Country Study: Part 1           Geography and History

Table of Contents:
  1. Geography
  2. History

Geography Section:

Political Map of Nepal:

You can find maps of Nepal at Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

       Nepal is located in the Southern part of Asia in between China and India.  Its area is just over 147,000 square kilometers, which is slightly larger then Arkansas.  The climate varies from cool summers and severe winters in the North to subtropical summers and mild winters in the South.  In terms of terrain, Nepal has a bit of everything.  It ranges from a flat river plain in the South to a central hilly area to the mountainous Himalayas in the North.  The same is true of its elevation points with a low of 70 meters at Kanchan Kalan and a high of 8,850 meters at Mount Everest, the World's highest point.  Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the World.  Nepal also has various natural resources including:  quartz, water, timber, hydropower, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, and iron ore.  The lower right map shows the infratructure, namely the roads, in Nepal and its neighboring country India.  This shows that Nepal does not have many major roads like its neighbor India, meaning it is not as developed.


History Section:



This brief history of Nepal comes from these three sources:
  1. State Department Background Notes
  2. CIA World Factbook
  3. Library of Congress Country Studies


Nepal was created at the end of the 18th century when Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha, formed a unified country from various independent states. The country was often called the Gorkha Kingdom, the source of the term "Gurkha" used for Nepali soldiers today.
 
After 1800, the leaders of Nepal were unable to maintain political control. A period of internal conflict followed, and was heightened by Nepal's defeat by the British in a war that lasted two years, 1814 to 1816. Stability was later restored after 1846 when the Rana family gained power. The Rana regime, a highly centralized autocracy, pursued a policy of isolating Nepal from external influences. This policy helped Nepal maintain its national independence during the colonial era, but also impeded the country's economic development.

In 1950, King Tribhuvan, a direct descendant of Prithvi Narayan Shah, the first ruler of Nepal, fled his "palace prison" to newly independent India, touching off an armed revolt against the Rana administration. The armed revolt allowed the return of the Shah family to power and eventually, the appointment of a non-Rana prime minister. A period of quasi-constitutional rule followed, during which the monarchy, governed the country. During the 1950s, efforts were made to frame a constitution for Nepal that would establish a representative form of government, which was based on the British model.

In 1955, King Mahendra came to power and in 1959, issued a new constitution and the first democratic elesctions were held.  In this election, the Nepali Congress Party, which is a moderate socialist group, gained control in the election and Koirala, their leader, served as Prime Minister.  This democracy failed not two years later and the King made a new constitution in December of 1962.  He established a partyless system which the King claimed to be a government closer to Nepalese traditions.  In 1972, Birendra, King Mahendra's son, became King and in 1979, called for a national referendum to decide Nepal's government.  This was held in 1980, when the constitution of the Panchayat system with democratic reforms became the new government.

Later, in 1990, political parties pressed the King for a change in the government.  Two major parties joined togeter and began demonstrating in major Nepali cities.  This movement was dealt with severely, when more than fifty people were killed by police and hundreds were arrested.  In April of 1990, the King surrendered, lifting the ban on political parties and released political prisoners.  An interim government was created in the same month and was headed by a new Prime Minister and a cabinet comprised of various political parties.  Later that year a new constitution was drafted which enshrined fundamental human rights and established Nepal as a democracy.  For the first time, international observers called the 1991 elactions as free and fair.

The Parliament dissolved in 1994 due to dissension within the Nepali Congress Party, the majority of seats in the government.  A general election was held that year and no party won a majority of seats.  This election led to a hung Parliament and a minority government led by the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leminist Party (CPN-UML).  This government was the World's first communist monarchy.  In the next five years, five governments fail and the beginning of a Maoist insurgency.

In 1999, general elections were held once again and the Nepali Congress Party one a majority of the seats.  From 1999-2002, three Prime Ministers fail.  In late 2001, the Crown Prince killed his entire family and took his own life.  Two days later, the late King's surviving brother was prolaimed King.