Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल [neˈpal]),
officially Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in
South Asia. It is located mainly in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of
the Indo-Gangetic Plain. With an estimated population of 26.4 million, it is
48th largest country by population and 93rd largest country by area. It borders
China in the north and India in the south, east and west while Bangladesh is
located within only 27 km (17 mi) of its southeastern tip and Bhutan is
separated from it 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 capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multiethnic country
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 India when Hinduism was founded, the
predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BCE,
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 Rajput Rana dynasty of premiers.
The country was never colonized 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 proclamation of a secular
republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy.
The Constitution of
Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms Nepal 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 the People's Republic
of 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
military of Nepal is the fifth largest in South Asia; it is notable for its
Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant
contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.
