press Council Nepal classification, as of 2017 of the 833 publications producing original content, ten national dailies and weeklies are rated A+ class.[234] In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked Nepal at 106th in the world in terms of press freedom.[235] Demographics Main article: Demographics of Nepal Historical population Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1911 5,638,749 — 1920 5,573,788 −0.13% 1930 5,532,574 −0.07% 1941 6,283,649 +1.16% 1952/54 8,256,625 +2.51% 1961 9,412,996 +1.47% 1971 11,555,983 +2.07% 1981 15,022,839 +2.66% 1991 18,491,097 +2.10% 2001 23,151,423 +2.27% 2011 26,494,504 +1.36% 2021 29,192,480 +0.97% Source:Census in Nepal The citizens of Nepal are known as Nepali or Nepalese. The Nepali are descendants of three major migrations from India, Tibet and North Burma, and the Chinese province of Yunnan via Assam. Among the earliest inhabitants were the Kirat of the eastern region, Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, aboriginal Tharus of the Terai plains and the Khas Pahari people of the far-western hills. Despite the migration of a significant section of the population to the Terai in recent years, the majority of Nepalese still live in the central highlands, and the northern mountains are sparsely populated. Nepal is a multicultural and multiethnic country, home to 125 distinct ethnic groups, speaking 123 different mother tongues and following a number of indigenous and folk religions in addition to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.[5] According to the 2011 census, Nepal's population was 26.5 million, almost a threefold increase from nine million in 1950. From 2001 to 2011, the average family size declined from 5.44 to 4.9. The census also noted some 1.9 million absentee people, over a million more than in 2001; most are male labourers employed overseas. This correlated with the drop in sex ratio to 94.2 from 99.8 for 2001.[236] The annual population growth rate was 1.35% between 2001 and 2011, compared to an average of 2.25% between 1961 and 2001; also attributed to the absentee population.[237] Nepal is one of the ten least urbanised, and the ten fastest urbanizing countries in the world. As of 2014, an estimated 18.3% of the population lived in urban areas. Urbanisation rate is high in the Terai, doon valleys of the inner Terai and valleys of the middle hills, but low in the high Himalayas. Similarly, the rate is higher in central and eastern Nepal compared to further west.[238] The capital, Kathmandu, nicknamed the "City of temples", is the largest city in the country and the cultural and economic heart. Other large cities in Nepal include Pokhara, Biratnagar, Lalitpur, Bharatpur, Birgunj, Dharan, Hetauda and Nepalgunj. Congestion, pollution and drinking water shortage are some of the major problems facing the rapidly growing cities, most prominently the Kathmandu Valley. Largest cities vte Largest cities or towns in Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics 2021 Nepal census[239] Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop. Kathmandu Kathmandu Pokhara Pokhara 1 Kathmandu Bagmati 845,767 11 Janakpur Madhesh 195,438 Bharatpur Bharatpur Lalitpur Lalitpur 2 Pokhara Gandaki 518,452 12 Butwal Lumbini 195,054 3 Bharatpur Bagmati 369,377 13 Tulsipur Lumbini 180,734 4 Lalitpur Bagmati 299,843 14 Budhanilkantha Bagmati 179,688 5 Birgunj Madhesh 268,273 15 Dharan Koshi 173,096 6 Biratnagar Koshi 244,750 16 Nepalgunj Lumbini 166,258 7 Dhangadhi Sudurpashchim 204,788 17 Birendranagar Karnali 154,886 8 Ghorahi Lumbini 201,079 18 Tarakeshwar Bagmati 151,508 9 Itahari Koshi 198,098 19 Gokarneshwar Bagmati 151,200 10 Hetauda Bagmati 195,951 20 Tilottama Lumbini 149,657 Language Main article: Languages of Nepal Nepal's diverse linguistic heritage stems from three major language groups: Indo-Aryan, Sino-Tibetan and various indigenous language isolates. The major languages of Nepal (percent spoken as native language) according to the 2011 census are Nepali (44.6%), Maithili (11.7%), Bhojpuri (6.0%), Tharu (5.8%), Tamang (5.1%), Nepal Bhasa (3.2%), Bajjika (3%) and Magar (3.0%), Doteli (3.0%), Urdu (2.6%), Awadhi (1.89%), and Sunwar. Nepal is home to at least four indigenous sign languages.[citation needed] Descendent of Sanskrit, Nepali is written in Devanagari script. It is the official language and serves as lingua franca among Nepali of different ethnolinguistic groups. The regional languages Maithili, Awadhi and Bhojpuri are spoken in the southern Terai region; Urdu is common among Nepali Muslims. Varieties of Tibetan are spoken in and north of the higher Himalaya where standard literary Tibetan is widely understood by those with religious education. Local dialects in the Terai and hills are mostly unwritten with efforts underway to develop systems for writing many in Devanagari or the Roman alphabet.[citation needed] Religion Main article: Religion in Nepal Sadhus in Pashupatinath Temple Nepal is a secular country, as declared by the Constitution of Nepal 2012 (Part 1, Article 4), where secularism 'means religious, cultural freedom, along with the protection of religion, culture handed down from time immemorial (सनातन)'.[240][241] The 2011 census reported that the religion with the largest number of followers in Nepal was Hinduism (81.3% of the population), followed by Buddhism (9%); the remaining were Islam (4.4%), Kirant (3.1%), Christianity (1.4%) and Prakriti or nature worship (0.5%).[242] By percentage of population, Nepal has the largest population of Hindus in the world.[243] Nepal was officially a Hindu Kingdom until recently, and Shiva was considered the guardian deity of the country.[244] Although many government policies throughout history have disregarded or marginalised minority religions, Nepalese societies generally enjoy religious tolerance and harmony among all religions, with only isolated incidents of religiously motivated violence.[245][246] Nepal's constitution does not give anyone the right to convert any person to another religion. Nepal also passed a more stringent anti-conversion law on 2017.[247] Nepal has the second-largest number of Hindus in the world after India.[248] Education Main article: Education in Nepal Nepal entered modernity in 1951 with a literacy rate of 5% and about 10,000 students enrolled in 300 schools.[citation needed] By 2017, there were more than seven million students enrolled in 35,601 schools.[249] The overall literacy rate (for population age five years and above) increased from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.9% in 2011.[5] The net primary enrolment rate reached 97% by 2017,[250][251] yet enrolment was less than 60% at the secondary level (grades 9 –12),[252] and around 12% at the tertiary level.[252] Though there is significant gender disparity in overall literacy rate,[5] girls have overtaken boys in enrolment to all levels of education.[252] Nepal has eleven universities and four independent science academies.[249] Nepal was ranked 108th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023.[253][254] Lack of proper infrastructures and teaching materials, and a high student-to-teacher ratio, as well as politicisation of school management committees[255] and partisan unionisation among both students and teachers,[256] present a hurdle to progress. Free basic education is guaranteed in the constitution but the programme lacks funding for effective implementation.[257] Government has scholarship programmes for girls and disabled students as well as the children of martyrs, marginalised communities and the poor.[258][259] Tens of thousands of Nepali students leave the country every year in search of better education and work, with half of them never returning.[260][261] Health Main article: Health in Nepal Historical development of life expectancy in Nepal Health care services in Nepal are provided by both the public and private sectors. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 71 years as of 2017, 153rd highest in the world,[262] up from 54 years in the 1990s and 35 years in 1950.[263][264] Two-thirds of all deaths are due to non-communicable diseases; heart disease is the leading cause of death.[265] While sedentary lifestyle, imbalanced diet and consumption of tobacco and alcohol has contributed in the rise of non-communicable diseases, many lose their life to communicable and treatable diseases caused by poor sanitation and malnutrition due to a lack of education, awareness and access to healthcare services.[265][266] Nepal has made great progress in maternal and child health. 95% of children have access to iodised salt, and 86% of children aged 6 – 59 months receive Vitamin A prophylaxis.[267] Stunting, underweight and wasting has been reduced significantly;[267] malnutrition, at 43% among children under five, is extremely high.[268] Anemia in women and children increased between 2011 and 2016, reaching 41% and 53% respectively.[268] Low birth weight is at 27% while breastfeeding is at 65%.[268] Nepal has reduced maternal mortality rate to 229,[269] from 901 in 1990;[270][269] infant mortality is down to 32.2 per thousand live births compared to 139.8 in 1990.[271] Contraceptive prevalence rate is 53% but the disparity rate between rural and urban areas is high due to a lack of awareness and easy access.[272] Progress in health is driven by strong government initiative in cooperation with NGOs and INGOs. Public health centres provide 72 essential medicines free of cost. In addition, the public health insurance plan initiated in 2016 which covers health treatments of up to Rs 50,000 for five members of a family, for a premium of Rs 2500 per year, has seen limited success, and is expected to expand.[273] By paying stipends for four antenatal visits to health centres and hospitalised delivery, Nepal decreased home-births from 81% in 2006[270] to 41% in 2016.[274] School meal programmes have improved education as well as nutrition metrics among children.[275] Toilet building subsidies under the ambitious "one household-one toilet" programme has seen toilet prevalence rate reach 99% in 2019, from just 6% in 1990.[276] Immigrants and refugees Main article: Demographics of Nepal § Foreign population in Nepal Nepal has a long tradition of accepting immigrants and refugees.[277] In modern times, Tibetans and Bhutanese have constituted a majority of refugees in Nepal. Tibetan refugees began arriving in 1959,[278] and many more cross into Nepal every year.[279] The Bhutanese Lhotsampa refugees began arriving in the 1980s and numbered more than 110,000 by the 2000s. Most of them have been resettled in third countries.[280] In late 2018, Nepal had a total of 20,800 confirmed refugees, 64% of them Tibetan and 31% Bhutanese.[281] Economic immigrants, and refugees fleeing persecution or war, from neighbouring countries, Africa and the Middle East, termed "urban refugees" because they live in apartments in the cities instead of refugee camps,[282][283][284] lack official recognition; the government facilitates their resettlement in third countries.[285] Around 2,000 immigrants, half of them Chinese, applied for a work permit in 2018/19. The government lacks data on Indian immigrants as they do not require permits to live and work in Nepal;[286] Government of India puts the number of Non-Resident Indians in the country at 600,000.[287] Culture Main article: Culture of Nepal A Magar couple in their ethnic dress Society Traditional Nepali society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Nepali caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in South Asia. Social classes are defined by more than a hundred endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes". Nepal declared untouchability to be illegal in 1963[288] and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace and educational institutions in urban Nepal, caste-related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[citation needed] Family values are important in the Nepali tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in Nepal, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Nepalis, with or without their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low, with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[289] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18.[290] Many Nepali festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Dashain, Tihar, Teej, Chhath, Maghi, Sakela, Holi, Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, and the Nepali new year. Symbols Main article: National symbols of Nepal National symbols Flag of Nepal Emblem Emblem of Nepal Anthem Sayaun Thunga Phulka Language All mother-tongues of Nepal Currency Nepalese rupee (रू) (NPR) Bird Himalayan monal Flower Rhododendron arboreum[292] Mammal Cow[291] Colour Crimson Sport Volleyball[293] The emblem of Nepal depicts the snowy Himalayas, the forested hills, and the fertile Terai, supported by a wreath of rhododendrons, with the national flag at the crest and in the foreground, a plain white map of Nepal below it, and a man's and woman's right hands joined to signify gender equality. At the bottom is the national motto, a Sanskrit quote of patriotism attributed in Nepali folklore to Lord Rama, written in Devanagari script—"Mother and motherland are greater than heaven".[citation needed] Nepal's flag is the only national flag in the world that is not rectangular in shape.[294] The constitution contains instructions for a Geometric Construction of the double-pennant flag.[295] According to its official description, the crimson in the flag stands for victory in war or courage, and is also the colour of the rhododendron. The flag's blue border signifies Nepali people's desire for peace. The moon on the flag is a symbol of the peaceful and calm nature of Nepalis, while the sun represents the aggressiveness of Nepali warriors. The president is the symbol of national unity. The martyrs are the symbols of patriotism. Commanders of the Anglo-Nepalese war, Amar Singh Thapa, Bhakti Thapa, and Balbhadra Kunwar are considered war heroes. A special designation of "National hero" has been conferred to 16 people from Nepal's history for their exceptional contributions to the prestige of Nepal. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal, is held in high regard and considered "Father of the Nation" by many.[296][297] Art and architecture Main article: Architecture of Nepal Clockwise from top-left: (a) Nyatapola, a five storied pagoda in Bhaktapur, bejewelled with characteristic stone, metal and wood craftsmanship, has survived at least four major earthquakes.[298] Pagodas, now an indispensable part of East Asian architecture, are conjectured to have been transmitted to China from Nepal. (b) Nepali stonecraft in a royal water spout (c) A traditional Newar "Ankhijhyal" window in the form of a peacock The oldest known examples of architecture in Nepal are stupas of early Buddhist constructions in and around Kapilvastu in south-western Nepal, and those constructed by Ashoka in the Kathmandu Valley c. 250 BC. The characteristic architecture associated exclusively with Nepal was developed and refined by Newa artisans of the Kathmandu Valley starting no later than the Lichchhavi period. A Tang dynasty Chinese travel book, probably based on records from c. 650 AD, describes contemporary Nepali architecture, predominantly built with wood, as rich in artistry, as well as wood and metal sculpture. It describes a magnificent seven-storied pagoda in the middle of a palace, with copper-tiled roofs, its balustrade, grills, columns and beams set about with fine and precious stones, and four golden sculptures of Makaras in the four corners of the base spouting water from their mouths like a fountain, supplied by copper pipes connected to the runnels at the top of the tower. Later Chinese chronicles describe Nepal's king's palace as an immense structure with many roofs, suggesting that the Chinese were not yet familiar with the pagoda architecture, which has now become one of the chief characteristics of Chinese architecture. A typical pagoda temple is built with wood, every piece of it finely carved with geometrical patterns or images of gods, goddesses, mythical beings and beasts. The roofs usually tiled with clay, and sometimes gold plated, diminish in proportion successively until the topmost roof is reached which is itself ensigned by a golden finial. The base is usually composed of rectangular terraces of finely carved stone; the entrance is usually guarded by stone sculptures of conventional figures. Bronze and copper craftsmanship observable in the sculpture of deities and beasts, decorations of doors and windows and the finials of buildings, as well as items of everyday use is found to be of equal splendour. The most well-developed of Nepali painting traditions is the thanka or paubha painting tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, practised in Nepal by the Buddhist monks and Newar artisans. Changu Narayan Temple, built c. 4th century AD has probably the finest of Nepali woodcraft; the Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares are the culmination of Nepali art and architecture, showcasing Nepali wood, metal and stone craftsmanship refined over two millennia.[299] The "ankhijhyal" window, that allow a one-way view of the outside world, is an example of unique Nepali woodcraft, found in building structures, domestic and public alike, ancient and modern. Many cultures paint the walls of their homes with regular patterns, figures of gods and beasts and religious symbols; others paint their walls plain, often with clay or chernozem contrasted with yellow soil or limestone. The roofs of religious as well as domestic structures project considerably, presumably to provide protection from the sun and the rain. The timber of domestic structures are finely carved as with their religious counterparts.[299] Looting of the cultural heritage of Nepal Cultural looting is a crisis in Nepal despite efforts to combat it.[300][301][302] Volunteers working for the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign have helped recover artifacts.[303] In 2022 Barakat Gallery's London branch relinquished 16th-century carved wooden Torana, a ceremonial gateway, and the 17th-century stone statue of a kneeling devotee, both taken from sacred sites near Kathmandu.[304] In 2023 Nepalese artifacts suspected of having been looted were found in the Art Institute of Chicago,[305] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[306][307] the Dallas Museum of Art,[308] the Rubin Museum[309] and other museums, and turned up in auctions at Christie's,[310] Bonhams[311] and other auction houses. Literature and the performing arts Main articles: Nepalese literature, Music of Nepal, and Cinema of Nepal Bhanubhakta Acharya, Nepali writer who translated the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana in the Nepali language Nepal's literature was closely intertwined with that of the rest of South Asia until its unification into a modern kingdom. Literary works, which were written in Sanskrit by Brahmin priests educated and sometimes also based in Varanasi, included religious texts and other fantasies involving kings, gods and demons.[312] The oldest extant Nepali language text is dated to the 13th century but except for the epigraphic material, Nepali language literature older than the 17th century haven't been found. Newar literature dates back almost 500 years.[297] The modern history of Nepali literature begins with Bhanubhakta Acharya (1814–1868), who for the first time composed major and influential works in Nepali, the language accessible to the masses, most prominently, the Bhanubhakta Ramayana, a translation of the ancient Hindu epic.[312] By the end of the nineteenth century, Motiram Bhatta had published print editions of the works of Acharya, and through his efforts, single-handedly popularised and propelled Nepali language literature into modernity.[297] By the mid-twentieth century, Nepali literature was no longer limited to the Hindu literary traditions. Influenced by western literary traditions, writers in this period started producing literary works addressing the contemporary social problems,[313] while many others continued to enrich Nepali poetic traditions with authentic Nepali poetry. Newar literature also emerged as a premier literary tradition. After the advent of democracy in 1951, Nepali literature flourished. Literary works in many other languages began to be produced. Nepali literature continued to modernise, and in recent years, has been strongly influenced by the post civil-war Nepali experience as well as global literary traditions.[314][315][316][297] Maruni, Lakhey, Sakela, Kauda and Tamang Selo are some examples of the traditional Nepali music and dance in the hilly regions of Nepal. Nepali film industry is known as "Kollywood".[317] Nepal Academy is the foremost institution for the promotion of arts and culture in Nepal, established in 1957.[297] Clothing A Nepali man in Daura-Suruwal, coat and Dhaka topi, displays the bhoto during the Bhoto Jatra festival. The most widely worn traditional dress in Nepal, for both women and men, from ancient times until the advent of modern times, was draped.[318] For women, it eventually took the form of a sari, a single long piece of cloth, famously six yards long, and of width spanning the lower body.[318] The sari is tied around the waist and knotted at one end, wrapped around the lower body, and then over the shoulder.[318] In its more modern form, it has been used to cover the head, and sometimes the face, as a veil,[318] particularly in the Terai. It has been combined with an underskirt, or the petticoat, and tucked in the waistband for more secure fastening. It is worn with a blouse, or cholo, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end, passing over the shoulder, now serving to obscure the upper body's contours, and to cover the midriff.[318] Cholo-sari has become the attire of choice for formal occasions, official environs and festive gatherings. In its more traditional form, as part of traditional dresses and as worn in daily life while performing household chores or labour, it takes the form of a fariya or gunyu, usually shorter than a sari in length as well as breadth, and all of it wrapped around the lower body. For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[319] It too is tied around the waist and wrapped.[319] Among the Aryans, it is also wrapped once around each leg before being brought up through the legs to be tucked in at the back. Dhoti or its variants, usually worn over a langauti, constitute the lower-body garment in the traditional clothing of Tharus, Gurungs and Magars as well as the Madhesi people, among others. Other forms of traditional apparel that involve no stitching or tailoring are patukas (a length of cloth wrapped tightly over the waist by both sexes as a waistband, a part of most traditional Nepali costumes, usually with a khukuri tucked into it when worn by men), scarves like pachhyauras and majetros and shawls like the newar ga and Tibetan khata, ghumtos (the wedding veils) and various kinds of turbans (scarves worn around the head as a part of a tradition, or to keep off the sun or the cold,[319] called a pheta, pagri or sirpau). Until the beginning of the first millennium AD, the ordinary dress of people in South Asia was entirely unstitched.[320] The arrival of the Kushans from Central Asia, c. 48 AD, popularised cut and sewn garments in the style of Central Asia.[320] The simplest form of sewn clothing, Bhoto (a rudimentary vest), is a universal unisex clothing for children, and traditionally the only clothing children wear until they come of age and are given adult garb, sometimes in a ceremonial rite of passage, such as the gunyu-choli ceremony for Hindu girls. Men continue to wear bhoto through adulthood. Upper body garment for men is usually a vest such as the bhoto, or a shirt similar to the kurta, such as daura, a closed-necked double-breasted long shirt with five pleats and eight strings that serve to tie it around the body. Suruwal, simply translated as a pair of trousers, is an alternative to and, more recently, replacement for dhoti, kachhad (Magars) or lungi (Tharus); it is traditionally much wider above the knees but tapers below, to fit tightly at the ankles, and is tied to the waist with a drawstring. Modern cholos worn with sarees are usually half-sleeved and single-breasted, and do not cover the midriff. The traditional one called the chaubandi cholo, like the daura, is full-sleeved, double-breasted with pleats and strings, and extends down to the patuka, covering the midriff. Daura-Suruwal and Gunyu-Cholo were the national dresses for men and women respectively until 2011 when they were removed to eliminate favouritism.[321] Traditional dresses of many pahari ethnic groups are Daura-Suruwal or similar, with patuka, a dhaka topi and a coat for men, and Gunyu-cholo or similar, with patuka and sometimes a scarf for women. For many other groups, men's traditional dresses consist of a shirt or a vest, paired with a dhoti, kachhad or lungi. In the high Himalayas, the traditional dresses are largely influenced by Tibetan culture. Sherpa women wear the chuba with the pangi apron, while Sherpa men wear shirts with stiff high collar and long sleeves called tetung under the chuba. Tibetan Xamo Gyaise hats of the Sherpas, dhaka topi of pahari men and tamang round caps are among the more distinctive headwears. Married Hindu women wear tika, sindur, pote and red bangles. Jewellery of gold and silver, and sometimes precious stones, are common. Gold jewellery includes mangalsutras and tilaharis worn with the pote by the Hindus, samyafung (a huge gold flower worn on the head) and Nessey (huge flattened gold earrings) worn by the Limbus, and sirphuli, sirbandhi and chandra worn by the Magars. Tharu women can wear as much as six kilograms of silver in jewellery, which includes mangiya worn on the head, tikuli the forehead, and kanseri and tikahamala around the neck.[322] In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in Nepal. Increasingly, in urban settings, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, transformed instead into one for formal occasions. The traditional kurta suruwal is rarely worn by younger women, who increasingly favour jeans. The dhoti has largely been reduced to the liturgical vestment of shamans and Hindu priests. Cuisine Main article: Nepalese cuisine A dal-bhat thali with boiled rice, lentil soup, fried leafy greens, vegetable curry, yoghurt, papad and vegetable salad Nepali cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially from each other, using locally available spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruit.[323] The Columbian exchange had brought the potato, the tomato, maize, peanuts, cashew nuts, pineapples, guavas, and most notably, chilli peppers, to South Asia. Each became staples of use.[324] The cereals grown in Nepal, their choice, times, and regions of planting, correspond strongly to the timing of Nepal's monsoons,[325] and the variations in altitude. Rice and wheat are mostly cultivated in the terai plains and well-irrigated valleys, and maize, millet, barley and buckwheat in the lesser fertile and drier hills.[323][326] The foundation of a typical Nepali meal is a cereal cooked in plain fashion, and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.[327] The latter includes lentils, pulses and vegetables spiced commonly with ginger and garlic, but also more discerningly with a combination of spices that may include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon, jimbu and others as informed by culinary conventions.[327] In an actual meal, this mental representation takes the form of a platter, or thali, with a central place for the cooked cereal, peripheral ones, often in small bowls, for the flavourful accompaniments, and the simultaneous, rather than piecemeal, ingestion of the two in each act of eating, whether by actual mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or in the folding of one—such as bread—around the other, such as cooked vegetables.[327] Dal-bhat, centred around steamed rice is the most common example.[328] as well as dairy and sometimes meat, is the most common and prominent example. The unleavened flat bread made from wheat flour called chapati occasionally replaces the steamed rice, particularly in the Terai, while Dhindo, prepared by boiling corn, millet or buckwheat flour in water, continuously stirring and adding flour until thick, almost solid consistency is reached, is the main substitute in the hills and mountains. Tsampa, flour made from roasted barley or naked barley, is the main staple in the high himalayas. Throughout Nepal, fermented, then sun-dried, leafy greens called Gundruk, are both a delicacy and a vital substitute for fresh vegetables in the winter.[326] Momo dumplings with chutney A notable feature of Nepali food is the existence of a number of distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[329] The appearance of ahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in many religious orders early in South Asian history, especially Upanishadic Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, is thought to have been a notable factor in the prevalence of vegetarianism among a segment of Nepal's Hindu and Buddhist populations, as well as among Jains.[329] Among these groups, strong discomfort is felt at thoughts of eating meat.[330] Though per capita meat consumption is low in Nepal, the proportion of vegetarianism is not high as in India, due to the prevalence of Shaktism, of which animal sacrifice is a prominent feature.[331] Samayabaji (Newar cuisine) Nepali cuisines possess their own distinctive qualities to distinguish these hybrid cuisines from both their northern and southern neighbours.[332][328] Nepali cuisines, with generally tomato-based, leaner curries, are lighter than their cream-based Indian counterparts, and Nepali momo dumplings are heavily spiced compared to their northern counterparts.[328] Newar cuisine, one of the richest and most influential in Nepal, is more elaborate and diverse than most, as Newar culture developed in the highly fertile and prosperous Kathmandu valley.[323] A typical Newar cuisine can comprise more than a dozen dishes of cereals, meat, vegetable curries, chutneys and pickles. Kwanti (sprouted beans soup), chhwela (ground beef), chatamari (rice flour crepe), bara (fried lentil cake), kachila (marinated raw minced beef), samaybaji (centred around flattened rice), lakhaamari and yomuri are among the more widely recognised.[328][333] Juju dhau, a sweet yoghurt originating in Bhaktapur, is also famous.[328] Thakali cuisine is another well-known food tradition which seamlessly melds the Tibetan and the Indian with variety in ingredients, especially the herbs and spices.[323] In the Terai, Bagiya is a rice flour dumpling with sweets inside, popular among the Tharu and Maithil people. Various communities in the Terai make sidhara (sun-dried small fish mixed with taro leaves) and biriya (lentil paste mixed with taro leaves) to stock for the monsoon floods.[323] Selroti, kasaar, fini and chaku are among the sweet delicacies. Rice pulau or sweet rice porridge called kheer are usually the main dish in feasts.[326] Tea and buttermilk (fermented milk leftover from churning butter from yoghurt) are common non-alcoholic drinks. Almost all janajati communities have their own traditional methods of brewing alcohol. Raksi (traditional distilled alcohol), jaand (rice beer), tongba (millet beer) and chyaang are the most well-known. Sports and recreation Main article: Sports in Nepal Nepali children playing a variant of knucklebones, with pebbles Nepali indigenous sports, like dandi biyo and kabaddi which were considered the unofficial national sports until recently,[293] are still popular in rural areas.[334] Despite efforts, standardisation and development of dandi biyo has not been achieved,[335][336] while Kabaddi, as a professional sport, is still in its infancy in Nepal.[337] Bagh-chal, an ancient board game that is thought to have originated in Nepal, can be played on chalk-drawn boards, with pebbles, and is still popular today.[338][339] Ludo, snakes and ladders and carrom are popular pastimes.[340] Chess is also played.[334] Volleyball was declared as the national sport of Nepal in 2017.[293] Popular children's games include versions of tag,[334] knucklebones,[334] hopscotch, Duck, duck, goose[334] and lagori, while marbles,[334] top, hoop rolling and gully cricket are also popular among boys. Rubber bands, or ranger bands cut from tubes in bike tyres, make a multi-purpose sporting equipment for Nepali children, which may be bunched or chained together, and used to play dodgeball, cat's cradle, jianzi[334] and a variety of skipping rope games.[334] Nepali cricket fans are renowned for their exceptionally enthusiastic support of their national team.[341][342] Football and cricket are popular professional sports.[343] Nepal is competitive in football in the South Asia region but has never won the SAFF championships, but has had some success in South Asian Games.[344][345] It usually ranks in the bottom quarter in the FIFA World Rankings.[346] Nepal has had some success in cricket and holds ODI status,[347][348] consistently ranking in the Top 20 in the ICC ODI and T20I rankings.[349][350] Nepal has had some success in athletics and martial arts, having won many medals at the South Asian Games and some at the Asian games.[351] Nepal has never won an olympic medal.[352] Sports like basketball, volleyball, futsal, wrestling, competitive bodybuilding[352][353] and badminton are also gaining in popularity.[334] Women in football, cricket, athletics, martial arts, badminton and swimming have found some success.[354][352] Nepal also fields players and national teams in several tournaments for disabled individuals, most notably in men's[355] as well as women's blind cricket.[356] The only international stadium in the country is the multi-purpose Dasarath Stadium where the men and women national football teams play their home matches.[357] Since the formation of the national team, Nepal has played its home matches of cricket at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground.[358] Nepal police, Armed police force and Nepal army are the most prolific producers of national players, and aspiring players are known to join armed forces, for the better sporting opportunities they can provide.[359][360] Nepali sports is hindered by a lack of infrastructure,[361] funding,[355] corruption, nepotism and political interference.[351][362][363] Very few players are able to make a living as professional sportspeople.[357][364] Nepal, country of Asia, lying along the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It is a landlocked country located between India to the east, south, and west and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north. Its territory extends roughly 500 miles (800 kilometres) from east to west and 90 to 150 miles from north to south. The capital is Kathmandu. Nepal Nepal Nepal, long under the rule of hereditary prime ministers favouring a policy of isolation, remained closed to the outside world until a palace revolt in 1950 restored the crown’s authority in 1951; the country gained admission to the United Nations in 1955. In 1991 the kingdom established a multiparty parliamentary system. In 2008, however, after a decadelong period of violence and turbulent negotiation with a strong Maoist insurgency, the monarchy was dissolved, and Nepal was declared a democratic republic. Wedged between two giants, India and China, Nepal seeks to keep a balance between the two countries in its foreign policy—and thus to remain independent. A factor that contributes immensely to the geopolitical importance of the country is the fact that a strong Nepal can deny China access to the rich Gangetic Plain; Nepal thus marks the southern boundary of the Chinese sphere north of the Himalayas in Asia. As a result of its years of geographic and self-imposed isolation, Nepal is one of the least developed nations of the world. In recent years many countries, including India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, have provided economic assistance to Nepal. The extent of foreign aid to Nepal has been influenced to a considerable degree by the strategic position of the country between India and China. Flags of the world against blue sky. Countries, International. Globalization, global relations, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Palestine, Japan. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society Britannica Quiz Which Country Is Larger By Population? Quiz Land Relief Nepal contains some of the most rugged and difficult mountain terrain in the world. Roughly 75 percent of the country is covered by mountains. From the south to the north, Nepal can be divided into four main physical belts, each of which extends east to west across the country. These are, first, the Tarai, a low, flat, fertile land adjacent to the border of India; second, the forested Churia foothills and the Inner Tarai zone, rising from the Tarai plain to the rugged Mahābhārat Range; third, the mid-mountain region between the Mahābhārat Range and the Great Himalayas; and, fourth, the Great Himalaya Range, rising to more than 29,000 feet (some 8,850 metres). The Tarai forms the northern extension of the Gangetic Plain and varies in width from less than 16 to more than 20 miles, narrowing considerably in several places. A 10-mile-wide belt of rich agricultural land stretches along the southern part of the Tarai; the northern section, adjoining the foothills, is a marshy region in which wild animals abound and malaria is endemic. Special offer for students! Check out our special academic rate and excel this spring semester! The Churia Range, which is sparsely populated, rises in almost perpendicular escarpments to an altitude of more than 4,000 feet. Between the Churia Range to the south and the Mahābhārat Range to the north, there are broad basins from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high, about 10 miles wide, and 20 to 40 miles long; these basins are often referred to as the Inner Tarai. In many places they have been cleared of the forests and savanna grass to provide timber and areas for cultivation. A complex system of mountain ranges, some 50 miles in width and varying in elevation from 8,000 to 14,000 feet, lie between the Mahābhārat Range and the Great Himalayas. The ridges of the Mahābhārat Range present a steep escarpment toward the south and a relatively gentle slope toward the north. To the north of the Mahābhārat Range, which encloses the valley of Kathmandu, are the more lofty ranges of the Inner Himalaya (Lesser Himalaya), rising to perpetually snow-covered peaks. The Kathmandu and the Pokharā valleys lying within this mid-mountain region are flat basins, formerly covered with lakes, that were formed by the deposition of fluvial and fluvioglacial material brought down by rivers and glaciers from the enclosing ranges during the four glacial and intervening warm phases of the Pleistocene Epoch (from about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). The Great Himalaya Range, ranging in elevation from 14,000 to more than 29,000 feet, contains many of the world’s highest peaks—Everest, Kānchenjunga I, Lhotse I, Makālu I, Cho Oyu, Dhaulāgiri I, Manāslu I, and Annapūrna I—all of them above 26,400 feet. Except for scattered settlements in high mountain valleys, this entire area is uninhabited. Drainage The Kathmandu Valley, the political and cultural hub of the nation, is drained by the Bāghmati River, flowing southward, which washes the steps of the sacred temple of Paśupatinātha (Pashupatinath) and rushes out of the valley through the deeply cut Chhobar gorge. Some sandy layers of the lacustrine beds act as aquifers (water-bearing strata of permeable rock, sand, or gravel), and springs occur in the Kathmandu Valley where the sands outcrop. The springwater often gushes out of dragon-shaped mouths of stone made by the Nepalese; it is then collected in tanks for drinking and washing and also for raising paddy nurseries in May, before the monsoon. Drained by the Seti River, the Pokharā Valley, 96 miles west of Kathmandu, is also a flat lacustrine basin. There are a few remnant lakes in the Pokharā basin, the largest being Phewa Lake, which is about two miles long and nearly a mile wide. North of the basin lies the Annapūrna massif of the Great Himalaya Range. The major rivers of Nepal—the Kosi, Nārāyani (Gandak), and Karnāli, running southward across the strike of the Himalayan ranges—form transverse valleys with deep gorges, which are generally several thousand feet in depth from the crest of the bordering ranges. The watershed of these rivers lies not along the line of highest peaks in the Himalayas but to the north of it, usually in Tibet. The rivers have considerable potential for development of hydroelectric power. Two irrigation-hydroelectric projects have been undertaken jointly with India on the Kosi and Nārāyani rivers. Discussions have been held to develop the enormous potential of the Karnāli River. A 60,000-kilowatt hydroelectric project at Kulekhani, funded by the World Bank, Kuwait, and Japan, began operation in 1982. In the upper courses of all Nepalese rivers, which run through mountain regions, there are little or no flood problems. In low-lying areas of the Tarai plain, however, serious floods occur. The rivers and small streams of the Tarai, especially those in which the dry season discharge is small, are polluted by large quantities of domestic waste thrown into them. Towns and villages have expanded without proper provision for sewage disposal facilities, and more industries have been established at selected centres in the Tarai. The polluted surface water in the Kathmandu and Pokharā valleys, as well as in the Tarai, are unacceptable for drinking. Climate of Nepal Nepal’s climate, influenced by elevation as well as by its location in a subtropical latitude, ranges from subtropical monsoon conditions in the Tarai, through a warm temperate climate between 4,000 and 7,000 feet in the mid-mountain region, to cool temperate conditions in the higher parts of mountains between 7,000 and 11,000 feet, to an Alpine climate at altitudes between 14,000 and 16,000 feet along the lower slopes of the Himalaya mountains. At altitudes above 16,000 feet the temperature is always below freezing and the surface covered by snow and ice. Rainfall is ample in the eastern portion of the Tarai (which receives from 70 to 75 inches [1,800 to 1,900 millimetres] a year at Bīratnagar) and in the mountains, but the western portion of Nepal (where from 30 to 35 inches a year fall at Mahendranagar) is drier. In Kathmandu Valley, average temperatures range from 50° F (10° C) in January to 78° F (26° C) in July, and the lowest and highest temperatures recorded have been 27° and 99° F (-3° and 37° C). The average annual rainfall is about 55 inches, most of which falls in the period from June to September. At Pokharā the temperature ranges from 40° F (4° C) in January to approximately 100° F (38° C) in June, just before the monsoon. In winter, temperatures during the day rise to 70° F (21° C), creating pleasant conditions, with cool nights and warm days. Because warm rain-bearing monsoon winds discharge most of their moisture as they encounter the Annapūrna range, rainfall is quite heavy (about 100 inches) in the Pokharā Valley. Plant life The natural vegetation of Nepal follows the pattern of climate and altitude. A tropical, moist zone of deciduous vegetation occurs in the Tarai and the Churia Range. These forests consist mainly of khair (Acacia catechu), a spring tree with yellow flowers and flat pods; sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo), an East Indian tree yielding dark brown durable timber; and sal (Shorea robusta), an East Indian timber tree with foliage providing food for lac insects (which deposit lac, a resinous substance used for the manufacture of shellac and varnishes, on the tree’s twigs). On the Mahābhārat Range, at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, vegetation consists of a mixture of many species, chiefly pines, oaks, rhododendrons, poplars, walnuts, and larch. Between 10,000 and 12,000 feet, fir mixed with birch, as well as rhododendron, abound. In the mid-mountain region of Nepal a fairly dense population has cleared all but the most inaccessible parts of the forest, which are restricted to areas of steep slopes and rocky terrain. Similarly, all readily accessible parts of valuable sal forest in the Tarai have been devastated by overcutting and depletive practices. The vast forested area below the timber line in the Great Himalaya Range bears some of the most valuable forests in Nepal, containing spruce, fir, cypress, juniper, and birch. Alpine vegetation occupies higher parts of the Great Himalaya Range. Just below the snow line, between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, grassy vegetation affords favourable grazing ground in summer. Pradyumna P. Karan Animal life Bengal tiger Bengal tiger Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). The forested areas of the Tarai are the home of tigers (including the majestic but endangered Bengal tiger) and leopards, gaurs (wild ox), occasional elephants and buffalo, and many deer; the deer include chital, or axis, deer (which have white-spotted bodies), sambar (a large Asiatic deer with coarse hair on the throat and strong antlers), and swamp deer. The Lesser Rāpti Valley, in south-central Nepal, is one of the last homes of the great Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). Much poaching has gone on, as the horn of the rhinoceros is reputed to be valuable as an aphrodisiac, but in the 1960s the Nepal government organized protective measures. There are few wild animals in the central zone because of the clearing of forests. Occasional leopards, bears, and smaller carnivores inhabit the forests and ravines, and muntjacs (a kind of small deer, also called the barking deer) are found in the woods. In the Alpine zone are musk deer, widely hunted for the musk pods they carry, the tahr (a Himalayan beardless wild goat), the goral (any of several goat antelopes, closely related to the Rocky Mountain goat), and wild sheep, which are preyed upon by wolves and snow leopards. Pheasant are common. The Yeti (bear-man, or Abominable Snowman) is said by the Sherpa to inhabit the high snow mountains but has eluded discovery by several expeditions. Strange tracks are often found in the snow, but it is believed that they are probably made by bears. River wildlife includes the mahseer, a large freshwater food and sport fish. Richard Riseley Proud Matinuzzaman Zuberi People of Nepal Ethnic groups The large-scale migrations of Asian groups from Tibet and Indo-Aryan people from northern India, which accompanied the early settlement of Nepal, have produced a diverse linguistic, ethnic, and religious pattern. Those with Indo-Aryan ancestry, especially the Pahāṛī (including the Chhetree, the Brahman-Hill, and others), have enjoyed great prestige in Nepal for centuries, and the ruling families have been of Indo-Aryan and Hindu background. Most of the Tibeto-Nepalese groups—the Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Bhutia (including the Sherpa), and Sunwar—live in the north and east, while the Magar and Gurung inhabit west-central Nepal. The majority of the famous Gurkha contingents in the British army have come from the Magar, Gurung, and Rai groups. A third set of ethnic groups, which includes the Newar and the Tharus, are believed to have settled Nepal before the Tibetan and Indo-Aryan migrations. The Newar, who have largely adopted Indo-Aryan and Hindu customs, retain significant influence in Nepal, especially in the Kathmandu valley. Languages The principal and official language of Nepal is Nepali (Gorkhali), spoken in the Tarai and the mid-mountain region. Nepali belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family. There are a number of regional dialects found in the Tarai and mountain areas. The languages of the north and east belong predominantly to the Tibeto-Burman family. These include Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Sunwar, Tamang, Newari, and a number of Bhutia dialects, including Sherpa and Thakali. Although Newari is commonly placed in the Tibeto-Burman family, it was influenced by both Tibeto-Burman and Indo-European languages. Religion In Nepal a vast majority of the population is Hindu, but a small percentage follows Buddhism or other religious faiths. Hindus and Buddhists tend to be concentrated in areas where Indian and Tibetan cultural influences, respectively, have been dominant. Settlement patterns Almost all Nepalese live in villages or in small market centres. Outside of Kathmandu, there are no major cities. Smaller urban centres (Birātnagar, Nepalganj, and Birganj) are located in the Tarai along the Indian border, and Pokharā is situated in a valley in the mid-mountain region. In addition, a few townships—such as Hitaura, Būtwal, and Dharān—have begun to emerge in the foothills and hill areas, where economic activity has developed. Demographic trends Nepal is a young country, with more than three-fifths of the population under 30 years of age. The birth rate is about the same as the world average, while the death rate is lower than the world average. Life expectancy is 70 years for men and 72 years for women. Economy of Nepal Landlocked, lacking substantial resources for economic development, and hampered by an inadequate transportation network, Nepal is one of the least developed nations in the world. The economy is heavily dependent on imports of basic materials and on foreign markets for its forest and agricultural products. Nepal imports essential commodities, such as fuel, construction materials, fertilizers, metals, and most consumer goods, and exports such products as rice, jute, timber, and textiles. The political and administrative system of Nepal has not made those changes in trade, investment, and related economic policies that would expedite economic development and attract foreign capital. The government’s development programs, which are funded by foreign aid, also have failed to respond directly to the needs of rural people. Agriculture rice cultivation rice cultivation Woman working in a rice field in Chitwan district, Nepal, 2015. Agriculture—primarily the cultivation of rice, corn (maize), and wheat—engages most of Nepal’s population and accounts for well over half of the country’s export earnings. Yet agricultural productivity is very low. The low yields result from shortages of fertilizers and improved seed and from the use of inefficient techniques. Because only a tiny percentage of Nepal’s cultivated land area is under irrigation, output depends upon the vagaries of the weather. Potatoes, sugarcane, and millet are other major crops. Cattle, buffalo, goats, and sheep are the principal livestock raised. On the whole, Nepal has a small surplus in food grains. There are, however, major dislocations in supply and demand. Periods of shortage between harvests of various crops occur in the mountain areas. At the same time, substantial amounts of food grain are moved to India from the Tarai. Because of the lack of adequate transportation, surplus food grain from the Tarai does not move north into the food deficit areas of the mid-mountain region. Some food grains move northward from the Tarai and the mountain areas into Tibet, however, despite a shortage in the mountain regions. The greatest potential for increases in agricultural production is in the Tarai. In the mid-mountain region the potential for increasing production is limited. Because of the high population concentration in this region, almost all land capable of cultivation is tilled. Increasing the cultivated land area by cutting into standing forests aggravates erosion and results in reduced yields and land losses by landslides. Major projects have been undertaken in an effort to halt soil erosion and deforestation. Forestry About one-third of Nepal’s total area is forested; most of this area is state-owned. In spite of overcutting and poor management, timber represents one of the country’s most valuable resources and is a major source of potential revenue. Exports of forest products constitute an important source of Indian rupees. Almost all timber is exported to India. The sawmills of the Timber Corporation of Nepal, a government-owned lumber-processing concern, supply Kathmandu Valley with construction and furniture wood. Resources and power Nepal’s mineral resources are small, scattered, and barely developed. There are known deposits of coal (lignite), iron ore, magnesite, copper, cobalt, pyrite (used for making sulfuric acid), limestone, and mica. Nepal’s great river systems provide immense potential for hydroelectric development. If developed and utilized within the country and exported to India (the principal market for power generated in Nepal), it could become a mainstay of the country’s economy. Manufacturing Industrial production represents a small but growing segment of economic activity. Most industries are small, localized operations based on the processing of agricultural products. The jute industry, centred in Birātnagar, is an important earner of foreign exchange. Sugar factories are located in Birātnagar, Birganj, and Bhairahawā. There are a sawmill and a meat-processing plant in Hitaura and a number of rice and oil mills in the Tarai. Other industries include brick and tile manufacture; processing of construction materials, paper, and food grain; cigarette manufacture; cement production; and brewing of beer. In general, there are more industrial enterprises in the private than in the public sector, although most of these are cottage industries. The main areas of manufacturing concentration are Birātnagar, the Birganj–Hitaura corridor, and the Kathmandu Valley. Tourism Tourism represents a small but expanding industry. Foreign tourism is primarily confined to the Kathmandu Valley, which is the only area equipped with the necessary hotels, food supplies, roads, and international transport services. There are, however, many areas outside the Kathmandu Valley with potential for the development of tourism; these include Pokharā, the Mount Everest area, and the Nārāyani area (where big game exists). Trade For geographic and historical reasons, most of Nepal’s trade is with India. China and the United States are also trade partners of some significance. Attempts have been made to diversify trade through agreements with such countries as China, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, the United States, Germany, and Poland. The state trading agency, National Trading Limited, has expanded its activities by fostering the development of commercial entrepreneurial activity. Large-scale commercial activity has hitherto been in the hands of foreigners, primarily Indians. Nepal’s foreign trade and balance of payments have suffered setbacks, and exports have not increased enough to pay for imports of consumer goods and basic supplies. Nepal’s dependence on the Indian market for most of its imports and exports and on the port of Kolkata for its access to the sea has been the source of periodic friction between the two countries. Transportation Transport facilities in Nepal are very limited; few independent nations in the world of comparable size have such little road mileage and so few motor vehicles. Construction of new roads has been undertaken since the 1970s with aid from India, China, Great Britain, and the United States. The main means of transportation has been the network of footpaths, which interlace the mountain terrain and valleys. Trails have evolved into main trade routes, which tend to follow the river systems. The meagre road-transport facilities in Nepal are supplemented by only a few railway and air-transport links. Increased use of road transport has reduced the significance of the two narrow-gauge railroads that run from Amlekhganj to Raxaul (India) and from Janakpūr to Jaynagar (India). The Nepal Airline Corporation, an autonomous government agency, is the country’s flag carrier. Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu is the primary hub for flights in and out of the country; Gautam Buddha International Airport was opened in Siddharthanagar (Bhairahawa) in 2022. The United States built the Kathmandu–Hitaura aerial ropeway in the 1950s, and it is still used for carrying goods into the capital. Leo E. Rose Government and society Constitutional framework Although reforms in the 1950s began to move the kingdom toward a democratic political system, the crown dissolved parliament in 1960 and subsequently banned political parties. Thereafter, Nepal became only nominally a constitutional monarchy, and the constitution of 1962 (amended 1967, 1976, and 1980) effectively gave the king autocratic control over a multitiered system of panchayats (local bodies, or councils). In the 1980s, political restrictions were eased, and organizations such as the Nepali Congress Party, the Communist Party of Nepal, numerous small left-leaning student groups, and several radical Nepalese antimonarchist groups were allowed to operate more or less openly. Political parties, however, were not again legalized until 1990, when nationwide unrest forced King Birendra to accept the formation of a multiparty parliamentary system. A new constitution promulgated on November 9, 1990, greatly reduced the power of the monarchy. The king remained the head of state, but effective executive power was given to the Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister. Appointed by the king, the prime minister was required to be either the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament) or, if there was no majority party, a representative who could form a coalition majority. The king was constitutionally also a part of parliament and was charged with giving assent to bills that had been passed by both legislative chambers—the House of Representatives and the National Council (the upper house). The House of Representatives consisted of 205 members popularly elected to five-year terms. The 60 members of the National Council held six-year terms; 10 were nominated by the king, 35 were elected by the House of Representatives (of which 3 had to be women), and 15 were selected by an electoral college. The constitution gave the House of Representatives considerably more power than the National Council. All Nepalese citizens age 18 and older are eligible to vote. Because most voters in Nepal are illiterate, candidates largely have been chosen by party symbol (e.g., a tree for the Nepali Congress Party and a sun for the United Marxist-Leninist Party of Nepal). Some voters, moreover, have had to travel long distances, in some cases for hours along mountain paths, in order to reach a polling station. Prior to 1990 the country was divided for administrative purposes into 5 development regions, 14 zones, and 75 districts; in addition there were corresponding regional, zonal, and district courts, as well as a Supreme Court. The 1990 constitution mandated the elimination of the regional and zonal courts, which were to be replaced by appellate courts. The administrative divisions themselves continued to exist as provisional units. The early 21st century was a tumultuous yet transformative period in Nepal’s governmental history. A Maoist insurgency that had been gaining strength since the late 1990s demanded not only the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution but also the abolition of the monarchy. As the insurgents negotiated with the government, tensions escalated into violence. Following intermittent peace talks, abortive cease-fires, dissolution and reconstitution of the House of Representatives, and major abrogation of the king’s authority, the Maoists and the government finally agreed to the drafting of an interim constitution—promulgated in January 2007—and the formation of an interim administration. Elections for a constituent assembly of some 600 members were held in April 2008, and the following month the monarchy was indeed dissolved and Nepal declared a republic. The country continued to operate for several more years under an interim constitution that provided for a unicameral legislature and a Council of Ministers, with most of the power vested in the prime minister. Protracted negotiations finally produced a new permanent constitution in 2015, which was approved by the legislature and promulgated on September 20. The document established a secular federal-style republic consisting of seven administrative regions and a bicameral legislature. A president would be head of state, and the Council of Ministers, led by the prime minister, would continue as head of government. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Security Nepal’s armed forces consist of the Royal Nepalese Army, predominantly an infantry force. The Army Flight Department operates all aircraft. Except for a few simple weapons, all military supplies are imported. Nepal is famous for the fighting qualities of its Gurkha soldiers; nearly 5,000 of them serve in British Gurkha units and 50,000 in Indian Gurkha units. The British maintain a recruiting centre at Pokharā. Gurkha veterans are a valuable human resource of Nepal. For police purposes, the country is divided into three zones: eastern, central, and western, with headquarters at Birātnagar, Kathmandu, and Nepalganj, respectively. Each zonal headquarters, under a deputy inspector general of police, is responsible for several subsections composed of four to five police districts operating under a superintendent of police. A district superintendent is in charge of police stations in his area, and each station normally is supervised by a head constable. Health and welfare The Ministry of Health is responsible for the support and administration of public health services, including hospitals and health clinics. Although the government has taken steps to improve existing health centres and to establish new ones, health care remains inadequate. Malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and typhoid are prevalent in spite of government projects to control or eradicate them. Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional Hindu system of medicine, is popular in Nepal. Education The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for administration and supervision of all elementary and secondary education. Higher education has developed relatively recently. The first college was established in 1918, and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, with faculties of arts, sciences, commerce, and education, was chartered in 1959. The University Senate has sole legal responsibility for higher education and the authority to grant academic recognition to colleges but is largely dependent upon the Ministry of Education for funds. Cultural life The relaxation of censorship that followed the overthrow of Rana rule in 1951 encouraged a revival of artistic and intellectual expression. In literature and poetry, Nepali works emphasize the cultural renaissance and national patriotism. King Mahendra, a poet whose Nepali lyrics have been published in English translation under the name of M.B.B. Shah (for Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah), did much to promote the revival of arts and literature. The cultural heritage of Nepal, particularly contributions made by the Newar of Kathmandu Valley to sculpture, painting, and architecture, is a source of great pride. Hindu and Buddhist religious values have provided the basic source of inspiration to Newar artisans. The themes of most artistic works have been primarily religious; the lives of the gods, saints, and heroes and the relationship of man to society and to the universe are expounded in sculpture, architecture, and drama. In Kathmandu Valley some 2,500 temples and shrines display the skill and highly developed aesthetic sense of Newar artisans. Music and dance are favourite pastimes among the Nepalese. Religious ceremonies require the use of drums and wind instruments preserved from ancient times. Important in most religious and family occasions are devotional songs that have elements of both classical and folk music and that have been used by some contemporary musical revivalists in their attempt to bridge the gap between the two. The government-owned Radio Nepal broadcasts programs in Nepali and English. The country’s first television station, at Kathmandu, began broadcasting in 1986. Newspapers and periodicals are published in Nepali and in English. Newspapers are frequently sensational in tone and are poorly staffed and financed. Gorkha Patra, published by the government, occupies a commanding position in the Nepalese press. Nepalese newspaper readers rely on the foreign press, particularly Indian newspapers, which are flown daily into Kathmandu, for more sophisticated coverage of world and national news. After 1960 King Mahendra required newspapers to obtain official clearance for all reports of political activity. Subsequently the government increased its censorship, and in 1985 the publication of many newspapers was suspended. In 1990, reflecting the change in the country’s political climate, freedom of the press was restored. Pradyumna P. Karan History of Nepal Prehistory and early history Nepal’s rich prehistory consists mainly of the legendary traditions of the Newar, the indigenous community of Nepal Valley (now usually called Kathmandu Valley). There are usually both Buddhist and Brahmanic Hindu versions of these various legends. Both versions are accepted indiscriminately in the festivals associated with legendary events, a tribute to the remarkable synthesis that has been achieved in Nepal between the two related but divergent value systems. References to Nepal Valley and Nepal’s lower hill areas are found in the ancient Indian classics, suggesting that the Central Himalayan hills were closely related culturally and politically to the Gangetic Plain at least 2,500 years ago. Lumbini, Gautama Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal, and Nepal Valley also figure prominently in Buddhist accounts. There is substantial archaeological evidence of an early Buddhist influence in Nepal, including a famous column inscribed by Ashoka (emperor of India, 3rd century BCE) at Lumbini and several shrines in the valley. A coherent dynastic history for Nepal Valley becomes possible, though with large gaps, with the rise of the Licchavi dynasty in the 4th or 5th century CE. Although the earlier Kirati dynasty had claimed the status of the Kshatriya caste of rulers and warriors, the Licchavis were probably the first ruling family in that area of plains Indian origin. This set a precedent for what became the normal pattern thereafter—Hindu kings claiming high-caste Indian origin ruling over a population much of which was neither Indo-Aryan nor Hindu. The Licchavi dynastic chronicles, supplemented by numerous stone inscriptions, are particularly full from 500 to 700 CE; a powerful, unified kingdom also emerged in Tibet during this period, and the Himalayan passes to the north of the valley were opened. Extensive cultural, trade, and political relations developed across the Himalayas, transforming the valley from a relatively remote backwater into the major intellectual and commercial centre between South Asia and Central Asia. Nepal’s contacts with China began in the mid-7th century with the exchange of several missions. But intermittent warfare between Tibet and China terminated this relationship, and, while there were briefly renewed contacts in subsequent centuries, these were reestablished on a continuing basis only in the late 18th century. Middle period The middle period in Nepalese history is usually considered coterminous with the rule of the Malla dynasty (10th–18th century) in Nepal Valley and surrounding areas. Although most of the Licchavi kings were devout Hindus, they did not impose Brahmanic social codes or values on their non-Hindu subjects. The Mallas perceived their responsibilities differently, however, and the great Malla ruler Jaya Sthiti (reigned c. 1382–95) introduced the first legal and social code strongly influenced by contemporary Hindu principles. Jaya Sthiti’s successor, Yaksha Malla (reigned c. 1429–c. 1482), divided his kingdom among his three sons, thus creating the independent principalities of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon) in the valley. Each of these states controlled territory in the surrounding hill areas, with particular importance attached to the trade routes northward to Tibet and southward to India that were vital to the valley’s economy. There were also numerous small principalities in the western and eastern hill areas, whose independence was sustained through a delicate balance of power based upon traditional interrelationships and, in some cases, common ancestral origins (or claims thereto) among the ruling families. By the 16th century virtually all these principalities were ruled by dynasties claiming high-caste Indian origin whose members had fled to the hills in the wake of Muslim invasions of northern India. In the early 18th century one of the principalities—Gorkha (also spelled Gurkha), ruled by the Shah family—began to assert a predominant role in the hills and even to pose a challenge to Nepal Valley. The Mallas, weakened by familial dissension and widespread social and economic discontent, were no match for the great Gorkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah. He conquered the valley in 1769 and moved his capital to Kathmandu shortly thereafter, providing the foundation for the modern state of Nepal. Modern period The Shah (or Sah) rulers faced tremendous and persistent problems in trying to centralize an area long characterized by extreme diversity and ethnic and regional parochialism. They established a centralized political system by absorbing dominant regional and local elites into the central administration at Kathmandu. This action neutralized potentially disintegrative political forces and involved them in national politics, but it also severely limited the centre’s authority in outlying areas because local administration was based upon a compromise division of responsibilities between the local elites and the central administration. From 1775 to 1951, Nepalese politics was characterized by confrontations between the royal family and several noble families. The position of the Shah dynasty was weakened by the fact that the two kings who ruled successively between 1777 and 1832 were minors when they ascended the throne. The regents and the nobility competed for political power, using the young rulers as puppets; both factions wanted a monopoly of political offices and power for their families, with their rivals exterminated, exiled to India, or placed in a subordinate status. This was achieved by the Thapa family (1806–37) and, even more extensively, by the Rana family (1846–1951). In these periods, the Shah ruler was relegated to an honorary position without power, while effective authority was concentrated in the hands of the leading members of the dominant family. Although intrafamilial arrangements on such questions as the succession and the distribution of responsibilities and spoils were achieved, no effective national political institutions were created. The excluded noble families had only two alternatives—to accept inferior posts in the administration and army or to conspire for the overthrow of the dominant family. Until 1950 and to some extent thereafter, Nepalese politics was basically conspiratorial in character, with familial loyalty taking precedence over loyalty to the crown or nation. External relations, 1750–1950 Prithvi Narayan Shah (reigned 1742–75) and his successors established a unified state in the central Himalayas and launched an ambitious and remarkably vigorous program of expansion, seeking to bring the entire hill area, from Bhutan to Kashmir, under their authority. They made considerable progress, but successive setbacks in wars with China and Tibet (1788–92), with the Sikh kingdom in the Punjab (1809), with British India (1814–16), and again with Tibet (1854–56) frustrated Nepal and set the present boundaries of the kingdom. The British conquest of India in the 19th century posed a serious threat to Nepal—which expected to be another victim—and left the country with no real alternative but to seek an accommodation with the British to preserve its independence. This was accomplished by the Rana family regime after 1860 on terms that were mutually acceptable, if occasionally irritating, to both. Under this de facto alliance, Kathmandu permitted the recruitment of Nepalese for the highly valued Gurkha units in the British Indian Army and also accepted British “guidance” on foreign policy; in exchange, the British guaranteed the Rana regime against both foreign and domestic enemies and allowed it virtual autonomy in domestic affairs. Nepal, however, was also careful to maintain a friendly relationship with China and Tibet, both for economic reasons and to counterbalance British predominance in South Asia. The British withdrawal from India in 1947 deprived the Ranas of a vital external source of support and exposed the regime to new dangers. Anti-Rana forces, composed mainly of Nepalese residents in India who had served their political apprenticeship in the Indian nationalist movement, formed an alliance with the Nepalese royal family, led by King Tribhuvan (reigned 1911–55), and launched a revolution in November 1950. With strong diplomatic support from New Delhi, the rebels accepted a settlement with the Ranas under which the sovereignty of the crown was restored and the revolutionary forces, led by the Nepali Congress (NC) party, gained an ascendant position in the administration. Constitutional monarchy The introduction of a democratic political system in Nepal, a country accustomed to autocracy and with no deep democratic tradition or experience, proved a formidable task. A constitution was finally approved in 1959, under which general elections for a national assembly were held. The NC won an overwhelming victory and was entrusted with the formation of Nepal’s first popular government. But persistent controversy between the cabinet and King Mahendra (reigned 1955–72) led the king to dismiss the Nepali Congress government in December 1960 and to imprison most of the party’s leaders. The constitution of 1959 was abolished in 1962, and a new constitution was promulgated that established the crown as the real source of authority. King Mahendra obtained both Indian and Chinese acceptance of his regime, and the internal opposition was weak, disorganized, and discouraged. Mahendra died in January 1972 and was succeeded by his son Birendra, who was crowned in 1975. Throughout the 1970s King Birendra sought to expedite economic development programs while maintaining the “nonparty” political system established by his father. The results were disappointing on both accounts, and by 1979 a systemic crisis was evident. To meet the first serious political challenge to the monarchy since 1960, King Birendra announced in May 1979 that a national referendum would be held to decide between a nonparty and multiparty (by implication, parliamentary) political system. In the referendum, which was held in May 1980, the political groups supporting the existing nonparty system won by the relatively small margin of 55 percent, accurately reflecting the sharp differences in the country on basic political issues. It was in this context that King Birendra decided in 1980 to retain the 1962 constitution but to liberalize the political system by providing for direct popular election of the National Assembly. The government also permitted the “illegal” political parties, such as the NC, to function under only minimal constraints. Elections were still formally held on a “partyless” basis, but many candidates ran informally and openly as members of political parties. This partial movement toward a democratic parliamentary system satisfied neither the supporters of a multiparty constitutional monarchy nor several more radical leftist factions, and in February 1990 a coalition of centrist and leftist opposition forces began a campaign demanding basic political reforms. A series of protests and strikes followed nationwide, and the royal government’s efforts to suppress the movement with force were ineffectual. In April, as the situation in Kathmandu Valley worsened, King Birendra lifted the ban on political parties, abrogated the more repressive security ordinances, and on April 16 appointed a coalition interim government headed by the president of the NC, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, but also including the moderate faction of the communist movement, the United Leftist Front. The policy objectives of the interim government were “to maintain law and order, develop a multiparty system on the basis of constitutional monarchy, draft a new constitution, and hold general elections” to a parliament. Within a year, all four tasks were accomplished with remarkable success despite the broad divergence of views among the major political organizations. A draft of the new constitution, prepared by a broadly representative government commission, was submitted to the palace and the cabinet on September 10, 1990. In November, following two months of vigorous debate on a number of key issues—including the role of the king, the development of a secular state, emergency powers, and the status of Nepal’s many languages—an amended version of the constitution was promulgated by King Birendra that provided for both a constitutional monarchy and a multiparty parliamentary political system. General elections held on May 12, 1991, gave the NC a majority in parliament (110 of 205 seats), but the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)—CPN (UML)—with 69 seats, emerged as a strong opposition party. The two “Pancha” parties usually associated with the old system won only four seats. The elections were thus perceived to constitute a strong endorsement of the 1990 political changes, and G.P. Koirala, the brother of Nepal’s first elected prime minister (1959–60), was nominated by the NC and appointed by the king to head the new elected government. Nepal emerged from this period of rapid political change facing a multitude of economic and social problems; among these were a stagnant economy and a variety of regional ethnic and religious movements, some of whose basic demands were not acceptable to the country’s Hindu majority. Although overwhelming support existed for the new democratic constitutional monarchy system, at both the party and the public level, the democratic movement itself remained badly fractionalized and antagonistic, making more difficult the new government’s attempt to introduce the kind of hard-hitting economic and social policies the panchayat governments had carefully avoided in an effort to mollify several small but important interest groups. Leo E. Rose Fall of the monarchy The country’s political life in the 1990s and 2000s was marked by prolonged instability as the monarchy, the NC, and Maoists jostled for power. Throughout those two decades the government remained largely in the hands of the NC with brief periods of CPN (UML) control. However, the NC’s leadership squabbled frequently, and the premiership alternated between Bhattarai, Koirala, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, another prominent member of the NC. Meanwhile, a group of Maoist rebels emerged in the 1990s and rapidly grew in number and strength and established their own breakaway party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or CPN (M). The rebels often used violent tactics to champion the cause of the rural poor and advocated overthrowing the monarchy. By the early 21st century the Maoists not only posed a serious threat to the government but had virtually propelled the country into a state of civil war. The killing in 2001 of the king and most members of the royal family by the crown prince (who also died, from self-inflicted wounds) further heightened tensions, and, after the massacre, Koirala, who was serving his third term as prime minister, was forced to resign. Deuba, who replaced Koirala, initially held negotiations with the CPN (M) to end the war, but, after peace talks broke down months later, he enlisted the help of the United States to suppress the Maoists. The new king, Birendra’s brother Gyanendra, took an active role in defending the monarchy, meanwhile, including imposing direct rule in 2005. After parliament was reinstated in April 2006, Koirala became prime minister for the fourth time. Later that year the government of Nepal and the Maoist insurgency signed a UN-mediated peace accord that provided for temporary representation of the Maoists in the Council of Ministers, restricted the rebel army to camps, and required both the Maoists and the Nepalese army to lock equal amounts of their arms in UN-monitored containers. An interim constitution, which transferred all executive power to the prime minister, was to remain in effect until the weapons management plan had been completed, elections had been held, and a permanent constitution had been drafted to replace the 1990 document. The extent of the duties of the king as head of state was to be determined by an elected constituent assembly, which would also draft a new constitution. Elections for the assembly, originally scheduled for June 2007, were postponed several times, notably after the Maoists pulled out of the government, demanding the immediate dissolution of the monarchy. In December 2007 it was finally agreed that the monarchy would be abolished, and elections were held in April 2008. The Maoists—who changed their party name to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or UCPN (M), in 2009—won the most seats, and on May 28, 2008, more than two centuries of royal rule came to an end as the new assembly voted to declare Nepal a democratic republic. In July 2008 Ram Baran Yadav of the NC was elected by the assembly as the country’s first president. One month later an election for prime minister was held in parliament. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, won by a wide margin and formed a coalition government. However, the coalition failed in early May 2009, and Prachanda resigned. Madhav Kumar Nepal of the CPN (UML) became prime minister later that month at the head of a 22-party coalition. The change did little to resolve the country’s ongoing political deadlock, particularly the drafting of a new constitution. In June 2010 Prime Minister Nepal resigned under pressure from the UCPN (M), which claimed the right, as the largest political party, to choose the prime minister. Parliament, however, could not agree on Nepal’s replacement, and he remained in office until fellow CPN (UML), Jhalanath Khanal, took over in February 2011. By August, Khanal’s government had collapsed, and the UCPN (M)’s Baburam Bhattarai had assumed the office. Negotiations in the assembly on a new constitution fared no better under Bhattarai, and in May 2012 the assembly was dissolved, and members of the government resigned. Bhattarai stayed on as caretaker prime minister until March 2013, when President Yadav appointed Khil Raj Regmi, chief justice of the country’s Supreme Court, as prime minister until elections could be held. Parliamentary elections took place in November, with the NC gaining the largest number of seats and the CPN (UML) second. The two parties discussed forming a coalition government for several months, which finally took office in February 2014. Sushil Koirala of the NC, a cousin of B.P. and G.P. Koirala, was named prime minister. After only two months in power, the Koirala administration had to deal with an avalanche on Mount Everest in mid-April that killed 16 sherpas, shut down the climbing season on the mountain, and sparked widespread protest by the families of those killed, who considered their treatment by the government inadequate. More disasters followed—a landslide in early August in which 156 people died, floods later that month that killed 102 more, and a freak snowstorm in the Annapurna region in October that killed several dozen trekkers—and in each case the government was criticized for its poor response to the crises. 2015 Nepal earthquake: Kathmandu 2015 Nepal earthquake: Kathmandu A rubble-filled street in Kathmandu shortly after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. Those events, however, paled in comparison with the catastrophe that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, when the country suffered one of the most-severe earthquakes in its history. A magnitude-7.8 temblor struck some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Kathmandu, causing widespread death and destruction. Initial estimates of hundreds of people killed by the temblor soon escalated to the thousands—with many thousands more injured—as debris was cleared in Kathmandu and other cities and rescue workers reached remote towns and villages. Damage to buildings and infrastructure was widespread, and many of the country’s historic structures in the Kathmandu Valley that had been included in a UNESCO World Heritage site (designated 1979) were destroyed or severely damaged. In addition, the quake triggered avalanches on Mount Everest that descended on hundreds of people on the mountain for the spring climbing season, killing 19 people—thus surpassing the death toll from the 2014 avalanche—and injuring dozens more. Numerous aftershocks followed the initial quake, including a severe magnitude-7.3 temblor on May 12 centred near the Tibet border west of Everest. In all, some 9,000 people were killed and nearly 16,800 more injured in the two quakes. Federal republic The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country in 2015 helped spur negotiations on the new constitution. In mid-September parliament finally approved the document, which took effect on September 20 and established Nepal as a secular federal-style republic. Promulgation of the constitution elicited violent protests by some minority groups, especially Madhesis in the southern part of the country, whose members claimed that their rights were not being adequately protected. In mid-October parliament elected Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as prime minister, succeeding Koirala, and at the end of the month the legislators chose a woman, Bidhya Devi Bhandari, as the country’s new president. Oli resigned in July 2016, after his government coalition collapsed and before he was to face a confidence vote. Prachanda replaced him after striking a power-sharing deal with the NC. In May 2017 Prachanda resigned so that Deuba could take on the premiership until parliamentary elections could be held. The year 2017 was marked by Nepal’s first successful set of elections nationwide in two decades. Elections for more than 750 local councils were held across the nation beginning in May, with a turnout of nearly three-fourths of eligible voters. National elections were held later in the year, and results showed a resounding victory for a communist coalition backed by both Oli and Prachanda. After the two former prime ministers reached a power-sharing agreement, their two parties, CPN (UML) and UCPN (M) respectively, merged into a single party in May 2018: the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Under the power-sharing agreement, Oli became prime minister with the expectation that Prachanda would take over the post halfway through the five-year term. In November 2019 a new agreement, intended to address a dispute over the implementation of the original agreement, made Prachanda the executive chairman of the NCP and allowed Oli to finish out the full term as prime minister. Prachanda claimed that this new agreement was also improperly implemented, and he insisted that Oli observe the original agreement by relinquishing the office of prime minister halfway through his term. Oli refused, and in December 2020 he recommended that the president dissolve parliament and call early elections, a move ruled unconstitutional in February 2021 because no attempt was made to form a new government. Parliament was reinstated in March, and in May Oli lost a vote of confidence. After weeks of deliberation on the formation of a new government, Oli claimed that a new government could not be formed, and again he recommended that the president dissolve parliament and call early elections. In July, however, the dissolution was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ruled that Deuba, then leader of the opposition, should be given the opportunity to form a government. The most lively debates in the following year centred on parliament’s ratification of a 2017 compact with the Millennial Challenge Corporation (MCC), a foreign assistance program established by the United States Congress in 2004. With the compact due to expire in February 2022 without ratification, parliament was under pressure to approve the agreement despite significant opposition domestically. After years in the fray between the hegemonic ambitions of India and China, as well as decades of distrust in the United States in particular, many Nepalis were wary of their government granting contracts for U.S. investment. The compact was ratified in February 2022 nonetheless. Parliament passed a declaration emphasizing its interpretation of the agreement as limited by Nepali sovereignty, although that declaration alone could not placate the people’s concerns. When local elections were held in May 2022, voters registered their distrust in the political establishment. Although the ruling coalition received the greatest number of electoral victories, the success of independent candidates in major races indicated frustration with the country’s major political players.
Nepal,[a] officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,[b] is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The Nepalese Armed Forces are the fifth-largest in South Asia; and are notable for their Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Etymology Main article: Name of Nepal "Nēpāla" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350–375 CE).[15] Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as Nepal.[c] The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Nepal appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century BC.[which?] An absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the early modern period. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.[17] According to Hindu mythology, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called Ne, referred to variously as Ne Muni or Nemi. According to Pashupati Purāna, as a place protected by Ne, the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as Nepāl.[18][19][d] According to Nepāl Mahātmya,[e] Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati.[20] According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that Adi-Buddha Ne would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of Ne, the valley would be called Nepāl.[21] According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled c. 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatināth upon investigation, was also named Ne.[17] Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that Nepāla was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya meaning abode), and so Nepāla meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered Ne Muni to be a fabrication.[22] Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either Newara is a vulgarism of sanskritic Nepala, or Nepala is Sanskritisation of the local ethnic;[23] his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology.[24][25][26][17] It has also been proposed that Nepa is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of Ne (cattle) and Pa (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were Gopalas (cowherds) and Mahispalas (buffalo-herds).[17] Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed Nepal originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – Ne, of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and pala or bal, whose meaning is lost entirely.[27] History Main article: History of Nepal Ancient Nepal Ancient Nepal This painting in a Laotian temple depicts a legend surrounding the birth of Gautama Buddha c. 563 BC in Lumbini, Western Nepal. In the premises of the Changu Narayan Temple, is a stone inscription dated 464 AD, the first in Nepal since the Ashoka inscription of Lumbini (c. 250 BC). By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[28][29][30] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[31] The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.[32] After 6500 BC, evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan.[33] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley civilisation,[34][33] the first urban culture in South Asia.[35] Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district.[36] The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley civilisation. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 6300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border.[37] By 4000 BC, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both.[38] Stella Kramrisch (1964) mentions a substratum of a race of pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the Newars, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.[39] By the late Vedic period, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad.[40] The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'.[41] The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts.[42] According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita. Around 600 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, and came to be known as Gautama Buddha (traditionally dated 563–483 BC).[43] Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet,[44] and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. By 250 BC, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire. Emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini and erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, the inscriptions on which mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal.[45] Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautama Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the Gupta Empire.[f][46] In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, and the Licchavi dynasty came into power c. 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them.[47][44] In 641, Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates Nepal. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire.[48] The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri rule. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.[49] Medieval Nepal Medieval Nepal Sinja Valley, thought to be the place of origin of the Khasas and the Nepali language, was at the heart of the Khas Malla empire. Patan Durbar Square, one of the three palace squares in the Kathmandu Valley, was built by the Mallas in the 17th century. The Durbar Squares are a culmination of over a millennium of development in Nepali art and architecture. In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. By the 14th century, the empire had splintered into loosely associated Baise rajyas, literally 22 states as they were counted. The rich culture and language of the Khas people spread throughout Nepal and as far as Indo-China in the intervening centuries; their language, later renamed the Nepali language, became the lingua franca of Nepal as well as much of North-east India.[44] In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years,[50] even ruling over Kathmandu for a time.[51] After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur.[50] In the eastern hills, a confederation of Kirat principalities ruled the area between Kathmandu and Bengal. In the Kathmandu valley, the Mallas, who make several appearances in Nepalese history since ancient times, had established themselves in Kathmandu and Patan by the middle of the 14th century. The Mallas ruled the valley first under the suzerainty of Tirhut but established independent reign by late 14th century as Tirhut went into decline. In the late 14th century, Jayasthiti Malla introduced widespread socio-economic reforms, principal of which was the caste system. By dividing the indigenous non-Aryan Buddhist population into castes modelled after the four Varna system of Hinduism, he provided an influential model for the Sanskritisation and Hinduisation of the indigenous non-Hindu tribal populations in all principalities throughout Nepal. By the middle of the 15th century, Kathmandu had become a powerful empire which, according to Kirkpatrick, extended from Digarchi or Sigatse in Tibet to Tirhut and Gaya in India.[52] In the late 15th century, Malla princes divided their kingdom in four – Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur in the valley and Banepa to the east. The competition for prestige among these brotherly kingdoms saw the flourishing of art and architecture in central Nepal, and the building of famous Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares; their division and mistrust led to their fall in the late 18th century, and ultimately, the unification of Nepal into a modern state.[44][53] Apart from one destructive sacking of Kathmandu valley in the mid 14th century,[54] Nepal remains largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India that began in the 11th century. The Mughal period saw an influx of high-caste Hindus from India into Nepal. They soon intermingled with the Khas people and by the 16th century, there were about 50 Rajput-ruled principalities in Nepal, including the 22 (Baisi) states and, to their east in west-central Nepal, 24 Chaubisi states. There emerged a view that Nepal remained the true bastion of unadulterated Hinduism at a time when Indian culture had been influenced by centuries of Mughal, followed by British rule. Gorkha, one of the Baisi states, emerged as an influential and ambitious kingdom with a reputation for justice, after it codified the first Hinduism-based laws in the Nepalese hills.[44] Unification, expansion and consolidation (1768–1951) Main article: Kingdom of Nepal Prithvi Narayan Shah, began the unification process of what would become the present-day country of Nepal During Bhimsen Thapa's premiership Nepal reached its zenith Jung Bahadur Rana, who established the autocratic Rana regime in 1846 and instituted a pro-British foreign policy During King Mahendra's reign, Nepal experienced a period of industrial, political, and economic change. In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha king, set out to put together what would become present-day Nepal. He embarked on his mission by securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms. After several bloody battles and sieges, notably the Battle of Kirtipur, he managed to conquer the Kathmandu Valley in 1769.[55] The Gorkha control reached its height when the Kumaon and Garhwal Kingdoms in the west to Sikkim in the east came under Nepalese control. A dispute with Tibet over the control of mountain passes and inner Tingri valleys of Tibet prompted the Qing Emperor of China to start the Sino-Nepali War compelling the Nepali to retreat to their own borders in the north.[56] The rivalry between the Kingdom of Nepal and the East India Company over the control of states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepali War (1815–16). At first, the British underestimated the Nepali and were soundly defeated until committing more military resources than they had anticipated needing. Thus began the reputation of Gurkhas as fierce and ruthless soldiers. The war ended in the Sugauli Treaty, under which Nepal ceded recently captured lands.[57][44] Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846, a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. 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. Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged victoriously and founded the Rana dynasty, and came to be known as Jung Bahadur Rana. 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 them during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (and later in both World Wars). In 1860 some parts of the western Terai region were gifted to Nepal by the British as a friendly gesture because of her military help to sustain British control in India during the rebellion (known as Naya Muluk, new country). In 1923, the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship that superseded the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.[58] The Hindu practice of Sati, in which a widow sacrificed herself in the funeral pyre of her husband, was banned in 1919, and slavery was officially abolished in 1924.[59] Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.[60][61] Contemporary history In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Following the success of Indian Independence Movement which Nepalese activists had taken part in, with India's support and cooperation of King Tribhuvan, Nepali Congress was successful in toppling the Rana regime, establishing a parliamentary democracy. After a decade of power wrangling between the king and the government, King Mahendra (ruled 1955–1972) scrapped the democratic experiment in 1960, and a "partyless" Panchayat system was made to govern Nepal. The political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled.[62] The Panchayat rule modernised the country, introducing reforms and developing infrastructure, but curtailed liberties and imposed heavy censorship. In 1990, the People's Movement forced King Birendra (ruled 1972–2001) to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty democracy.[62][63] In 1996, the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic.[62] This led to the long Nepali Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths.[64] With the death of both the King and the Crown Prince in a massacre in the royal palace, King Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne in 2001[62] and subsequently assumed full executive powers aiming to quash the Maoist insurgency himself.[65] The Maoist Party joined mainstream politics following the success of the peaceful democratic revolution of 2006;[66] Nepal became a secular state,[67] and on 28 May 2008, it was declared a federal republic,[66] ending its time-honoured status as the world's only Hindu kingdom.[68] After a decade of instability and internal strife which saw two constituent assembly elections,[69][70][71][72] the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces.[73][74] Geography Main articles: Geography of Nepal and Geology of Nepal A topographic map of Nepal Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about 800 kilometres (500 mi) long and 200 kilometres (120 mi) wide, with an area of 147,516 km2 (56,956 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 26° and 31°N, and longitudes 80° and 89°E. Nepal's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[75] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate.[75] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[75] The rising barriers blocked the paths of rivers creating large lakes, which only broke through as late as 100,000 years ago, creating fertile valleys in the middle hills like the Kathmandu Valley. In the western region, rivers which were too strong to be hampered, cut some of the world's deepest gorges.[76] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[77] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[78] Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the 2,400 km (1,500 mi)-long Himalayas,[79][80][81][82][83][84] with a small strip of southernmost Nepal stretching into the Indo-Gangetic plain and two districts in the northwest stretching up to the Tibetan plateau.[76] Mount Everest, the highest peak on earth, lies on the Nepal–China border. Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as Himal–Pahad–Terai.[g] Himal is the mountain region containing snow and situated in the Great Himalayan Range; it makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including 8,848.86 metres (29,032 ft) height Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's "eight-thousanders" are in Nepal or on its border with Tibet: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. Pahad is the mountain region that does not generally contain snow. The mountains vary from 800 to 4,000 metres (2,600 to 13,100 ft) in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) to alpine climates above 3,600 metres (11,800 ft). The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,900 to 9,800 ft), is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and very low above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), where snow occasionally falls in winter. The southern lowland plains or Terai bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Terai is the lowland region containing some hill ranges. The plains were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of the foothills called Sivalik Hills or Churia Range, cresting at 700 to 1,000 metres (2,300 to 3,280 ft), marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain. Broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys (Bhitri Tarai Upatyaka) lie north of these foothills in several places. Köppen climate classification for Nepal The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about 50 mm (2.0 in) per year.[85] This makes Nepal an earthquake-prone zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development.[86] Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean.[87] Saptakoshi, in particular, carries a huge amount of silt out of Nepal but sees extreme drop in Gradient in Bihar, causing severe floods and course changes, and is, therefore, known as the sorrow of Bihar. Severe flooding and landslides cause deaths and disease, destroy farmlands and cripple the transport infrastructure of the country, during the monsoon season each year. Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres (3,900 to 7,900 ft), the cold zone 2,400 to 3,600 metres (7,900 to 11,800 ft), the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres (11,800 to 14,400 ft), and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft). Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia in the winter and form the northern limits of the monsoon wind patterns. Biodiversity Main article: Wildlife of Nepal See also: List of protected areas of Nepal and Community forestry in Nepal This land cover map of Nepal using Landsat 30 m (2010) data shows forest cover as the dominant type of land cover in Nepal.[88] Nepal contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals, relative to its size.[89][90] Nepal, in its entirety, forms the western portion of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, with notable biocultural diversity.[91] The dramatic differences in elevation found in Nepal (60 m from sea level in the Terai plains, to 8,848 m Mount Everest)[92] result in a variety of biomes.[89] The Eastern half of Nepal is richer in biodiversity as it receives more rain, compared to western parts, where arctic desert-type conditions are more common at higher elevations.[90] Nepal is a habitat for 4.0% of all mammal species, 8.9% of bird species, 1.0% of reptile species, 2.5% of amphibian species, 1.9% of fish species, 3.7% of butterfly species, 0.5% of moth species and 0.4% of spider species.[90] In its 35 forest-types and 118 ecosystems,[89][h] Nepal harbours 2% of the flowering plant species, 3% of pteridophytes and 6% of bryophytes.[90] The greater one-horned rhinoceros roams the sub-tropical grasslands of the Terai plains. Nepal's forest cover is 59,624 km2 (23,021 sq mi), 40.36% of the country's total land area, with an additional 4.38% of scrubland, for a total forested area of 44.74%, an increase of 5% since the turn of the millennium.[93] The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.23/10, ranking it 45th globally out of 172 countries.[94] In the southern plains, Terai–Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion contains some of the world's tallest grasses as well as Sal forests, tropical evergreen forests and tropical riverine deciduous forests.[95] In the lower hills (700 m – 2,000 m), subtropical and temperate deciduous mixed forests containing mostly Sal (in the lower altitudes), Chilaune and Katus, as well as subtropical pine forest dominated by chir pine are common. The middle hills (2,000 m – 3,000 m) are dominated by oak and rhododendron. Subalpine coniferous forests cover the 3,000 m to 3,500 m range, dominated by oak (particularly in the west), Eastern Himalayan fir, Himalayan pine and Himalayan hemlock; rhododendron is common as well. Above 3,500 m in the west and 4,000 m in the east, coniferous trees give way to rhododendron-dominated alpine shrubs and meadows.[90] Among the notable trees, are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in traditional herbal medicine,[96] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepal,[97] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[98] and under which Gautam Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[99] The Himalayan monal (Danphe), the national bird of Nepal,[100] nests high in the Himalayas. Most of the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest of the lower Himalayan region is descended from the Tethyan Tertiary flora.[101] As the Indian Plate collided with Eurasia forming and raising the Himalayas, the arid and semi-arid Mediterranean flora was pushed up and adapted to the more alpine climate over the next 40–50 million years.[101][102] The Himalayan biodiversity hotspot was the site of mass exchange and intermingling of the Indian and Eurasian species in the neogene.[103] One mammal species (Himalayan field mouse), two each of bird and reptile species, nine amphibia, eight fish and 29 butterfly species are endemic to Nepal.[90][i] Nepal contains 107 IUCN-designated threatened species, 88 of them animal species, 18 plant species and one species of "fungi or protist" group.[105] These include the endangered Bengal tiger, the red panda, the Asiatic elephant, the Himalayan musk deer, the wild water buffalo and the South Asian river dolphin,[106] as well as the critically endangered gharial, the Bengal florican,[89][107] and the white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[108] The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Nepali wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1973 with the enactment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973,[109] was substantially expanded. Vulture restaurants[90] coupled with a ban on veterinary usage of diclofenac has seen a rise in the number of white-rumped vultures.[110][108] The community forestry programme which has seen a third of the country's population directly participate in managing a quarter of the total forested area has helped the local economies while reducing human-wildlife conflict.[111][112] The breeding programmes[113] coupled with community-assisted military patrols,[114] and a crackdown on poaching and smuggling, has seen poaching of critically endangered tigers and elephants as well as vulnerable rhinos, among others, go down to effectively zero, and their numbers have steadily increased.[115] Nepal has ten national parks, three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve, three Conservation Areas and eleven buffer zones, covering a total area of 28,959.67 km2 (11,181.39 sq mi), or 19.67% of the total land area,[116] while ten wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[117] Politics and government Politics Ram Chandra Poudel President Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prime Minister Main article: Politics of Nepal Nepal is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system.[118] Nepal used to be referred as the 'Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal' until the Nepal Government decided to use just 'Nepal' as official name of the country.[119] It has seven national political parties recognised in the federal parliament: Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, People's Socialist Party and Janamat Party.[120][118] Of the two major parties which both officially espouse democratic socialism, CPN(UML) is considered leftist while Nepali Congress is considered centrist.[121] During most of the brief periods of democratic exercise in the 1950s and the 1990s, Nepali Congress held majority of seats in parliament; CPN (UML) was its competitor in the 1990s.[122] After the Maoists entered the political process in 2006, they emerged as the third largest party.[69] In the aftermath of the 2017 elections, the first one according to the new constitution, NCP, formed by the merger of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) had become the ruling party at the federal level and in six out of seven provinces.[123] After the 2022 general election, the House of Representatives of 2nd Federal parliament was formed as hung parliament and a coalition government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal was formed in December 2022.[124] Portrait of B. P. Koirala B.P. Koirala led the 1951 revolution, became the first democratically elected Prime Minister, and after being deposed and imprisoned in 1961, spent the rest of his life fighting for democracy. In the 1930s, a vibrant underground political movement arose in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1936,[62] which was dissolved seven years later, following the execution of the four great martyrs. Around the same time, Nepalis involved in the Indian independence movement started organizing into political parties, leading to the birth of Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal.[125] As communism was trying to find its footing, Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Rana regime in 1951 and enjoyed the overwhelming support of the electorate.[126] In the partyless Panchayat system initiated in 1962 by King Mahendra, monarchy loyalists took turns leading the government; political leaders remained underground, exiled or in prison.[62] A communist insurgency was crushed in its cradle in the 1970s, which led to the eventual coalescence of hitherto scattered communist factions under the United Left Front. After the joint civil resistance launched by the United Left Front and Nepali Congress overthrew the Panchayat in 1990,[126][127] the Front became CPN (UML), adopted multi-party democracy, and in the brief period, it was in government, introduced welfare programmes that remain popular.[122] After the Maoist Party joined mainstream politics, in the aftermath of the peaceful revolution of 2006, it also adopted multi-party democracy as its official line. The transition period between 2006 and 2015 saw sustained protests from the newly formed ethnocentric nationalist movements, principal among them the Madhes Movement. Government Main articles: Government of Nepal and Constitution of Nepal Nepal is governed according to the Constitution of Nepal. It defines Nepal as having multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-cultural characteristics with common aspirations of people living in diverse geographical regions, and being committed to and united by a bond of allegiance to the national independence, territorial integrity, national interest, and prosperity of Nepal.[3] Singha Durbar, the seat of government in Kathmandu The Supreme Court Parliament House The Government of Nepal has three branches:[3] Executive: The form of governance is a multi-party, competitive, federal democratic republican parliamentary system based on plurality. The President appoints the parliamentary party leader of the political party with the majority in the House of Representatives as Prime Minister, who forms the Council of ministers that exercises the executive power. Legislature: The Legislature of Nepal, called the Federal Parliament, consists of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. The House of Representatives consists of 275 members elected through a mixed electoral system and has a term of five years. The National Assembly, consisting of 59 members elected by provincial electoral colleges, is a permanent house; a third of its members are elected every two years for a six-year term.[128] Judiciary: Nepal has a unitary three-tier independent judiciary that comprises the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, headed by the Chief Justice, seven High Courts, one in each province, the highest court at the provincial level, and 77 district courts, one in each district. The municipal councils can convene local judicial bodies to resolve disputes and render non-binding verdicts in cases not involving actionable crime. The actions and proceedings of the local judicial bodies may be guided and countermanded by the district courts.[3] Administrative divisions Main article: Administrative divisions of Nepal SudurpashchimKarnaliLumbiniGandakiBagmatiMadheshKoshi Province Capital Governor Chief Minister Districts Area (km2) Population Census 2011 Population Census 2021 Density (people/km2) 2021 Human Development Index Map Koshi Province Biratnagar Somnath Adhikari Hikmat Kumar Karki 14 25,905 4,534,943 4,972,021 192 0.553 Madhesh Province Janakpur Hari Shankar Mishra Saroj Yadav 8 9,661 5,404,145 6,126,288 634 0.485 Bagmati Province Hetauda Yadav Chandra Sharma Salikram Jamkattel 13 20,300 5,529,452 6,084,042 300 0.560 Gandaki Province Pokhara Prithvi Man Gurung Khagaraj Adhikari 11 21,856 2,403,757 2,479,745 113 0.567 Lumbini Province Deukhuri Amik Sherchan Leela GIri 12 19,707 4,499,272 5,124,225 260 0.519 Karnali Province Birendranagar Govinda Prasad Kalauni Raj Kumar Sharma 10 30,213 1,570,418 1,694,889 56 0.469 Sudurpashchim Province Godawari Ganga Prasad Yadav Rajendra Singh Rawal 9 19,539 2,552,517 2,711,270 139 0.478 Nepal Kathmandu President Ram Chandra Poudel Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 77 147,181 26,494,504 29,192,480 198 0.579 Nepal is a federal republic comprising 7 provinces. Each province is composed of 8 to 14 districts. The districts, in turn, comprise local units known as urban and rural municipalities.[3] There is a total of 753 local units which includes 6 metropolitan municipalities, 11 sub-metropolitan municipalities and 276 municipalities for a total of 293 urban municipalities, and 460 rural municipalities.[129] Each local unit is composed of wards. There are 6,743 wards in total. The local governments enjoy executive and legislative as well as limited judicial powers in their local jurisdiction. The provinces have unicameral parliamentary Westminster system of governance. The local and provincial governments exercise some absolute powers and some powers shared with provincial or federal government. The district coordination committee, a committee composed of all elected officials from the local governments in the district, has a very limited role.[3][129] Laws and law enforcement Main article: Law enforcement in Nepal Nepal has made progress with regard to minority rights in recent years. The Constitution of Nepal is the supreme law of the land, and any other laws contradicting it are automatically invalid to the extent of the contradiction.[130] The specific legal provisions are codified as Civil Code and Criminal Code, accompanied by Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code respectively.[131] The Supreme Court is the highest authority in the interpretation of laws and it can direct the parliament to amend or enact new laws as required. Nepali laws are considered generally more progressive compared to other developing countries, and in some instances, many developed ones. The death penalty has been abolished.[132] Nepal also has made progress in LGBT rights and gender equality. It recognises marital rape and supports abortion rights. Owing to a rise in sex-selective abortion, however, constraints have been introduced. Nepal is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, Conventions/Treaties on the prohibition of Biological, Chemical and Nuclear weapons,[133] International Labour Organization Fundamental Conventions, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Paris climate accord. Some legal provisions, guided by socio-economic, cultural and religious sensibilities, remain discriminatory. There is gender-based discrimination against foreign nationals married to Nepali citizens.[j] Paternal lineage of a person is valued and required in legal documents. Many laws remain unenforced in practice. Traffic Police personnel manually direct traffic at the busiest roads and junctions. Nepal Police is the primary law enforcement agency. It is an independent organisation under the command of the Inspector General, who is appointed by and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. In addition to maintaining law and order, it is responsible for the management of road traffic, which is undertaken by Nepal Traffic Police. Nepal Armed Police Force, a separate paramilitary police organisation, works in cooperation with Nepal police in routine security matters; it is intended for crowd control, counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism actions, and other internal matters where the use of force may be necessary. The Crime Investigation Department of Nepal Police specialises in criminal investigation and forensic analysis.[135][136][137][138][139] The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority is an independent investigative agency that investigates and prosecutes cases related to corruption, bribery and abuses of authority. At 2.16 per 100,000 in 2016, Nepal's intentional homicide rate is much lower than average; police data indicates a steady increase in the crime rate in recent years.[140] Nepal was ranked 76 out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI) in 2019.[141] Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Nepal Gurkha Memorial, London Nepal depends on diplomacy for national defence. It maintains a policy of neutrality between its neighbours, has amicable relations with other countries in the region, and has a policy of non-alignment at the global stage. Nepal is a member of SAARC, UN, WTO, BIMSTEC and ACD, among others. It has bilateral diplomatic relations with 167 countries and the EU,[142] has embassies in 30 countries[143] and six consulates,[144] while 25 countries maintain embassies in Nepal, and more than 80 others maintain non-residential diplomatic missions.[145] Nepal is one of the major contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions, having contributed more than 119,000 personnel to 42 missions since 1958.[146] Nepali people have a reputation for honesty, loyalty and bravery, which has led to them serving as legendary Gurkha warriors in the Indian and British armies for the last 200 years, with service in both world wars, India-Pakistan wars as well as Afghanistan and Iraq,[147] though Nepal was not directly involved in any of those conflicts, and winning the highest military awards, including the Victoria Cross and the Param Vir Chakra.[148] Nepal is one of the major contributors to UN peacekeeping missions. Nepal pursues a policy of "balanced relations" with the two giant immediate neighbours, India and China;[149][150] the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India provides for a much closer relationship.[151] Nepal and India share an open border with free movement of people, religious, cultural and marital ties. India is Nepal's largest trading partner, which it depends upon for all of its oil and gas, and a number of essential goods. Nepalis can own property in India, while Indians are free to live and work in Nepal.[152] Relations between India and Nepal, though very close, have faced difficulties stemming from territorial disputes,[153] economics, and the problems inherent in big power-small power relations.[154][failed verification] Nepal established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on 1 August 1955, and signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1960; relations since have been based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Nepal maintains neutrality in conflicts between China and India. It remains firmly committed to the One China Policy and is known to curb anti-China activities from the Tibetan refugees in Nepal.[155][156] Citizens of both countries can cross the border and travel as far as 30 km without a visa.[157] China is viewed favourably in Nepal owing to the absence of any border disputes or serious interference in internal politics, coupled with its assistance in infrastructure development and aid during emergencies; favourability has increased since China helped Nepal during the 2015 economic blockade imposed by India.[158] Subsequently, China granted Nepal access to its ports for third-country trade, and Nepal joined China's Belt and Road Initiative.[159] Nepal emphasises greater cooperation in South Asia and actively pushed for the establishment of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the permanent secretariat of which, is hosted in Kathmandu.[160] Nepal was one of the first countries to recognise an independent Bangladesh, and the two countries seek to enhance greater cooperation, on trade and water management; seaports in Bangladesh, being closer, are seen as viable alternatives to India's monopoly on Nepal's third-country trade.[161] Nepal was the first South Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and the countries enjoy a strong relationship;[162] it recognises the rights of the Palestinians, having voted in favour of its recognition at the UN and against the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[163] Countries that Nepal maintains a close relationship with, include the most generous donors and development partners—the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Japan and Norway, among others.[164] Military and intelligence Main article: Nepali Army The multipurpose Kukri knife (top) is the signature weapon of the Nepali armed forces, and is used by the Gurkhas, Nepal Army, Police and even security guards. The President is the supreme commander of the Nepali Army; its routine management is handled by the Ministry of Defence. The military expenditure for 2018 was $398.5 million,[165] around 1.4% of GDP.[166] An almost exclusively ground infantry force, Nepal Army numbers at less than one hundred thousand;[167][168][169] recruitment is voluntary.[170] It has few aircraft, mainly helicopters, primarily used for transport, patrol, and search and rescue.[171] Directorate of Military Intelligence under Nepal Army serves as the military intelligence agency;[172] National Investigation Department tasked with national and international intelligence gathering, is independent.[167] Nepal Army is primarily used for routine security of critical assets, an anti-poaching patrol of national parks, counterinsurgency, and search and rescue during natural disasters;[173] it also undertakes major construction projects.[174] There are no discriminatory policies on recruitment into the army, but it is dominated by men from elite Pahari warrior castes.[175][176] Economy Main article: Economy of Nepal Nepal is a developing country, which ranks 165th in the world[k] in nominal GDP per capita[177] and 162nd[l] in GDP per capita at PPP.[178] Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019 was $34.186 billion.[179][180] With an annual growth rate calculated at 6.6% in 2019,[181] and expected 2.89% in 2021,[182] Nepal is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.[citation needed] Nepal has been a member of WTO since 23 April 2004.[183] The 16.8-million-worker Nepali labour force is the 37th largest in the world.[184] The primary sector makes up 27.59% of GDP, the secondary sector 14.6%, and the tertiary sector 57.81%.[185] Nepal's foreign exchange remittances of US$8.1 billion in 2018, the 19th largest in the world and constituting 28.0% of GDP,[186] were contributed to its economy by millions of workers primarily in India, the Middle East and East Asia, almost all of them unskilled labourers.[187][188] Major agricultural products include cereals (barley, maize, millet, paddy and wheat), oilseed, potato, pulses, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, milk and water buffalo meat.[189][190] Major industries include tourism, carpets, textiles, cigarettes, cement, brick, as well as small rice, jute, sugar and oilseed mills.[189] Nepal's international trade greatly expanded in 1951 with the establishment of democracy; liberalisation began in 1985 and picked up pace after 1990. By the fiscal year 2016/17, Nepal's foreign trade amounted Rs 1.06 trillion, a twenty-three folds increase from Rs 45.6 billion in 1990/91. More than 60% of Nepal's trade is with India. Major exports include readymade garment, carpet, pulses, handicrafts, leather, medicinal herbs, and paper products, which account for 90% of the total. Major imports include various finished and semi-finished goods, raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemical fertilisers, electrical and electronic devices, petroleum products, gold, and readymade garments.[191] Inflation was at 4.5% in 2019.[192] Foreign exchange reserves were at US$9.5 billion in July 2019, equivalent to 7.8 months of imports.[192] Real GDP per capita development of Nepal Nepal has made significant progress in poverty reduction bringing the population below the international poverty line (US$1.90 per person per day) from 15% in 2010 to just 9.3% in 2018, although vulnerability remains extremely high, with almost 32% of the population living on between US$1.90 and US$3.20 per person per day.[192] Nepal has made improvement in sectors like nutrition, child mortality, electricity, improved flooring and assets. Under the current trend, Nepal is expected to eradicate poverty within 20 years.[193][194] The agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable as it is highly dependent on the monsoon rains, with just 28% of the arable land being irrigated, As of 2014.[195] Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18%, and manufacturing and craft-based industry 6%.[196] Private investment, consumption, tourism and agriculture are the principal contributors to economic growth.[192] The government's budget is about $13.71 billion (FY 2019/20);[197] expenditure of infrastructure development budget, most of it contributed by foreign aid, usually fails to meet the target.[198] The country receives foreign aid from the UK,[199][200] India, Japan, the US, the EU, China, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries. The Nepali rupee has been tied to the Indian rupee at an exchange rate of 1.6 for many years. Per capita income is $1,004.[201] The distribution of wealth among the Nepalis is consistent with that in many developed and developing countries: the highest 10% of households control 39.1% of the national wealth and the lowest 10% control only 2.6%. European Union (EU) (46.13%), the US (17.4%), and Germany (7.1%) are its main export partners; they mainly buy Nepali ready-made garments (RMG).[202] Nepal's import partners include India (47.5%), the United Arab Emirates (11.2%), China (10.7%), Saudi Arabia (4.9%), and Singapore (4%). Besides having landlocked, rugged geography, few tangible natural resources and poor infrastructure, the ineffective post-1950 government and the long-running civil war are also factors in stunting the country's economic growth and development.[203][204][205] Debt bondage even involving debtors' children has been a persistent social problem in the western hills and the Terai, with an estimated 234,600 people or 0.82% of the population considered as enslaved, by The Global Slavery Index in 2016.[206] In 2022, Nepal limited import of non-essential goods after its foreign currency reserves dropped. COVID-19 pandemic caused a decline in tourism spending and the money sent home by Nepalis working abroad, which in turn lowered country's foreign currency reserve.[207] Tourism Tourists view a greater one-horned rhinoceros from an elephant in Chitwan National Park. Main article: Tourism in Nepal Tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in Nepal, employing more than a million people and contributing 7.9% of the total GDP.[208] The number of international visitors crossed one million in 2018 for the first time (not counting Indian tourists arriving by land).[208][209] Nepal's share of visitors to South Asia is about 6%, and they spend much less on average, with Nepal sharing 1.7% of the earnings.[210] Premier destinations include Pokhara, the Annapurna trekking circuit and the four UNESCO world heritage sites—Lumbini, Sagarmatha National Park (home to Mount Everest), seven sites in the Kathmandu Valley collectively listed as one, and Chitwan National Park. Most of Nepal's mountaineering earning comes from Mount Everest, which is more accessible from the Nepalese side.[citation needed] Nepal, officially opened to westerners in 1951, became a popular destination at the end of the hippie trail, during the 1960s and 1970s. The industry, disrupted by the civil war in the 1990s, has since recovered but faces challenges to growth, owing to a lack of proper facilities for high-end tourism termed the "infrastructure bottleneck", mounting issues facing Nepal Airlines, and a handful of destinations properly developed and marketed.[citation needed] The home-stay tourism, in which cultural and eco-tourists stay as paying guests in the homes of indigenous people, has seen some success.[211] Foreign employment While adults are employed in slavery-like conditions abroad, hundreds of thousands of children in the country are employed as child labour (not including the agricultural sector). The rate of unemployment and underemployment exceeds half of the working-age population,[212] driving millions to seek employment abroad, mainly in India, the Gulf, and East Asia. Mostly unskilled, uneducated, and indebted to loan sharks, these workers are swindled by the manpower companies and sent to exploitative employers or war-ridden countries under fraudulent contracts.[213][214] They have their passports seized, to be returned when the employer grants them leave or terminates their contracts. Most do not get paid minimum wage,[215] and many are forced to forfeit all or part of the wages.[216] Many Nepalis work in extremely unsafe conditions; an average of two workers die each day.[217] Due to restrictions placed on women, many depend on traffickers to get out of the country, and end up victims of violence and abuse.[218] Many Nepalese are believed to be working under slavery-like conditions, and Nepal spends billions of rupees rescuing stranded workers, on remuneration to the indebted families of the dead, and in legal costs for those arrested in foreign countries.[219][220] Though millions have raised themselves out of poverty, due to a lack of entrepreneurial skills, the remittance is largely spent on real estate and consumption.[221][220] Infrastructure Energy Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Dam. Nepal has significant potential to generate hydropower, which it plans to export across South Asia. The bulk of energy in Nepal comes from biomass (80%) and imported fossil fuels (16%).[222] Most of the final energy consumption goes to the residential sector (84%) followed by transport (7%) and industry (6%); the transport and industry sectors have been expanding rapidly in recent years.[222] Except for some lignite deposits, Nepal has no known oil, gas or coal deposits.[222] All commercial fossil fuels (mainly oil, LPG and coal) are imported, spending 129% of the country's total export revenue.[223] Only about 1% of the energy need is fulfilled by electricity.[222] The perennial nature of Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal conditions for the development of hydroelectric projects. Estimates put Nepal's economically feasible hydro-power potential at approximately 42,000 MW.[222] Nepal has been able to exploit only about 1,100 MW. As most of it is generated from run-of-river (ROR) plants, the actual power produced is much lower in the dry winter months when peak demand can reach as high as 1,200 MW, and Nepal needs to import as much as 650 MW from India to meet the demands.[224] Major hydro-power projects suffer delays and setbacks.[225][226][227] Nepal's electrification rate (76%) is comparable to that of other countries in the region but there is significant disparity between the rural (72%) and urban (97%) areas.[222] The position of the power sector remains unsatisfactory because of high tariffs, high system losses, high generation costs, high overheads, over staffing, and lower domestic demand.[228] Transportation Nepal remains isolated from the world's major land, air and sea transport routes, although, within the country, aviation is in a better state, with 47 airports, 11 of them with paved runways;[229] flights are frequent and support a sizeable traffic. The hilly and mountainous terrain in the northern two-thirds of the country has made the building of roads and other infrastructure difficult and expensive. As of 2016, there were just over 11,890 km (7,388 mi) of paved roads, 16,100 km (10,004 mi) of unpaved roads, and just 59 km (37 mi) of railway line in the south.[229] As of 2018, all district headquarters (except Simikot) had been connected to the road network.[174] Most of the rural roads are not operable during the rainy season; even national highways regularly become inoperable.[230] Nepal depends almost entirely on assistance from countries like China, India and Japan, for building, maintenance and expansion of the road network. The only practical seaport of entry for goods bound for Kathmandu is Kolkata in India. The national carrier, Nepal Airlines, is in poor shape due to mismanagement and corruption, and has been blacklisted by the EU.[231] Internally, the poor state of development of the road system makes access to markets, schools, and health clinics a challenge.[203] Communication According to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority MIS August 2019 report, voice telephony subscription rate was at 2.70% of total population for fixed phones and 138.59% for mobile; 98% of all voice telephony was through mobile phones.[232] Similarly, while an estimated 14.52% had access to fixed broadband, an additional 52.71% were accessing the internet using their mobile data subscriptions; almost 15 million of them with 3G or better.[232] The mobile voice telephony and broadband market was dominated by two telecommunications companies, the state-owned Nepal Telecom (55%) and the private multinational, Ncell (40%).[232] Of the 21% market share enjoyed by fixed broadband, around 25% was again shared by Nepal Telecom, with the rest going to the private Internet Service Providers.[232] Although there is high disparity in penetration rate between the rural and urban areas, mobile service has reached 75 districts of the country covering 90% of land area, and broadband access is expected to reach 90% of the population by 2020.[229] Media Main article: Mass media in Nepal As of 2019, the state operates three television stations as well as national and regional radio stations. There are 117 private TV channels and 736 FM radio stations licensed for operation, at least 314 of them, community radio stations.[229] According to the 2011 census, the percentage of households possessing radio was 50.82%, television 36.45%, cable TV 19.33%, and computer 7.28%.[233] According to the Press Council Nepal classification, as of 2017 of the 833 publications producing original content, ten national dailies and weeklies are rated A+ class.[234] In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked Nepal at 106th in the world in terms of press freedom.[235] Demographics Main article: Demographics of Nepal Historical population Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1911 5,638,749 — 1920 5,573,788 −0.13% 1930 5,532,574 −0.07% 1941 6,283,649 +1.16% 1952/54 8,256,625 +2.51% 1961 9,412,996 +1.47% 1971 11,555,983 +2.07% 1981 15,022,839 +2.66% 1991 18,491,097 +2.10% 2001 23,151,423 +2.27% 2011 26,494,504 +1.36% 2021 29,192,480 +0.97% Source:Census in Nepal The citizens of Nepal are known as Nepali or Nepalese. The Nepali are descendants of three major migrations from India, Tibet and North Burma, and the Chinese province of Yunnan via Assam. Among the earliest inhabitants were the Kirat of the eastern region, Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, aboriginal Tharus of the Terai plains and the Khas Pahari people of the far-western hills. Despite the migration of a significant section of the population to the Terai in recent years, the majority of Nepalese still live in the central highlands, and the northern mountains are sparsely populated. Nepal is a multicultural and multiethnic country, home to 125 distinct ethnic groups, speaking 123 different mother tongues and following a number of indigenous and folk religions in addition to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.[5] According to the 2011 census, Nepal's population was 26.5 million, almost a threefold increase from nine million in 1950. From 2001 to 2011, the average family size declined from 5.44 to 4.9. The census also noted some 1.9 million absentee people, over a million more than in 2001; most are male labourers employed overseas. This correlated with the drop in sex ratio to 94.2 from 99.8 for 2001.[236] The annual population growth rate was 1.35% between 2001 and 2011, compared to an average of 2.25% between 1961 and 2001; also attributed to the absentee population.[237] Nepal is one of the ten least urbanised, and the ten fastest urbanizing countries in the world. As of 2014, an estimated 18.3% of the population lived in urban areas. Urbanisation rate is high in the Terai, doon valleys of the inner Terai and valleys of the middle hills, but low in the high Himalayas. Similarly, the rate is higher in central and eastern Nepal compared to further west.[238] The capital, Kathmandu, nicknamed the "City of temples", is the largest city in the country and the cultural and economic heart. Other large cities in Nepal include Pokhara, Biratnagar, Lalitpur, Bharatpur, Birgunj, Dharan, Hetauda and Nepalgunj. Congestion, pollution and drinking water shortage are some of the major problems facing the rapidly growing cities, most prominently the Kathmandu Valley. Largest cities vte Largest cities or towns in Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics 2021 Nepal census[239] Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop. Kathmandu Kathmandu Pokhara Pokhara 1 Kathmandu Bagmati 845,767 11 Janakpur Madhesh 195,438 Bharatpur Bharatpur Lalitpur Lalitpur 2 Pokhara Gandaki 518,452 12 Butwal Lumbini 195,054 3 Bharatpur Bagmati 369,377 13 Tulsipur Lumbini 180,734 4 Lalitpur Bagmati 299,843 14 Budhanilkantha Bagmati 179,688 5 Birgunj Madhesh 268,273 15 Dharan Koshi 173,096 6 Biratnagar Koshi 244,750 16 Nepalgunj Lumbini 166,258 7 Dhangadhi Sudurpashchim 204,788 17 Birendranagar Karnali 154,886 8 Ghorahi Lumbini 201,079 18 Tarakeshwar Bagmati 151,508 9 Itahari Koshi 198,098 19 Gokarneshwar Bagmati 151,200 10 Hetauda Bagmati 195,951 20 Tilottama Lumbini 149,657 Language Main article: Languages of Nepal Nepal's diverse linguistic heritage stems from three major language groups: Indo-Aryan, Sino-Tibetan and various indigenous language isolates. The major languages of Nepal (percent spoken as native language) according to the 2011 census are Nepali (44.6%), Maithili (11.7%), Bhojpuri (6.0%), Tharu (5.8%), Tamang (5.1%), Nepal Bhasa (3.2%), Bajjika (3%) and Magar (3.0%), Doteli (3.0%), Urdu (2.6%), Awadhi (1.89%), and Sunwar. Nepal is home to at least four indigenous sign languages.[citation needed] Descendent of Sanskrit, Nepali is written in Devanagari script. It is the official language and serves as lingua franca among Nepali of different ethnolinguistic groups. The regional languages Maithili, Awadhi and Bhojpuri are spoken in the southern Terai region; Urdu is common among Nepali Muslims. Varieties of Tibetan are spoken in and north of the higher Himalaya where standard literary Tibetan is widely understood by those with religious education. Local dialects in the Terai and hills are mostly unwritten with efforts underway to develop systems for writing many in Devanagari or the Roman alphabet.[citation needed] Religion Main article: Religion in Nepal Sadhus in Pashupatinath Temple Nepal is a secular country, as declared by the Constitution of Nepal 2012 (Part 1, Article 4), where secularism 'means religious, cultural freedom, along with the protection of religion, culture handed down from time immemorial (सनातन)'.[240][241] The 2011 census reported that the religion with the largest number of followers in Nepal was Hinduism (81.3% of the population), followed by Buddhism (9%); the remaining were Islam (4.4%), Kirant (3.1%), Christianity (1.4%) and Prakriti or nature worship (0.5%).[242] By percentage of population, Nepal has the largest population of Hindus in the world.[243] Nepal was officially a Hindu Kingdom until recently, and Shiva was considered the guardian deity of the country.[244] Although many government policies throughout history have disregarded or marginalised minority religions, Nepalese societies generally enjoy religious tolerance and harmony among all religions, with only isolated incidents of religiously motivated violence.[245][246] Nepal's constitution does not give anyone the right to convert any person to another religion. Nepal also passed a more stringent anti-conversion law on 2017.[247] Nepal has the second-largest number of Hindus in the world after India.[248] Education Main article: Education in Nepal Nepal entered modernity in 1951 with a literacy rate of 5% and about 10,000 students enrolled in 300 schools.[citation needed] By 2017, there were more than seven million students enrolled in 35,601 schools.[249] The overall literacy rate (for population age five years and above) increased from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.9% in 2011.[5] The net primary enrolment rate reached 97% by 2017,[250][251] yet enrolment was less than 60% at the secondary level (grades 9 –12),[252] and around 12% at the tertiary level.[252] Though there is significant gender disparity in overall literacy rate,[5] girls have overtaken boys in enrolment to all levels of education.[252] Nepal has eleven universities and four independent science academies.[249] Nepal was ranked 108th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023.[253][254] Lack of proper infrastructures and teaching materials, and a high student-to-teacher ratio, as well as politicisation of school management committees[255] and partisan unionisation among both students and teachers,[256] present a hurdle to progress. Free basic education is guaranteed in the constitution but the programme lacks funding for effective implementation.[257] Government has scholarship programmes for girls and disabled students as well as the children of martyrs, marginalised communities and the poor.[258][259] Tens of thousands of Nepali students leave the country every year in search of better education and work, with half of them never returning.[260][261] Health Main article: Health in Nepal Historical development of life expectancy in Nepal Health care services in Nepal are provided by both the public and private sectors. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 71 years as of 2017, 153rd highest in the world,[262] up from 54 years in the 1990s and 35 years in 1950.[263][264] Two-thirds of all deaths are due to non-communicable diseases; heart disease is the leading cause of death.[265] While sedentary lifestyle, imbalanced diet and consumption of tobacco and alcohol has contributed in the rise of non-communicable diseases, many lose their life to communicable and treatable diseases caused by poor sanitation and malnutrition due to a lack of education, awareness and access to healthcare services.[265][266] Nepal has made great progress in maternal and child health. 95% of children have access to iodised salt, and 86% of children aged 6 – 59 months receive Vitamin A prophylaxis.[267] Stunting, underweight and wasting has been reduced significantly;[267] malnutrition, at 43% among children under five, is extremely high.[268] Anemia in women and children increased between 2011 and 2016, reaching 41% and 53% respectively.[268] Low birth weight is at 27% while breastfeeding is at 65%.[268] Nepal has reduced maternal mortality rate to 229,[269] from 901 in 1990;[270][269] infant mortality is down to 32.2 per thousand live births compared to 139.8 in 1990.[271] Contraceptive prevalence rate is 53% but the disparity rate between rural and urban areas is high due to a lack of awareness and easy access.[272] Progress in health is driven by strong government initiative in cooperation with NGOs and INGOs. Public health centres provide 72 essential medicines free of cost. In addition, the public health insurance plan initiated in 2016 which covers health treatments of up to Rs 50,000 for five members of a family, for a premium of Rs 2500 per year, has seen limited success, and is expected to expand.[273] By paying stipends for four antenatal visits to health centres and hospitalised delivery, Nepal decreased home-births from 81% in 2006[270] to 41% in 2016.[274] School meal programmes have improved education as well as nutrition metrics among children.[275] Toilet building subsidies under the ambitious "one household-one toilet" programme has seen toilet prevalence rate reach 99% in 2019, from just 6% in 1990.[276] Immigrants and refugees Main article: Demographics of Nepal § Foreign population in Nepal Nepal has a long tradition of accepting immigrants and refugees.[277] In modern times, Tibetans and Bhutanese have constituted a majority of refugees in Nepal. Tibetan refugees began arriving in 1959,[278] and many more cross into Nepal every year.[279] The Bhutanese Lhotsampa refugees began arriving in the 1980s and numbered more than 110,000 by the 2000s. Most of them have been resettled in third countries.[280] In late 2018, Nepal had a total of 20,800 confirmed refugees, 64% of them Tibetan and 31% Bhutanese.[281] Economic immigrants, and refugees fleeing persecution or war, from neighbouring countries, Africa and the Middle East, termed "urban refugees" because they live in apartments in the cities instead of refugee camps,[282][283][284] lack official recognition; the government facilitates their resettlement in third countries.[285] Around 2,000 immigrants, half of them Chinese, applied for a work permit in 2018/19. The government lacks data on Indian immigrants as they do not require permits to live and work in Nepal;[286] Government of India puts the number of Non-Resident Indians in the country at 600,000.[287] Culture Main article: Culture of Nepal A Magar couple in their ethnic dress Society Traditional Nepali society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Nepali caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in South Asia. Social classes are defined by more than a hundred endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes". Nepal declared untouchability to be illegal in 1963[288] and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace and educational institutions in urban Nepal, caste-related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[citation needed] Family values are important in the Nepali tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in Nepal, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Nepalis, with or without their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low, with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[289] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18.[290] Many Nepali festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Dashain, Tihar, Teej, Chhath, Maghi, Sakela, Holi, Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, and the Nepali new year. Symbols Main article: National symbols of Nepal National symbols Flag of Nepal Emblem Emblem of Nepal Anthem Sayaun Thunga Phulka Language All mother-tongues of Nepal Currency Nepalese rupee (रू) (NPR) Bird Himalayan monal Flower Rhododendron arboreum[292] Mammal Cow[291] Colour Crimson Sport Volleyball[293] The emblem of Nepal depicts the snowy Himalayas, the forested hills, and the fertile Terai, supported by a wreath of rhododendrons, with the national flag at the crest and in the foreground, a plain white map of Nepal below it, and a man's and woman's right hands joined to signify gender equality. At the bottom is the national motto, a Sanskrit quote of patriotism attributed in Nepali folklore to Lord Rama, written in Devanagari script—"Mother and motherland are greater than heaven".[citation needed] Nepal's flag is the only national flag in the world that is not rectangular in shape.[294] The constitution contains instructions for a Geometric Construction of the double-pennant flag.[295] According to its official description, the crimson in the flag stands for victory in war or courage, and is also the colour of the rhododendron. The flag's blue border signifies Nepali people's desire for peace. The moon on the flag is a symbol of the peaceful and calm nature of Nepalis, while the sun represents the aggressiveness of Nepali warriors. The president is the symbol of national unity. The martyrs are the symbols of patriotism. Commanders of the Anglo-Nepalese war, Amar Singh Thapa, Bhakti Thapa, and Balbhadra Kunwar are considered war heroes. A special designation of "National hero" has been conferred to 16 people from Nepal's history for their exceptional contributions to the prestige of Nepal. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal, is held in high regard and considered "Father of the Nation" by many.[296][297] Art and architecture Main article: Architecture of Nepal Clockwise from top-left: (a) Nyatapola, a five storied pagoda in Bhaktapur, bejewelled with characteristic stone, metal and wood craftsmanship, has survived at least four major earthquakes.[298] Pagodas, now an indispensable part of East Asian architecture, are conjectured to have been transmitted to China from Nepal. (b) Nepali stonecraft in a royal water spout (c) A traditional Newar "Ankhijhyal" window in the form of a peacock The oldest known examples of architecture in Nepal are stupas of early Buddhist constructions in and around Kapilvastu in south-western Nepal, and those constructed by Ashoka in the Kathmandu Valley c. 250 BC. The characteristic architecture associated exclusively with Nepal was developed and refined by Newa artisans of the Kathmandu Valley starting no later than the Lichchhavi period. A Tang dynasty Chinese travel book, probably based on records from c. 650 AD, describes contemporary Nepali architecture, predominantly built with wood, as rich in artistry, as well as wood and metal sculpture. It describes a magnificent seven-storied pagoda in the middle of a palace, with copper-tiled roofs, its balustrade, grills, columns and beams set about with fine and precious stones, and four golden sculptures of Makaras in the four corners of the base spouting water from their mouths like a fountain, supplied by copper pipes connected to the runnels at the top of the tower. Later Chinese chronicles describe Nepal's king's palace as an immense structure with many roofs, suggesting that the Chinese were not yet familiar with the pagoda architecture, which has now become one of the chief characteristics of Chinese architecture. A typical pagoda temple is built with wood, every piece of it finely carved with geometrical patterns or images of gods, goddesses, mythical beings and beasts. The roofs usually tiled with clay, and sometimes gold plated, diminish in proportion successively until the topmost roof is reached which is itself ensigned by a golden finial. The base is usually composed of rectangular terraces of finely carved stone; the entrance is usually guarded by stone sculptures of conventional figures. Bronze and copper craftsmanship observable in the sculpture of deities and beasts, decorations of doors and windows and the finials of buildings, as well as items of everyday use is found to be of equal splendour. The most well-developed of Nepali painting traditions is the thanka or paubha painting tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, practised in Nepal by the Buddhist monks and Newar artisans. Changu Narayan Temple, built c. 4th century AD has probably the finest of Nepali woodcraft; the Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares are the culmination of Nepali art and architecture, showcasing Nepali wood, metal and stone craftsmanship refined over two millennia.[299] The "ankhijhyal" window, that allow a one-way view of the outside world, is an example of unique Nepali woodcraft, found in building structures, domestic and public alike, ancient and modern. Many cultures paint the walls of their homes with regular patterns, figures of gods and beasts and religious symbols; others paint their walls plain, often with clay or chernozem contrasted with yellow soil or limestone. The roofs of religious as well as domestic structures project considerably, presumably to provide protection from the sun and the rain. The timber of domestic structures are finely carved as with their religious counterparts.[299] Looting of the cultural heritage of Nepal Cultural looting is a crisis in Nepal despite efforts to combat it.[300][301][302] Volunteers working for the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign have helped recover artifacts.[303] In 2022 Barakat Gallery's London branch relinquished 16th-century carved wooden Torana, a ceremonial gateway, and the 17th-century stone statue of a kneeling devotee, both taken from sacred sites near Kathmandu.[304] In 2023 Nepalese artifacts suspected of having been looted were found in the Art Institute of Chicago,[305] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[306][307] the Dallas Museum of Art,[308] the Rubin Museum[309] and other museums, and turned up in auctions at Christie's,[310] Bonhams[311] and other auction houses. Literature and the performing arts Main articles: Nepalese literature, Music of Nepal, and Cinema of Nepal Bhanubhakta Acharya, Nepali writer who translated the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana in the Nepali language Nepal's literature was closely intertwined with that of the rest of South Asia until its unification into a modern kingdom. Literary works, which were written in Sanskrit by Brahmin priests educated and sometimes also based in Varanasi, included religious texts and other fantasies involving kings, gods and demons.[312] The oldest extant Nepali language text is dated to the 13th century but except for the epigraphic material, Nepali language literature older than the 17th century haven't been found. Newar literature dates back almost 500 years.[297] The modern history of Nepali literature begins with Bhanubhakta Acharya (1814–1868), who for the first time composed major and influential works in Nepali, the language accessible to the masses, most prominently, the Bhanubhakta Ramayana, a translation of the ancient Hindu epic.[312] By the end of the nineteenth century, Motiram Bhatta had published print editions of the works of Acharya, and through his efforts, single-handedly popularised and propelled Nepali language literature into modernity.[297] By the mid-twentieth century, Nepali literature was no longer limited to the Hindu literary traditions. Influenced by western literary traditions, writers in this period started producing literary works addressing the contemporary social problems,[313] while many others continued to enrich Nepali poetic traditions with authentic Nepali poetry. Newar literature also emerged as a premier literary tradition. After the advent of democracy in 1951, Nepali literature flourished. Literary works in many other languages began to be produced. Nepali literature continued to modernise, and in recent years, has been strongly influenced by the post civil-war Nepali experience as well as global literary traditions.[314][315][316][297] Maruni, Lakhey, Sakela, Kauda and Tamang Selo are some examples of the traditional Nepali music and dance in the hilly regions of Nepal. Nepali film industry is known as "Kollywood".[317] Nepal Academy is the foremost institution for the promotion of arts and culture in Nepal, established in 1957.[297] Clothing A Nepali man in Daura-Suruwal, coat and Dhaka topi, displays the bhoto during the Bhoto Jatra festival. The most widely worn traditional dress in Nepal, for both women and men, from ancient times until the advent of modern times, was draped.[318] For women, it eventually took the form of a sari, a single long piece of cloth, famously six yards long, and of width spanning the lower body.[318] The sari is tied around the waist and knotted at one end, wrapped around the lower body, and then over the shoulder.[318] In its more modern form, it has been used to cover the head, and sometimes the face, as a veil,[318] particularly in the Terai. It has been combined with an underskirt, or the petticoat, and tucked in the waistband for more secure fastening. It is worn with a blouse, or cholo, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end, passing over the shoulder, now serving to obscure the upper body's contours, and to cover the midriff.[318] Cholo-sari has become the attire of choice for formal occasions, official environs and festive gatherings. In its more traditional form, as part of traditional dresses and as worn in daily life while performing household chores or labour, it takes the form of a fariya or gunyu, usually shorter than a sari in length as well as breadth, and all of it wrapped around the lower body. For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[319] It too is tied around the waist and wrapped.[319] Among the Aryans, it is also wrapped once around each leg before being brought up through the legs to be tucked in at the back. Dhoti or its variants, usually worn over a langauti, constitute the lower-body garment in the traditional clothing of Tharus, Gurungs and Magars as well as the Madhesi people, among others. Other forms of traditional apparel that involve no stitching or tailoring are patukas (a length of cloth wrapped tightly over the waist by both sexes as a waistband, a part of most traditional Nepali costumes, usually with a khukuri tucked into it when worn by men), scarves like pachhyauras and majetros and shawls like the newar ga and Tibetan khata, ghumtos (the wedding veils) and various kinds of turbans (scarves worn around the head as a part of a tradition, or to keep off the sun or the cold,[319] called a pheta, pagri or sirpau). Until the beginning of the first millennium AD, the ordinary dress of people in South Asia was entirely unstitched.[320] The arrival of the Kushans from Central Asia, c. 48 AD, popularised cut and sewn garments in the style of Central Asia.[320] The simplest form of sewn clothing, Bhoto (a rudimentary vest), is a universal unisex clothing for children, and traditionally the only clothing children wear until they come of age and are given adult garb, sometimes in a ceremonial rite of passage, such as the gunyu-choli ceremony for Hindu girls. Men continue to wear bhoto through adulthood. Upper body garment for men is usually a vest such as the bhoto, or a shirt similar to the kurta, such as daura, a closed-necked double-breasted long shirt with five pleats and eight strings that serve to tie it around the body. Suruwal, simply translated as a pair of trousers, is an alternative to and, more recently, replacement for dhoti, kachhad (Magars) or lungi (Tharus); it is traditionally much wider above the knees but tapers below, to fit tightly at the ankles, and is tied to the waist with a drawstring. Modern cholos worn with sarees are usually half-sleeved and single-breasted, and do not cover the midriff. The traditional one called the chaubandi cholo, like the daura, is full-sleeved, double-breasted with pleats and strings, and extends down to the patuka, covering the midriff. Daura-Suruwal and Gunyu-Cholo were the national dresses for men and women respectively until 2011 when they were removed to eliminate favouritism.[321] Traditional dresses of many pahari ethnic groups are Daura-Suruwal or similar, with patuka, a dhaka topi and a coat for men, and Gunyu-cholo or similar, with patuka and sometimes a scarf for women. For many other groups, men's traditional dresses consist of a shirt or a vest, paired with a dhoti, kachhad or lungi. In the high Himalayas, the traditional dresses are largely influenced by Tibetan culture. Sherpa women wear the chuba with the pangi apron, while Sherpa men wear shirts with stiff high collar and long sleeves called tetung under the chuba. Tibetan Xamo Gyaise hats of the Sherpas, dhaka topi of pahari men and tamang round caps are among the more distinctive headwears. Married Hindu women wear tika, sindur, pote and red bangles. Jewellery of gold and silver, and sometimes precious stones, are common. Gold jewellery includes mangalsutras and tilaharis worn with the pote by the Hindus, samyafung (a huge gold flower worn on the head) and Nessey (huge flattened gold earrings) worn by the Limbus, and sirphuli, sirbandhi and chandra worn by the Magars. Tharu women can wear as much as six kilograms of silver in jewellery, which includes mangiya worn on the head, tikuli the forehead, and kanseri and tikahamala around the neck.[322] In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in Nepal. Increasingly, in urban settings, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, transformed instead into one for formal occasions. The traditional kurta suruwal is rarely worn by younger women, who increasingly favour jeans. The dhoti has largely been reduced to the liturgical vestment of shamans and Hindu priests. Cuisine Main article: Nepalese cuisine A dal-bhat thali with boiled rice, lentil soup, fried leafy greens, vegetable curry, yoghurt, papad and vegetable salad Nepali cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially from each other, using locally available spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruit.[323] The Columbian exchange had brought the potato, the tomato, maize, peanuts, cashew nuts, pineapples, guavas, and most notably, chilli peppers, to South Asia. Each became staples of use.[324] The cereals grown in Nepal, their choice, times, and regions of planting, correspond strongly to the timing of Nepal's monsoons,[325] and the variations in altitude. Rice and wheat are mostly cultivated in the terai plains and well-irrigated valleys, and maize, millet, barley and buckwheat in the lesser fertile and drier hills.[323][326] The foundation of a typical Nepali meal is a cereal cooked in plain fashion, and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.[327] The latter includes lentils, pulses and vegetables spiced commonly with ginger and garlic, but also more discerningly with a combination of spices that may include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon, jimbu and others as informed by culinary conventions.[327] In an actual meal, this mental representation takes the form of a platter, or thali, with a central place for the cooked cereal, peripheral ones, often in small bowls, for the flavourful accompaniments, and the simultaneous, rather than piecemeal, ingestion of the two in each act of eating, whether by actual mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or in the folding of one—such as bread—around the other, such as cooked vegetables.[327] Dal-bhat, centred around steamed rice is the most common example.[328] as well as dairy and sometimes meat, is the most common and prominent example. The unleavened flat bread made from wheat flour called chapati occasionally replaces the steamed rice, particularly in the Terai, while Dhindo, prepared by boiling corn, millet or buckwheat flour in water, continuously stirring and adding flour until thick, almost solid consistency is reached, is the main substitute in the hills and mountains. Tsampa, flour made from roasted barley or naked barley, is the main staple in the high himalayas. Throughout Nepal, fermented, then sun-dried, leafy greens called Gundruk, are both a delicacy and a vital substitute for fresh vegetables in the winter.[326] Momo dumplings with chutney A notable feature of Nepali food is the existence of a number of distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[329] The appearance of ahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in many religious orders early in South Asian history, especially Upanishadic Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, is thought to have been a notable factor in the prevalence of vegetarianism among a segment of Nepal's Hindu and Buddhist populations, as well as among Jains.[329] Among these groups, strong discomfort is felt at thoughts of eating meat.[330] Though per capita meat consumption is low in Nepal, the proportion of vegetarianism is not high as in India, due to the prevalence of Shaktism, of which animal sacrifice is a prominent feature.[331] Samayabaji (Newar cuisine) Nepali cuisines possess their own distinctive qualities to distinguish these hybrid cuisines from both their northern and southern neighbours.[332][328] Nepali cuisines, with generally tomato-based, leaner curries, are lighter than their cream-based Indian counterparts, and Nepali momo dumplings are heavily spiced compared to their northern counterparts.[328] Newar cuisine, one of the richest and most influential in Nepal, is more elaborate and diverse than most, as Newar culture developed in the highly fertile and prosperous Kathmandu valley.[323] A typical Newar cuisine can comprise more than a dozen dishes of cereals, meat, vegetable curries, chutneys and pickles. Kwanti (sprouted beans soup), chhwela (ground beef), chatamari (rice flour crepe), bara (fried lentil cake), kachila (marinated raw minced beef), samaybaji (centred around flattened rice), lakhaamari and yomuri are among the more widely recognised.[328][333] Juju dhau, a sweet yoghurt originating in Bhaktapur, is also famous.[328] Thakali cuisine is another well-known food tradition which seamlessly melds the Tibetan and the Indian with variety in ingredients, especially the herbs and spices.[323] In the Terai, Bagiya is a rice flour dumpling with sweets inside, popular among the Tharu and Maithil people. Various communities in the Terai make sidhara (sun-dried small fish mixed with taro leaves) and biriya (lentil paste mixed with taro leaves) to stock for the monsoon floods.[323] Selroti, kasaar, fini and chaku are among the sweet delicacies. Rice pulau or sweet rice porridge called kheer are usually the main dish in feasts.[326] Tea and buttermilk (fermented milk leftover from churning butter from yoghurt) are common non-alcoholic drinks. Almost all janajati communities have their own traditional methods of brewing alcohol. Raksi (traditional distilled alcohol), jaand (rice beer), tongba (millet beer) and chyaang are the most well-known. Sports and recreation Main article: Sports in Nepal Nepali children playing a variant of knucklebones, with pebbles Nepali indigenous sports, like dandi biyo and kabaddi which were considered the unofficial national sports until recently,[293] are still popular in rural areas.[334] Despite efforts, standardisation and development of dandi biyo has not been achieved,[335][336] while Kabaddi, as a professional sport, is still in its infancy in Nepal.[337] Bagh-chal, an ancient board game that is thought to have originated in Nepal, can be played on chalk-drawn boards, with pebbles, and is still popular today.[338][339] Ludo, snakes and ladders and carrom are popular pastimes.[340] Chess is also played.[334] Volleyball was declared as the national sport of Nepal in 2017.[293] Popular children's games include versions of tag,[334] knucklebones,[334] hopscotch, Duck, duck, goose[334] and lagori, while marbles,[334] top, hoop rolling and gully cricket are also popular among boys. Rubber bands, or ranger bands cut from tubes in bike tyres, make a multi-purpose sporting equipment for Nepali children, which may be bunched or chained together, and used to play dodgeball, cat's cradle, jianzi[334] and a variety of skipping rope games.[334] Nepali cricket fans are renowned for their exceptionally enthusiastic support of their national team.[341][342] Football and cricket are popular professional sports.[343] Nepal is competitive in football in the South Asia region but has never won the SAFF championships, but has had some success in South Asian Games.[344][345] It usually ranks in the bottom quarter in the FIFA World Rankings.[346] Nepal has had some success in cricket and holds ODI status,[347][348] consistently ranking in the Top 20 in the ICC ODI and T20I rankings.[349][350] Nepal has had some success in athletics and martial arts, having won many medals at the South Asian Games and some at the Asian games.[351] Nepal has never won an olympic medal.[352] Sports like basketball, volleyball, futsal, wrestling, competitive bodybuilding[352][353] and badminton are also gaining in popularity.[334] Women in football, cricket, athletics, martial arts, badminton and swimming have found some success.[354][352] Nepal also fields players and national teams in several tournaments for disabled individuals, most notably in men's[355] as well as women's blind cricket.[356] The only international stadium in the country is the multi-purpose Dasarath Stadium where the men and women national football teams play their home matches.[357] Since the formation of the national team, Nepal has played its home matches of cricket at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground.[358] Nepal police, Armed police force and Nepal army are the most prolific producers of national players, and aspiring players are known to join armed forces, for the better sporting opportunities they can provide.[359][360] Nepali sports is hindered by a lack of infrastructure,[361] funding,[355] corruption, nepotism and political interference.[351][362][363] Very few players are able to make a living as professional sportspeople.[357][364] Nepal, country of Asia, lying along the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It is a landlocked country located between India to the east, south, and west and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north. Its territory extends roughly 500 miles (800 kilometres) from east to west and 90 to 150 miles from north to south. The capital is Kathmandu. Nepal Nepal Nepal, long under the rule of hereditary prime ministers favouring a policy of isolation, remained closed to the outside world until a palace revolt in 1950 restored the crown’s authority in 1951; the country gained admission to the United Nations in 1955. In 1991 the kingdom established a multiparty parliamentary system. In 2008, however, after a decadelong period of violence and turbulent negotiation with a strong Maoist insurgency, the monarchy was dissolved, and Nepal was declared a democratic republic. Wedged between two giants, India and China, Nepal seeks to keep a balance between the two countries in its foreign policy—and thus to remain independent. A factor that contributes immensely to the geopolitical importance of the country is the fact that a strong Nepal can deny China access to the rich Gangetic Plain; Nepal thus marks the southern boundary of the Chinese sphere north of the Himalayas in Asia. As a result of its years of geographic and self-imposed isolation, Nepal is one of the least developed nations of the world. In recent years many countries, including India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, have provided economic assistance to Nepal. The extent of foreign aid to Nepal has been influenced to a considerable degree by the strategic position of the country between India and China. Flags of the world against blue sky. Countries, International. Globalization, global relations, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Palestine, Japan. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society Britannica Quiz Which Country Is Larger By Population? Quiz Land Relief Nepal contains some of the most rugged and difficult mountain terrain in the world. Roughly 75 percent of the country is covered by mountains. From the south to the north, Nepal can be divided into four main physical belts, each of which extends east to west across the country. These are, first, the Tarai, a low, flat, fertile land adjacent to the border of India; second, the forested Churia foothills and the Inner Tarai zone, rising from the Tarai plain to the rugged Mahābhārat Range; third, the mid-mountain region between the Mahābhārat Range and the Great Himalayas; and, fourth, the Great Himalaya Range, rising to more than 29,000 feet (some 8,850 metres). The Tarai forms the northern extension of the Gangetic Plain and varies in width from less than 16 to more than 20 miles, narrowing considerably in several places. A 10-mile-wide belt of rich agricultural land stretches along the southern part of the Tarai; the northern section, adjoining the foothills, is a marshy region in which wild animals abound and malaria is endemic. Special offer for students! Check out our special academic rate and excel this spring semester! The Churia Range, which is sparsely populated, rises in almost perpendicular escarpments to an altitude of more than 4,000 feet. Between the Churia Range to the south and the Mahābhārat Range to the north, there are broad basins from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high, about 10 miles wide, and 20 to 40 miles long; these basins are often referred to as the Inner Tarai. In many places they have been cleared of the forests and savanna grass to provide timber and areas for cultivation. A complex system of mountain ranges, some 50 miles in width and varying in elevation from 8,000 to 14,000 feet, lie between the Mahābhārat Range and the Great Himalayas. The ridges of the Mahābhārat Range present a steep escarpment toward the south and a relatively gentle slope toward the north. To the north of the Mahābhārat Range, which encloses the valley of Kathmandu, are the more lofty ranges of the Inner Himalaya (Lesser Himalaya), rising to perpetually snow-covered peaks. The Kathmandu and the Pokharā valleys lying within this mid-mountain region are flat basins, formerly covered with lakes, that were formed by the deposition of fluvial and fluvioglacial material brought down by rivers and glaciers from the enclosing ranges during the four glacial and intervening warm phases of the Pleistocene Epoch (from about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). The Great Himalaya Range, ranging in elevation from 14,000 to more than 29,000 feet, contains many of the world’s highest peaks—Everest, Kānchenjunga I, Lhotse I, Makālu I, Cho Oyu, Dhaulāgiri I, Manāslu I, and Annapūrna I—all of them above 26,400 feet. Except for scattered settlements in high mountain valleys, this entire area is uninhabited. Drainage The Kathmandu Valley, the political and cultural hub of the nation, is drained by the Bāghmati River, flowing southward, which washes the steps of the sacred temple of Paśupatinātha (Pashupatinath) and rushes out of the valley through the deeply cut Chhobar gorge. Some sandy layers of the lacustrine beds act as aquifers (water-bearing strata of permeable rock, sand, or gravel), and springs occur in the Kathmandu Valley where the sands outcrop. The springwater often gushes out of dragon-shaped mouths of stone made by the Nepalese; it is then collected in tanks for drinking and washing and also for raising paddy nurseries in May, before the monsoon. Drained by the Seti River, the Pokharā Valley, 96 miles west of Kathmandu, is also a flat lacustrine basin. There are a few remnant lakes in the Pokharā basin, the largest being Phewa Lake, which is about two miles long and nearly a mile wide. North of the basin lies the Annapūrna massif of the Great Himalaya Range. The major rivers of Nepal—the Kosi, Nārāyani (Gandak), and Karnāli, running southward across the strike of the Himalayan ranges—form transverse valleys with deep gorges, which are generally several thousand feet in depth from the crest of the bordering ranges. The watershed of these rivers lies not along the line of highest peaks in the Himalayas but to the north of it, usually in Tibet. The rivers have considerable potential for development of hydroelectric power. Two irrigation-hydroelectric projects have been undertaken jointly with India on the Kosi and Nārāyani rivers. Discussions have been held to develop the enormous potential of the Karnāli River. A 60,000-kilowatt hydroelectric project at Kulekhani, funded by the World Bank, Kuwait, and Japan, began operation in 1982. In the upper courses of all Nepalese rivers, which run through mountain regions, there are little or no flood problems. In low-lying areas of the Tarai plain, however, serious floods occur. The rivers and small streams of the Tarai, especially those in which the dry season discharge is small, are polluted by large quantities of domestic waste thrown into them. Towns and villages have expanded without proper provision for sewage disposal facilities, and more industries have been established at selected centres in the Tarai. The polluted surface water in the Kathmandu and Pokharā valleys, as well as in the Tarai, are unacceptable for drinking. Climate of Nepal Nepal’s climate, influenced by elevation as well as by its location in a subtropical latitude, ranges from subtropical monsoon conditions in the Tarai, through a warm temperate climate between 4,000 and 7,000 feet in the mid-mountain region, to cool temperate conditions in the higher parts of mountains between 7,000 and 11,000 feet, to an Alpine climate at altitudes between 14,000 and 16,000 feet along the lower slopes of the Himalaya mountains. At altitudes above 16,000 feet the temperature is always below freezing and the surface covered by snow and ice. Rainfall is ample in the eastern portion of the Tarai (which receives from 70 to 75 inches [1,800 to 1,900 millimetres] a year at Bīratnagar) and in the mountains, but the western portion of Nepal (where from 30 to 35 inches a year fall at Mahendranagar) is drier. In Kathmandu Valley, average temperatures range from 50° F (10° C) in January to 78° F (26° C) in July, and the lowest and highest temperatures recorded have been 27° and 99° F (-3° and 37° C). The average annual rainfall is about 55 inches, most of which falls in the period from June to September. At Pokharā the temperature ranges from 40° F (4° C) in January to approximately 100° F (38° C) in June, just before the monsoon. In winter, temperatures during the day rise to 70° F (21° C), creating pleasant conditions, with cool nights and warm days. Because warm rain-bearing monsoon winds discharge most of their moisture as they encounter the Annapūrna range, rainfall is quite heavy (about 100 inches) in the Pokharā Valley. Plant life The natural vegetation of Nepal follows the pattern of climate and altitude. A tropical, moist zone of deciduous vegetation occurs in the Tarai and the Churia Range. These forests consist mainly of khair (Acacia catechu), a spring tree with yellow flowers and flat pods; sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo), an East Indian tree yielding dark brown durable timber; and sal (Shorea robusta), an East Indian timber tree with foliage providing food for lac insects (which deposit lac, a resinous substance used for the manufacture of shellac and varnishes, on the tree’s twigs). On the Mahābhārat Range, at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, vegetation consists of a mixture of many species, chiefly pines, oaks, rhododendrons, poplars, walnuts, and larch. Between 10,000 and 12,000 feet, fir mixed with birch, as well as rhododendron, abound. In the mid-mountain region of Nepal a fairly dense population has cleared all but the most inaccessible parts of the forest, which are restricted to areas of steep slopes and rocky terrain. Similarly, all readily accessible parts of valuable sal forest in the Tarai have been devastated by overcutting and depletive practices. The vast forested area below the timber line in the Great Himalaya Range bears some of the most valuable forests in Nepal, containing spruce, fir, cypress, juniper, and birch. Alpine vegetation occupies higher parts of the Great Himalaya Range. Just below the snow line, between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, grassy vegetation affords favourable grazing ground in summer. Pradyumna P. Karan Animal life Bengal tiger Bengal tiger Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). The forested areas of the Tarai are the home of tigers (including the majestic but endangered Bengal tiger) and leopards, gaurs (wild ox), occasional elephants and buffalo, and many deer; the deer include chital, or axis, deer (which have white-spotted bodies), sambar (a large Asiatic deer with coarse hair on the throat and strong antlers), and swamp deer. The Lesser Rāpti Valley, in south-central Nepal, is one of the last homes of the great Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). Much poaching has gone on, as the horn of the rhinoceros is reputed to be valuable as an aphrodisiac, but in the 1960s the Nepal government organized protective measures. There are few wild animals in the central zone because of the clearing of forests. Occasional leopards, bears, and smaller carnivores inhabit the forests and ravines, and muntjacs (a kind of small deer, also called the barking deer) are found in the woods. In the Alpine zone are musk deer, widely hunted for the musk pods they carry, the tahr (a Himalayan beardless wild goat), the goral (any of several goat antelopes, closely related to the Rocky Mountain goat), and wild sheep, which are preyed upon by wolves and snow leopards. Pheasant are common. The Yeti (bear-man, or Abominable Snowman) is said by the Sherpa to inhabit the high snow mountains but has eluded discovery by several expeditions. Strange tracks are often found in the snow, but it is believed that they are probably made by bears. River wildlife includes the mahseer, a large freshwater food and sport fish. Richard Riseley Proud Matinuzzaman Zuberi People of Nepal Ethnic groups The large-scale migrations of Asian groups from Tibet and Indo-Aryan people from northern India, which accompanied the early settlement of Nepal, have produced a diverse linguistic, ethnic, and religious pattern. Those with Indo-Aryan ancestry, especially the Pahāṛī (including the Chhetree, the Brahman-Hill, and others), have enjoyed great prestige in Nepal for centuries, and the ruling families have been of Indo-Aryan and Hindu background. Most of the Tibeto-Nepalese groups—the Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Bhutia (including the Sherpa), and Sunwar—live in the north and east, while the Magar and Gurung inhabit west-central Nepal. The majority of the famous Gurkha contingents in the British army have come from the Magar, Gurung, and Rai groups. A third set of ethnic groups, which includes the Newar and the Tharus, are believed to have settled Nepal before the Tibetan and Indo-Aryan migrations. The Newar, who have largely adopted Indo-Aryan and Hindu customs, retain significant influence in Nepal, especially in the Kathmandu valley. Languages The principal and official language of Nepal is Nepali (Gorkhali), spoken in the Tarai and the mid-mountain region. Nepali belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family. There are a number of regional dialects found in the Tarai and mountain areas. The languages of the north and east belong predominantly to the Tibeto-Burman family. These include Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Sunwar, Tamang, Newari, and a number of Bhutia dialects, including Sherpa and Thakali. Although Newari is commonly placed in the Tibeto-Burman family, it was influenced by both Tibeto-Burman and Indo-European languages. Religion In Nepal a vast majority of the population is Hindu, but a small percentage follows Buddhism or other religious faiths. Hindus and Buddhists tend to be concentrated in areas where Indian and Tibetan cultural influences, respectively, have been dominant. Settlement patterns Almost all Nepalese live in villages or in small market centres. Outside of Kathmandu, there are no major cities. Smaller urban centres (Birātnagar, Nepalganj, and Birganj) are located in the Tarai along the Indian border, and Pokharā is situated in a valley in the mid-mountain region. In addition, a few townships—such as Hitaura, Būtwal, and Dharān—have begun to emerge in the foothills and hill areas, where economic activity has developed. Demographic trends Nepal is a young country, with more than three-fifths of the population under 30 years of age. The birth rate is about the same as the world average, while the death rate is lower than the world average. Life expectancy is 70 years for men and 72 years for women. Economy of Nepal Landlocked, lacking substantial resources for economic development, and hampered by an inadequate transportation network, Nepal is one of the least developed nations in the world. The economy is heavily dependent on imports of basic materials and on foreign markets for its forest and agricultural products. Nepal imports essential commodities, such as fuel, construction materials, fertilizers, metals, and most consumer goods, and exports such products as rice, jute, timber, and textiles. The political and administrative system of Nepal has not made those changes in trade, investment, and related economic policies that would expedite economic development and attract foreign capital. The government’s development programs, which are funded by foreign aid, also have failed to respond directly to the needs of rural people. Agriculture rice cultivation rice cultivation Woman working in a rice field in Chitwan district, Nepal, 2015. Agriculture—primarily the cultivation of rice, corn (maize), and wheat—engages most of Nepal’s population and accounts for well over half of the country’s export earnings. Yet agricultural productivity is very low. The low yields result from shortages of fertilizers and improved seed and from the use of inefficient techniques. Because only a tiny percentage of Nepal’s cultivated land area is under irrigation, output depends upon the vagaries of the weather. Potatoes, sugarcane, and millet are other major crops. Cattle, buffalo, goats, and sheep are the principal livestock raised. On the whole, Nepal has a small surplus in food grains. There are, however, major dislocations in supply and demand. Periods of shortage between harvests of various crops occur in the mountain areas. At the same time, substantial amounts of food grain are moved to India from the Tarai. Because of the lack of adequate transportation, surplus food grain from the Tarai does not move north into the food deficit areas of the mid-mountain region. Some food grains move northward from the Tarai and the mountain areas into Tibet, however, despite a shortage in the mountain regions. The greatest potential for increases in agricultural production is in the Tarai. In the mid-mountain region the potential for increasing production is limited. Because of the high population concentration in this region, almost all land capable of cultivation is tilled. Increasing the cultivated land area by cutting into standing forests aggravates erosion and results in reduced yields and land losses by landslides. Major projects have been undertaken in an effort to halt soil erosion and deforestation. Forestry About one-third of Nepal’s total area is forested; most of this area is state-owned. In spite of overcutting and poor management, timber represents one of the country’s most valuable resources and is a major source of potential revenue. Exports of forest products constitute an important source of Indian rupees. Almost all timber is exported to India. The sawmills of the Timber Corporation of Nepal, a government-owned lumber-processing concern, supply Kathmandu Valley with construction and furniture wood. Resources and power Nepal’s mineral resources are small, scattered, and barely developed. There are known deposits of coal (lignite), iron ore, magnesite, copper, cobalt, pyrite (used for making sulfuric acid), limestone, and mica. Nepal’s great river systems provide immense potential for hydroelectric development. If developed and utilized within the country and exported to India (the principal market for power generated in Nepal), it could become a mainstay of the country’s economy. Manufacturing Industrial production represents a small but growing segment of economic activity. Most industries are small, localized operations based on the processing of agricultural products. The jute industry, centred in Birātnagar, is an important earner of foreign exchange. Sugar factories are located in Birātnagar, Birganj, and Bhairahawā. There are a sawmill and a meat-processing plant in Hitaura and a number of rice and oil mills in the Tarai. Other industries include brick and tile manufacture; processing of construction materials, paper, and food grain; cigarette manufacture; cement production; and brewing of beer. In general, there are more industrial enterprises in the private than in the public sector, although most of these are cottage industries. The main areas of manufacturing concentration are Birātnagar, the Birganj–Hitaura corridor, and the Kathmandu Valley. Tourism Tourism represents a small but expanding industry. Foreign tourism is primarily confined to the Kathmandu Valley, which is the only area equipped with the necessary hotels, food supplies, roads, and international transport services. There are, however, many areas outside the Kathmandu Valley with potential for the development of tourism; these include Pokharā, the Mount Everest area, and the Nārāyani area (where big game exists). Trade For geographic and historical reasons, most of Nepal’s trade is with India. China and the United States are also trade partners of some significance. Attempts have been made to diversify trade through agreements with such countries as China, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, the United States, Germany, and Poland. The state trading agency, National Trading Limited, has expanded its activities by fostering the development of commercial entrepreneurial activity. Large-scale commercial activity has hitherto been in the hands of foreigners, primarily Indians. Nepal’s foreign trade and balance of payments have suffered setbacks, and exports have not increased enough to pay for imports of consumer goods and basic supplies. Nepal’s dependence on the Indian market for most of its imports and exports and on the port of Kolkata for its access to the sea has been the source of periodic friction between the two countries. Transportation Transport facilities in Nepal are very limited; few independent nations in the world of comparable size have such little road mileage and so few motor vehicles. Construction of new roads has been undertaken since the 1970s with aid from India, China, Great Britain, and the United States. The main means of transportation has been the network of footpaths, which interlace the mountain terrain and valleys. Trails have evolved into main trade routes, which tend to follow the river systems. The meagre road-transport facilities in Nepal are supplemented by only a few railway and air-transport links. Increased use of road transport has reduced the significance of the two narrow-gauge railroads that run from Amlekhganj to Raxaul (India) and from Janakpūr to Jaynagar (India). The Nepal Airline Corporation, an autonomous government agency, is the country’s flag carrier. Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu is the primary hub for flights in and out of the country; Gautam Buddha International Airport was opened in Siddharthanagar (Bhairahawa) in 2022. The United States built the Kathmandu–Hitaura aerial ropeway in the 1950s, and it is still used for carrying goods into the capital. Leo E. Rose Government and society Constitutional framework Although reforms in the 1950s began to move the kingdom toward a democratic political system, the crown dissolved parliament in 1960 and subsequently banned political parties. Thereafter, Nepal became only nominally a constitutional monarchy, and the constitution of 1962 (amended 1967, 1976, and 1980) effectively gave the king autocratic control over a multitiered system of panchayats (local bodies, or councils). In the 1980s, political restrictions were eased, and organizations such as the Nepali Congress Party, the Communist Party of Nepal, numerous small left-leaning student groups, and several radical Nepalese antimonarchist groups were allowed to operate more or less openly. Political parties, however, were not again legalized until 1990, when nationwide unrest forced King Birendra to accept the formation of a multiparty parliamentary system. A new constitution promulgated on November 9, 1990, greatly reduced the power of the monarchy. The king remained the head of state, but effective executive power was given to the Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister. Appointed by the king, the prime minister was required to be either the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament) or, if there was no majority party, a representative who could form a coalition majority. The king was constitutionally also a part of parliament and was charged with giving assent to bills that had been passed by both legislative chambers—the House of Representatives and the National Council (the upper house). The House of Representatives consisted of 205 members popularly elected to five-year terms. The 60 members of the National Council held six-year terms; 10 were nominated by the king, 35 were elected by the House of Representatives (of which 3 had to be women), and 15 were selected by an electoral college. The constitution gave the House of Representatives considerably more power than the National Council. All Nepalese citizens age 18 and older are eligible to vote. Because most voters in Nepal are illiterate, candidates largely have been chosen by party symbol (e.g., a tree for the Nepali Congress Party and a sun for the United Marxist-Leninist Party of Nepal). Some voters, moreover, have had to travel long distances, in some cases for hours along mountain paths, in order to reach a polling station. Prior to 1990 the country was divided for administrative purposes into 5 development regions, 14 zones, and 75 districts; in addition there were corresponding regional, zonal, and district courts, as well as a Supreme Court. The 1990 constitution mandated the elimination of the regional and zonal courts, which were to be replaced by appellate courts. The administrative divisions themselves continued to exist as provisional units. The early 21st century was a tumultuous yet transformative period in Nepal’s governmental history. A Maoist insurgency that had been gaining strength since the late 1990s demanded not only the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution but also the abolition of the monarchy. As the insurgents negotiated with the government, tensions escalated into violence. Following intermittent peace talks, abortive cease-fires, dissolution and reconstitution of the House of Representatives, and major abrogation of the king’s authority, the Maoists and the government finally agreed to the drafting of an interim constitution—promulgated in January 2007—and the formation of an interim administration. Elections for a constituent assembly of some 600 members were held in April 2008, and the following month the monarchy was indeed dissolved and Nepal declared a republic. The country continued to operate for several more years under an interim constitution that provided for a unicameral legislature and a Council of Ministers, with most of the power vested in the prime minister. Protracted negotiations finally produced a new permanent constitution in 2015, which was approved by the legislature and promulgated on September 20. The document established a secular federal-style republic consisting of seven administrative regions and a bicameral legislature. A president would be head of state, and the Council of Ministers, led by the prime minister, would continue as head of government. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Security Nepal’s armed forces consist of the Royal Nepalese Army, predominantly an infantry force. The Army Flight Department operates all aircraft. Except for a few simple weapons, all military supplies are imported. Nepal is famous for the fighting qualities of its Gurkha soldiers; nearly 5,000 of them serve in British Gurkha units and 50,000 in Indian Gurkha units. The British maintain a recruiting centre at Pokharā. Gurkha veterans are a valuable human resource of Nepal. For police purposes, the country is divided into three zones: eastern, central, and western, with headquarters at Birātnagar, Kathmandu, and Nepalganj, respectively. Each zonal headquarters, under a deputy inspector general of police, is responsible for several subsections composed of four to five police districts operating under a superintendent of police. A district superintendent is in charge of police stations in his area, and each station normally is supervised by a head constable. Health and welfare The Ministry of Health is responsible for the support and administration of public health services, including hospitals and health clinics. Although the government has taken steps to improve existing health centres and to establish new ones, health care remains inadequate. Malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and typhoid are prevalent in spite of government projects to control or eradicate them. Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional Hindu system of medicine, is popular in Nepal. Education The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for administration and supervision of all elementary and secondary education. Higher education has developed relatively recently. The first college was established in 1918, and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, with faculties of arts, sciences, commerce, and education, was chartered in 1959. The University Senate has sole legal responsibility for higher education and the authority to grant academic recognition to colleges but is largely dependent upon the Ministry of Education for funds. Cultural life The relaxation of censorship that followed the overthrow of Rana rule in 1951 encouraged a revival of artistic and intellectual expression. In literature and poetry, Nepali works emphasize the cultural renaissance and national patriotism. King Mahendra, a poet whose Nepali lyrics have been published in English translation under the name of M.B.B. Shah (for Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah), did much to promote the revival of arts and literature. The cultural heritage of Nepal, particularly contributions made by the Newar of Kathmandu Valley to sculpture, painting, and architecture, is a source of great pride. Hindu and Buddhist religious values have provided the basic source of inspiration to Newar artisans. The themes of most artistic works have been primarily religious; the lives of the gods, saints, and heroes and the relationship of man to society and to the universe are expounded in sculpture, architecture, and drama. In Kathmandu Valley some 2,500 temples and shrines display the skill and highly developed aesthetic sense of Newar artisans. Music and dance are favourite pastimes among the Nepalese. Religious ceremonies require the use of drums and wind instruments preserved from ancient times. Important in most religious and family occasions are devotional songs that have elements of both classical and folk music and that have been used by some contemporary musical revivalists in their attempt to bridge the gap between the two. The government-owned Radio Nepal broadcasts programs in Nepali and English. The country’s first television station, at Kathmandu, began broadcasting in 1986. Newspapers and periodicals are published in Nepali and in English. Newspapers are frequently sensational in tone and are poorly staffed and financed. Gorkha Patra, published by the government, occupies a commanding position in the Nepalese press. Nepalese newspaper readers rely on the foreign press, particularly Indian newspapers, which are flown daily into Kathmandu, for more sophisticated coverage of world and national news. After 1960 King Mahendra required newspapers to obtain official clearance for all reports of political activity. Subsequently the government increased its censorship, and in 1985 the publication of many newspapers was suspended. In 1990, reflecting the change in the country’s political climate, freedom of the press was restored. Pradyumna P. Karan History of Nepal Prehistory and early history Nepal’s rich prehistory consists mainly of the legendary traditions of the Newar, the indigenous community of Nepal Valley (now usually called Kathmandu Valley). There are usually both Buddhist and Brahmanic Hindu versions of these various legends. Both versions are accepted indiscriminately in the festivals associated with legendary events, a tribute to the remarkable synthesis that has been achieved in Nepal between the two related but divergent value systems. References to Nepal Valley and Nepal’s lower hill areas are found in the ancient Indian classics, suggesting that the Central Himalayan hills were closely related culturally and politically to the Gangetic Plain at least 2,500 years ago. Lumbini, Gautama Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal, and Nepal Valley also figure prominently in Buddhist accounts. There is substantial archaeological evidence of an early Buddhist influence in Nepal, including a famous column inscribed by Ashoka (emperor of India, 3rd century BCE) at Lumbini and several shrines in the valley. A coherent dynastic history for Nepal Valley becomes possible, though with large gaps, with the rise of the Licchavi dynasty in the 4th or 5th century CE. Although the earlier Kirati dynasty had claimed the status of the Kshatriya caste of rulers and warriors, the Licchavis were probably the first ruling family in that area of plains Indian origin. This set a precedent for what became the normal pattern thereafter—Hindu kings claiming high-caste Indian origin ruling over a population much of which was neither Indo-Aryan nor Hindu. The Licchavi dynastic chronicles, supplemented by numerous stone inscriptions, are particularly full from 500 to 700 CE; a powerful, unified kingdom also emerged in Tibet during this period, and the Himalayan passes to the north of the valley were opened. Extensive cultural, trade, and political relations developed across the Himalayas, transforming the valley from a relatively remote backwater into the major intellectual and commercial centre between South Asia and Central Asia. Nepal’s contacts with China began in the mid-7th century with the exchange of several missions. But intermittent warfare between Tibet and China terminated this relationship, and, while there were briefly renewed contacts in subsequent centuries, these were reestablished on a continuing basis only in the late 18th century. Middle period The middle period in Nepalese history is usually considered coterminous with the rule of the Malla dynasty (10th–18th century) in Nepal Valley and surrounding areas. Although most of the Licchavi kings were devout Hindus, they did not impose Brahmanic social codes or values on their non-Hindu subjects. The Mallas perceived their responsibilities differently, however, and the great Malla ruler Jaya Sthiti (reigned c. 1382–95) introduced the first legal and social code strongly influenced by contemporary Hindu principles. Jaya Sthiti’s successor, Yaksha Malla (reigned c. 1429–c. 1482), divided his kingdom among his three sons, thus creating the independent principalities of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon) in the valley. Each of these states controlled territory in the surrounding hill areas, with particular importance attached to the trade routes northward to Tibet and southward to India that were vital to the valley’s economy. There were also numerous small principalities in the western and eastern hill areas, whose independence was sustained through a delicate balance of power based upon traditional interrelationships and, in some cases, common ancestral origins (or claims thereto) among the ruling families. By the 16th century virtually all these principalities were ruled by dynasties claiming high-caste Indian origin whose members had fled to the hills in the wake of Muslim invasions of northern India. In the early 18th century one of the principalities—Gorkha (also spelled Gurkha), ruled by the Shah family—began to assert a predominant role in the hills and even to pose a challenge to Nepal Valley. The Mallas, weakened by familial dissension and widespread social and economic discontent, were no match for the great Gorkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah. He conquered the valley in 1769 and moved his capital to Kathmandu shortly thereafter, providing the foundation for the modern state of Nepal. Modern period The Shah (or Sah) rulers faced tremendous and persistent problems in trying to centralize an area long characterized by extreme diversity and ethnic and regional parochialism. They established a centralized political system by absorbing dominant regional and local elites into the central administration at Kathmandu. This action neutralized potentially disintegrative political forces and involved them in national politics, but it also severely limited the centre’s authority in outlying areas because local administration was based upon a compromise division of responsibilities between the local elites and the central administration. From 1775 to 1951, Nepalese politics was characterized by confrontations between the royal family and several noble families. The position of the Shah dynasty was weakened by the fact that the two kings who ruled successively between 1777 and 1832 were minors when they ascended the throne. The regents and the nobility competed for political power, using the young rulers as puppets; both factions wanted a monopoly of political offices and power for their families, with their rivals exterminated, exiled to India, or placed in a subordinate status. This was achieved by the Thapa family (1806–37) and, even more extensively, by the Rana family (1846–1951). In these periods, the Shah ruler was relegated to an honorary position without power, while effective authority was concentrated in the hands of the leading members of the dominant family. Although intrafamilial arrangements on such questions as the succession and the distribution of responsibilities and spoils were achieved, no effective national political institutions were created. The excluded noble families had only two alternatives—to accept inferior posts in the administration and army or to conspire for the overthrow of the dominant family. Until 1950 and to some extent thereafter, Nepalese politics was basically conspiratorial in character, with familial loyalty taking precedence over loyalty to the crown or nation. External relations, 1750–1950 Prithvi Narayan Shah (reigned 1742–75) and his successors established a unified state in the central Himalayas and launched an ambitious and remarkably vigorous program of expansion, seeking to bring the entire hill area, from Bhutan to Kashmir, under their authority. They made considerable progress, but successive setbacks in wars with China and Tibet (1788–92), with the Sikh kingdom in the Punjab (1809), with British India (1814–16), and again with Tibet (1854–56) frustrated Nepal and set the present boundaries of the kingdom. The British conquest of India in the 19th century posed a serious threat to Nepal—which expected to be another victim—and left the country with no real alternative but to seek an accommodation with the British to preserve its independence. This was accomplished by the Rana family regime after 1860 on terms that were mutually acceptable, if occasionally irritating, to both. Under this de facto alliance, Kathmandu permitted the recruitment of Nepalese for the highly valued Gurkha units in the British Indian Army and also accepted British “guidance” on foreign policy; in exchange, the British guaranteed the Rana regime against both foreign and domestic enemies and allowed it virtual autonomy in domestic affairs. Nepal, however, was also careful to maintain a friendly relationship with China and Tibet, both for economic reasons and to counterbalance British predominance in South Asia. The British withdrawal from India in 1947 deprived the Ranas of a vital external source of support and exposed the regime to new dangers. Anti-Rana forces, composed mainly of Nepalese residents in India who had served their political apprenticeship in the Indian nationalist movement, formed an alliance with the Nepalese royal family, led by King Tribhuvan (reigned 1911–55), and launched a revolution in November 1950. With strong diplomatic support from New Delhi, the rebels accepted a settlement with the Ranas under which the sovereignty of the crown was restored and the revolutionary forces, led by the Nepali Congress (NC) party, gained an ascendant position in the administration. Constitutional monarchy The introduction of a democratic political system in Nepal, a country accustomed to autocracy and with no deep democratic tradition or experience, proved a formidable task. A constitution was finally approved in 1959, under which general elections for a national assembly were held. The NC won an overwhelming victory and was entrusted with the formation of Nepal’s first popular government. But persistent controversy between the cabinet and King Mahendra (reigned 1955–72) led the king to dismiss the Nepali Congress government in December 1960 and to imprison most of the party’s leaders. The constitution of 1959 was abolished in 1962, and a new constitution was promulgated that established the crown as the real source of authority. King Mahendra obtained both Indian and Chinese acceptance of his regime, and the internal opposition was weak, disorganized, and discouraged. Mahendra died in January 1972 and was succeeded by his son Birendra, who was crowned in 1975. Throughout the 1970s King Birendra sought to expedite economic development programs while maintaining the “nonparty” political system established by his father. The results were disappointing on both accounts, and by 1979 a systemic crisis was evident. To meet the first serious political challenge to the monarchy since 1960, King Birendra announced in May 1979 that a national referendum would be held to decide between a nonparty and multiparty (by implication, parliamentary) political system. In the referendum, which was held in May 1980, the political groups supporting the existing nonparty system won by the relatively small margin of 55 percent, accurately reflecting the sharp differences in the country on basic political issues. It was in this context that King Birendra decided in 1980 to retain the 1962 constitution but to liberalize the political system by providing for direct popular election of the National Assembly. The government also permitted the “illegal” political parties, such as the NC, to function under only minimal constraints. Elections were still formally held on a “partyless” basis, but many candidates ran informally and openly as members of political parties. This partial movement toward a democratic parliamentary system satisfied neither the supporters of a multiparty constitutional monarchy nor several more radical leftist factions, and in February 1990 a coalition of centrist and leftist opposition forces began a campaign demanding basic political reforms. A series of protests and strikes followed nationwide, and the royal government’s efforts to suppress the movement with force were ineffectual. In April, as the situation in Kathmandu Valley worsened, King Birendra lifted the ban on political parties, abrogated the more repressive security ordinances, and on April 16 appointed a coalition interim government headed by the president of the NC, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, but also including the moderate faction of the communist movement, the United Leftist Front. The policy objectives of the interim government were “to maintain law and order, develop a multiparty system on the basis of constitutional monarchy, draft a new constitution, and hold general elections” to a parliament. Within a year, all four tasks were accomplished with remarkable success despite the broad divergence of views among the major political organizations. A draft of the new constitution, prepared by a broadly representative government commission, was submitted to the palace and the cabinet on September 10, 1990. In November, following two months of vigorous debate on a number of key issues—including the role of the king, the development of a secular state, emergency powers, and the status of Nepal’s many languages—an amended version of the constitution was promulgated by King Birendra that provided for both a constitutional monarchy and a multiparty parliamentary political system. General elections held on May 12, 1991, gave the NC a majority in parliament (110 of 205 seats), but the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)—CPN (UML)—with 69 seats, emerged as a strong opposition party. The two “Pancha” parties usually associated with the old system won only four seats. The elections were thus perceived to constitute a strong endorsement of the 1990 political changes, and G.P. Koirala, the brother of Nepal’s first elected prime minister (1959–60), was nominated by the NC and appointed by the king to head the new elected government. Nepal emerged from this period of rapid political change facing a multitude of economic and social problems; among these were a stagnant economy and a variety of regional ethnic and religious movements, some of whose basic demands were not acceptable to the country’s Hindu majority. Although overwhelming support existed for the new democratic constitutional monarchy system, at both the party and the public level, the democratic movement itself remained badly fractionalized and antagonistic, making more difficult the new government’s attempt to introduce the kind of hard-hitting economic and social policies the panchayat governments had carefully avoided in an effort to mollify several small but important interest groups. Leo E. Rose Fall of the monarchy The country’s political life in the 1990s and 2000s was marked by prolonged instability as the monarchy, the NC, and Maoists jostled for power. Throughout those two decades the government remained largely in the hands of the NC with brief periods of CPN (UML) control. However, the NC’s leadership squabbled frequently, and the premiership alternated between Bhattarai, Koirala, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, another prominent member of the NC. Meanwhile, a group of Maoist rebels emerged in the 1990s and rapidly grew in number and strength and established their own breakaway party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or CPN (M). The rebels often used violent tactics to champion the cause of the rural poor and advocated overthrowing the monarchy. By the early 21st century the Maoists not only posed a serious threat to the government but had virtually propelled the country into a state of civil war. The killing in 2001 of the king and most members of the royal family by the crown prince (who also died, from self-inflicted wounds) further heightened tensions, and, after the massacre, Koirala, who was serving his third term as prime minister, was forced to resign. Deuba, who replaced Koirala, initially held negotiations with the CPN (M) to end the war, but, after peace talks broke down months later, he enlisted the help of the United States to suppress the Maoists. The new king, Birendra’s brother Gyanendra, took an active role in defending the monarchy, meanwhile, including imposing direct rule in 2005. After parliament was reinstated in April 2006, Koirala became prime minister for the fourth time. Later that year the government of Nepal and the Maoist insurgency signed a UN-mediated peace accord that provided for temporary representation of the Maoists in the Council of Ministers, restricted the rebel army to camps, and required both the Maoists and the Nepalese army to lock equal amounts of their arms in UN-monitored containers. An interim constitution, which transferred all executive power to the prime minister, was to remain in effect until the weapons management plan had been completed, elections had been held, and a permanent constitution had been drafted to replace the 1990 document. The extent of the duties of the king as head of state was to be determined by an elected constituent assembly, which would also draft a new constitution. Elections for the assembly, originally scheduled for June 2007, were postponed several times, notably after the Maoists pulled out of the government, demanding the immediate dissolution of the monarchy. In December 2007 it was finally agreed that the monarchy would be abolished, and elections were held in April 2008. The Maoists—who changed their party name to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or UCPN (M), in 2009—won the most seats, and on May 28, 2008, more than two centuries of royal rule came to an end as the new assembly voted to declare Nepal a democratic republic. In July 2008 Ram Baran Yadav of the NC was elected by the assembly as the country’s first president. One month later an election for prime minister was held in parliament. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, won by a wide margin and formed a coalition government. However, the coalition failed in early May 2009, and Prachanda resigned. Madhav Kumar Nepal of the CPN (UML) became prime minister later that month at the head of a 22-party coalition. The change did little to resolve the country’s ongoing political deadlock, particularly the drafting of a new constitution. In June 2010 Prime Minister Nepal resigned under pressure from the UCPN (M), which claimed the right, as the largest political party, to choose the prime minister. Parliament, however, could not agree on Nepal’s replacement, and he remained in office until fellow CPN (UML), Jhalanath Khanal, took over in February 2011. By August, Khanal’s government had collapsed, and the UCPN (M)’s Baburam Bhattarai had assumed the office. Negotiations in the assembly on a new constitution fared no better under Bhattarai, and in May 2012 the assembly was dissolved, and members of the government resigned. Bhattarai stayed on as caretaker prime minister until March 2013, when President Yadav appointed Khil Raj Regmi, chief justice of the country’s Supreme Court, as prime minister until elections could be held. Parliamentary elections took place in November, with the NC gaining the largest number of seats and the CPN (UML) second. The two parties discussed forming a coalition government for several months, which finally took office in February 2014. Sushil Koirala of the NC, a cousin of B.P. and G.P. Koirala, was named prime minister. After only two months in power, the Koirala administration had to deal with an avalanche on Mount Everest in mid-April that killed 16 sherpas, shut down the climbing season on the mountain, and sparked widespread protest by the families of those killed, who considered their treatment by the government inadequate. More disasters followed—a landslide in early August in which 156 people died, floods later that month that killed 102 more, and a freak snowstorm in the Annapurna region in October that killed several dozen trekkers—and in each case the government was criticized for its poor response to the crises. 2015 Nepal earthquake: Kathmandu 2015 Nepal earthquake: Kathmandu A rubble-filled street in Kathmandu shortly after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. Those events, however, paled in comparison with the catastrophe that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, when the country suffered one of the most-severe earthquakes in its history. A magnitude-7.8 temblor struck some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Kathmandu, causing widespread death and destruction. Initial estimates of hundreds of people killed by the temblor soon escalated to the thousands—with many thousands more injured—as debris was cleared in Kathmandu and other cities and rescue workers reached remote towns and villages. Damage to buildings and infrastructure was widespread, and many of the country’s historic structures in the Kathmandu Valley that had been included in a UNESCO World Heritage site (designated 1979) were destroyed or severely damaged. In addition, the quake triggered avalanches on Mount Everest that descended on hundreds of people on the mountain for the spring climbing season, killing 19 people—thus surpassing the death toll from the 2014 avalanche—and injuring dozens more. Numerous aftershocks followed the initial quake, including a severe magnitude-7.3 temblor on May 12 centred near the Tibet border west of Everest. In all, some 9,000 people were killed and nearly 16,800 more injured in the two quakes. Federal republic The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country in 2015 helped spur negotiations on the new constitution. In mid-September parliament finally approved the document, which took effect on September 20 and established Nepal as a secular federal-style republic. Promulgation of the constitution elicited violent protests by some minority groups, especially Madhesis in the southern part of the country, whose members claimed that their rights were not being adequately protected. In mid-October parliament elected Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as prime minister, succeeding Koirala, and at the end of the month the legislators chose a woman, Bidhya Devi Bhandari, as the country’s new president. Oli resigned in July 2016, after his government coalition collapsed and before he was to face a confidence vote. Prachanda replaced him after striking a power-sharing deal with the NC. In May 2017 Prachanda resigned so that Deuba could take on the premiership until parliamentary elections could be held. The year 2017 was marked by Nepal’s first successful set of elections nationwide in two decades. Elections for more than 750 local councils were held across the nation beginning in May, with a turnout of nearly three-fourths of eligible voters. National elections were held later in the year, and results showed a resounding victory for a communist coalition backed by both Oli and Prachanda. After the two former prime ministers reached a power-sharing agreement, their two parties, CPN (UML) and UCPN (M) respectively, merged into a single party in May 2018: the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Under the power-sharing agreement, Oli became prime minister with the expectation that Prachanda would take over the post halfway through the five-year term. In November 2019 a new agreement, intended to address a dispute over the implementation of the original agreement, made Prachanda the executive chairman of the NCP and allowed Oli to finish out the full term as prime minister. Prachanda claimed that this new agreement was also improperly implemented, and he insisted that Oli observe the original agreement by relinquishing the office of prime minister halfway through his term. Oli refused, and in December 2020 he recommended that the president dissolve parliament and call early elections, a move ruled unconstitutional in February 2021 because no attempt was made to form a new government. Parliament was reinstated in March, and in May Oli lost a vote of confidence. After weeks of deliberation on the formation of a new government, Oli claimed that a new government could not be formed, and again he recommended that the president dissolve parliament and call early elections. In July, however, the dissolution was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ruled that Deuba, then leader of the opposition, should be given the opportunity to form a government. The most lively debates in the following year centred on parliament’s ratification of a 2017 compact with the Millennial Challenge Corporation (MCC), a foreign assistance program established by the United States Congress in 2004. With the compact due to expire in February 2022 without ratification, parliament was under pressure to approve the agreement despite significant opposition domestically. After years in the fray between the hegemonic ambitions of India and China, as well as decades of distrust in the United States in particular, many Nepalis were wary of their government granting contracts for U.S. investment. The compact was ratified in February 2022 nonetheless. Parliament passed a declaration emphasizing its interpretation of the agreement as limited by Nepali sovereignty, although that declaration alone could not placate the people’s concerns. When local elections were held in May 2022, voters registered their distrust in the political establishment. Although the ruling coalition received the greatest number of electoral victories, the success of independent candidates in major races indicated frustration with the country’s major political players.
- Condition: Used
- Type: Photograph
- Theme: People, Travel
- Country/Region of Manufacture: Nepal
- Subject: nepal
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