Nepal
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp Template:Pp-move Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox country
Nepal,Template:Efn officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,Template:Efn 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 its 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 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.
Etymology
[edit]Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as Nepal.Template:Efn The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Nepal appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century AD.<ref>Template:Cite book p. 10. The word first appears an inscription of Samudragupta.</ref> 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.<ref name=Malla>Template:Cite conference</ref>
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.<ref name="Shreshta">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Wright">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn According to Nepāl Mahātmya,Template:Efn Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati.<ref name=Prasad>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled Template:Circa, 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.<ref name=Malla/>
The Ne Muni etymology was rightly dismissed by the early European visitors.<ref>For example, William Kirkpatrick, who visited Nepal in 1793, for whom it was based on "fairy tales", and Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, who concurred with him. Template:Cite book; Template:Cite book</ref> Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen 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".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Page 51.</ref><ref name=Malla/> 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).<ref name=Malla/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
History
[edit]Ancient Nepal
[edit]
By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.<ref name="Dyson2018">Template:Cite book Quote: "Modern human beings—Homo sapiens—originated in Africa. Then, intermittently, sometime between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago, tiny groups of them began to enter the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. It seems likely that initially, they came by way of the coast. ... it is virtually certain that there were Homo sapiens in the subcontinent 55,000 years ago, even though the earliest fossils that have been found of them date to only about 30,000 years before the present. (page 1)"</ref><ref name="PetragliaAllchin">Template:Cite book Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka."</ref><ref name="Fisher2018">Template:Cite book Quote: "Scholars estimate that the first successful expansion of the Homo sapiens range beyond Africa and across the Arabian Peninsula occurred from as early as 80,000 years ago to as late as 40,000 years ago, although there may have been prior unsuccessful emigrations. Some of their descendants extended the human range ever further in each generation, spreading into each habitable land they encountered. One human channel was along with the warm and productive coastal lands of the Persian Gulf and the northern Indian Ocean. Eventually, various bands entered India between 75,000 years ago and 35,000 years ago (page 23)"</ref> The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref name=coni>Template:Cite book</ref> These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=coni/> the first urban culture in South Asia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Susi Dunsmore British Museum Press, 1993 – Crafts & Hobbies – 204 pages</ref>
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.<ref name="autogenerated4">P. 17 Looking to the Future: Indo-Nepal Relations in Perspective By Lok Raj Baral</ref> 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'.<ref name="Tiwari2001">Template:Cite book</ref> The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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).<ref name="Klostermaier">Template:Cite book</ref> 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,<ref name=leo/> 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Efn<ref name="ChakrabartiChakrabarti2013">Template:Cite book</ref>
In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, and the Licchavi dynasty came into power Template:Circa 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.Template:Sfn<ref name=leo>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Medieval Nepal
[edit]
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 Template:Transliteration, 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.<ref name=leo/>
In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years,<ref name=Darnal/> even ruling over Kathmandu for a time.Template:Sfn After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur.<ref name=Darnal>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 Shigatse in Tibet to Tirhut and Gaya in India.Template:Sfn
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.<ref name=leo/>Template:Sfn
Apart from one destructive sacking of Kathmandu valley in the mid 14th century,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name=leo/>
Unification, expansion and consolidation (1768–1951)
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image 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.<ref>Template:Cite periodical</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn<ref name=leo/>
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 its 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.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite book</ref>
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.Template:Sfn Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Contemporary history
[edit]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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn<ref name="Nepal_Timeline">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1996, the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic.Template:Sfn This led to the long Nepalese Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 2001Template:Sfn and subsequently assumed full executive powers aiming to quash the Maoist insurgency himself.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Maoist Party joined mainstream politics following the success of the peaceful democratic revolution of 2006;<ref name="Abolish">Template:Cite news</ref> Nepal became a secular state,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and on 28 May 2008, it was declared a federal republic,<ref name="Abolish"/> ending its time-honoured status as the world's only Hindu kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After a decade of instability and internal strife which saw two constituent assembly elections,<ref name="mao">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Clear
Geography
[edit]
Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about Template:Convert long and Template:Convert wide, with an area of Template:Convert. 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.<ref name=ali>Template:Cite journal</ref> Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate.<ref name=ali/> 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.<ref name=ali/> 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.<ref name=Jwhelpton/> Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the Template:Convert-long Himalayas,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=Jwhelpton>Template:Cite book</ref>
Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as Himal–Pahad–Terai.Template:Efn 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 Template:Convert 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 Template:Convert in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below Template:Convert to alpine climates above Template:Convert. The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching Template:Convert, 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 Template:Convert and very low above Template:Convert, 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 Template:Convert, marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain. Broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys (Template:Lang) lie north of these foothills in several places.
The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about Template:Convert per year.<ref>Bilham et al., 1998;Template:Incomplete short citation Pandey et al., 1995.Template:Incomplete short citation</ref> This makes Nepal an earthquake-prone zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean.<ref>Summerfield & Hulton, 1994;Template:Incomplete short citation Hay, 1998.Template:Incomplete short citation</ref> 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 Template:Convert, the temperate zone Template:Convert, the cold zone Template:Convert, the subarctic zone Template:Convert, and the Arctic zone above Template:Convert. 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
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also
_data.jpg){kind=link}
Nepal contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals, relative to its size.<ref name=wwf>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=kindl/> Nepal, in its entirety, forms the western portion of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, with notable biocultural diversity.<ref name="O'Neill_al2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> The dramatic differences in elevation found in Nepal (60 m from sea level in the Terai plains, to 8,848 m Mount Everest)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> result in a variety of biomes.<ref name=wwf/> 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.<ref name=kindl>Template:Citation</ref> 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.<ref name=kindl/> In its 35 forest-types and 118 ecosystems,<ref name=wwf/>Template:Efn Nepal harbours 2% of the flowering plant species, 3% of pteridophytes and 6% of bryophytes.<ref name=kindl/>
_4.jpg){kind=link}
Nepal's forest cover is Template:Convert, 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.23/10, ranking it 45th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name=kindl/>
Among the notable trees, are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in traditional herbal medicine,<ref name="Goyal2006">Template:Cite book Quote: "The Indian government successfully argued that the medicinal neem tree is part of traditional Indian knowledge. (page 295)"</ref> and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepal,<ref name="Hughes2013">Template:Cite book</ref> which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,<ref name="AmeriCostello2018">Template:Cite book Quote: "The last of the centaurs has the long, wavy, horizontal horns of a markhor, a human face, a heavy-set body that appears bovine, and a goat tail ... This figure is often depicted by itself, but it is also consistently represented in scenes that seem to reflect the adoration of a figure in a pipal tree or arbor and which may be termed ritual. These include fully detailed scenes like that visible in the large 'divine adoration' seal from Mohenjo-daro."</ref> and under which Gautam Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.<ref name="Gwynne2011">Template:Cite book</ref>
Most of the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest of the lower Himalayan region is descended from the Tethyan Tertiary flora.<ref name=sun>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=sun/><ref name="USGS">Template:Cite web</ref> The Himalayan biodiversity hotspot was the site of mass exchange and intermingling of the Indian and Eurasian species in the neogene.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=kindl/>Template:Efn
Nepal contains 107 IUCN-designated threatened species, 88 of them animal species, 18 plant species and one species of "fungi or protist" group.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as the critically endangered gharial, the Bengal florican,<ref name="wwf"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.<ref name=thtvul>Template:Cite news</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was substantially expanded. Vulture restaurants<ref name=kindl/> coupled with a ban on veterinary usage of diclofenac has seen a rise in the number of white-rumped vultures.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=thtvul/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The breeding programmes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> coupled with community-assisted military patrols,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has ten national parks, three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve, three Conservation Areas and eleven buffer zones, covering a total area of Template:Convert, or 19.67% of the total land area,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> while ten wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has consistently been ranked as one of the most polluted countries in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Politics and government
[edit]Politics
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image
Nepal is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system.<ref name="Al Jazeera elections explained">Template:Cite news</ref> Nepal has been referred as the 'Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal' since 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Al Jazeera elections explained"/> Of the two major parties which both officially espouse democratic socialism, CPN(UML) is considered leftist while Nepali Congress is considered centrist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Khadka 1993">Template:Cite journal</ref> After the Maoists entered the political process in 2006, they emerged as the third largest party.<ref name="mao"/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 15 July 2024, K. P. Sharma Oli was sworn in as Nepali Prime minister for fourth time. New coalition was formed between Nepali Congress, led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, and UML, led by Oli. The party leaders will take turns as prime ministers for 18 months each until the next general elections in 2027.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the 1930s, a vibrant underground political movement arose in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1936,Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="ram00">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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,<ref name=ram00/><ref>Rawal, Bhim Bahadur. Nepalma samyabadi andolan: udbhab ra vikas. Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan. p. 83–84.</ref> the Front became CPN (UML), adopted multi-party democracy, and in the brief period, it was in government, introduced welfare programmes that remain popular.<ref name="Khadka 1993"/> 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
[edit]Template:Main 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.<ref name=con15/> Template:Multiple images The Government of Nepal has three branches:<ref name=con15/>
- 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 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.<ref name=con15/>
Administrative divisions
[edit]Template:Main Template:Nepal province labelled map
| Province | Capital | Districts | Area (km2) |
Population Census 2011 |
Population Census 2021 |
Density (people/km2) 2021 |
Human Development Index |
Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koshi Province | Biratnagar | 14 | 25,905 | 4,534,943 | 4,972,021 | 192 | 0.553 | File:Nepal Province 1.svg |
| Madhesh Province | Janakpur | 8 | 9,661 | 5,404,145 | 6,126,288 | 634 | 0.485 | File:Nepal Madhesh Province.svg |
| Bagmati Province | Hetauda | 13 | 20,300 | 5,529,452 | 6,084,042 | 300 | 0.560 | File:Nepal Province 3.svg |
| Gandaki Province | Pokhara | 11 | 21,856 | 2,403,757 | 2,479,745 | 113 | 0.567 | File:Nepal Province 4.svg |
| Lumbini Province | Deukhuri | 12 | 19,707 | 4,499,272 | 5,124,225 | 260 | 0.519 | File:Nepal Province 5.svg |
| Karnali Province | Birendranagar | 10 | 30,213 | 1,570,418 | 1,694,889 | 56 | 0.469 | File:Nepal Karnali.svg |
| Sudurpashchim Province | Godawari | 9 | 19,539 | 2,552,517 | 2,711,270 | 139 | 0.478 | File:Nepal Sudurpashchim Pradesh.svg |
| Nepal | Kathmandu | 77 | 147,181 | 26,494,504 | 29,192,480 | 198 | 0.579 | File:Nepal grey.svg |
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.<ref name=con15/> 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.<ref name=asia1>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=con15/><ref name=asia1/>
Laws and law enforcementTemplate:Anchor
[edit]Template:Main 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The specific legal provisions are codified as Civil Code and Criminal Code, accompanied by Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code respectively.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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. The death penalty has been abolished.<ref name="Death Penalty">Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Efn Paternal lineage of a person is valued and required in legal documents. Many laws remain unenforced in practice.
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.<ref name="Newman2010">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="AHRC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="InterpolNepal">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Brown2013">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal was ranked 76 out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI) in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal's passport has consistently been ranked among the weakest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Foreign relations
[edit]
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> has embassies in 30 countries<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and six consulates,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while 25 countries maintain embassies in Nepal, and more than 80 others maintain non-residential diplomatic missions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal is one of the major contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions, having contributed more than 119,000 personnel to 42 missions since 1958.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Nepal pursues a policy of "balanced relations" with the two giant immediate neighbours, India and China;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India provides for a much closer relationship.<ref name=rn50>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Relations between India and Nepal, though very close, have faced difficulties stemming from territorial disputes,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> economics, and the problems inherent in big power-small power relations.Template:SfnTemplate: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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Citizens of both countries can cross the border and travel as far as 30 km without a visa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Subsequently, China granted Nepal access to its ports for third-country trade, and Nepal joined China's Belt and Road Initiative.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nepal was the first South Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and the countries enjoy a strong relationship;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Military and intelligence
[edit]
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> around 1.4% of GDP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An almost exclusively ground infantry force, Nepal Army numbers at less than one hundred thousand;<ref name=rag/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> recruitment is voluntary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has few aircraft, mainly helicopters, primarily used for transport, patrol, and search and rescue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Directorate of Military Intelligence under Nepal Army serves as the military intelligence agency;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> National Investigation Department tasked with national and international intelligence gathering, is independent.<ref name=rag>Template:Cite book</ref> 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;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> it also undertakes major construction projects.<ref name=milroad>Template:Cite news</ref> There are no discriminatory policies on recruitment into the army, but it is dominated by men from elite Pahari warrior castes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Economy
[edit]Nepal is one of the least developed countries, which ranks 165th in the worldTemplate:Efn in nominal GDP per capita<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 162ndTemplate:Efn in GDP per capita at PPP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019 was $34.186 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has consistently been ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has been a member of WTO since 23 April 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The 16.8-million-worker Nepali labour force is the 37th largest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The primary sector makes up 27.59% of GDP, the secondary sector 14.6%, and the tertiary sector 57.81%.<ref name="National Accounts of Nepal 2018/19">Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal's foreign exchange remittances of US$8.1 billion in 2018, the 19th largest in the world and constituting 28.0% of GDP,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> were contributed to its economy by millions of workers primarily in India, the Middle East and East Asia, almost all of them unskilled labourers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Major agricultural products include cereals (barley, maize, millet, paddy and wheat), oilseed, potato, pulses, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, milk and water buffalo meat.<ref name=cia17>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Major industries include tourism, carpets, textiles, cigarettes, cement, brick, as well as small rice, jute, sugar and oilseed mills.<ref name=cia17/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Inflation was at 4.5% in 2019.<ref name="wb19">Template:Cite web</ref> Foreign exchange reserves were at US$9.5 billion in July 2019, equivalent to 7.8 months of imports.<ref name=wb19/>
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.<ref name=wb19/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable as it is highly dependent on the monsoon rains, with just 28% of the arable land being irrigated, Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18%, and manufacturing and craft-based industry 6%.<ref name="World Bank: Nepal- Country Overview 2012">Template:Cite web</ref> Private investment, consumption, tourism and agriculture are the principal contributors to economic growth.<ref name="wb19"/>
The government's budget is about $13.71 billion (FY 2019/20);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> expenditure of infrastructure development budget, most of it contributed by foreign aid, usually fails to meet the target.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The country receives foreign aid from the UK,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Encarta">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Development Failure">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Development-Conflict Nexus">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Tourism
[edit]_(26428623908).jpg){kind=link}
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.<ref name=tkptour19/> The number of international visitors crossed one million in 2018 for the first time (not counting Indian tourists arriving by land).<ref name=tkptour19>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=thttour>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nepal officially opened to westerners in 1951 and became a popular destination at the end of the hippie trail in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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. The home-stay tourism, in which cultural and eco-tourists stay as paying guests in the homes of indigenous people, has seen some success.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Foreign employment
[edit]
The rate of unemployment and underemployment exceeds half of the working-age population,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and many are forced to forfeit all or part of the wages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many Nepalis work in extremely unsafe conditions; an average of two workers die each day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Due to restrictions placed on women, many depend on traffickers to get out of the country, and end up victims of violence and abuse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=ilofe>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=ilofe/>
Infrastructure
[edit]Energy
[edit]
The bulk of energy in Nepal comes from biomass (80%) and imported fossil fuels (16%).<ref name=adb17>Template:Cite report</ref> 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.<ref name=adb17/> Except for some lignite deposits, Nepal has no known oil, gas or coal deposits.<ref name=adb17/> All commercial fossil fuels (mainly oil, LPG and coal) are imported, spending 129% of the country's total export revenue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Only about 1% of the energy need is fulfilled by electricity.<ref name=adb17/> 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.<ref name=adb17/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Major hydro-power projects suffer delays and setbacks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=adb17/> 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.<ref name="USAID SARI">Template:Cite web</ref>
Transportation
[edit]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;<ref name="World Factbook">Template:Cite web</ref> 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. Template:As of, there were just over Template:Convert of paved roads, Template:Convert of unpaved roads, and just Template:Convert of railway line in the south.<ref name="World Factbook"/> Template:As of, all district headquarters (except Simikot) had been connected to the road network.<ref name=milroad/> Most of the rural roads are not operable during the rainy season; even national highways regularly become inoperable.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Internally, the poor state of development of the road system makes access to markets, schools, and health clinics a challenge.<ref name="Encarta"/> Nepal has the worst road infrastructure in Asia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Communication
[edit]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.<ref name=ntams>Template:Cite report</ref> 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.<ref name=ntams/> 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%).<ref name=ntams/> 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.<ref name=ntams/> 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.<ref name="World Factbook"/>
Media
[edit]Template:Main Template:As of, 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.<ref name="World Factbook"/> 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%.Template:Sfn According to the Press Council Nepal classification, Template:As of of the 833 publications producing original content, ten national dailies and weeklies are rated A+ class.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked Nepal at 106th in the world in terms of press freedom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
[edit]
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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nepal is one of the ten least urbanised, and the ten fastest urbanizing countries in the world. Template:As of, 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.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> 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. Template:Clear
Largest cities
[edit]Template:Largest cities of Nepal
Language
[edit]
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.Template: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.Template:Citation needed
Religion
[edit]
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 (Template:Langx)'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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%).Template:Sfn By percentage of population, Nepal has the largest population of Hindus in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal was officially a Hindu Kingdom until recently, and Shiva was considered the guardian deity of the country.<ref>Anthologia anthropologica. The native races of Asia and Europe; by James George Frazer, Sir; Robert Angus Downie</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has the second-largest number of Hindus in the world after India.<ref name="PewDec2012">Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
[edit]Template:Main Nepal entered modernity in 1951 with a literacy rate of 5% and about 10,000 students enrolled in 300 schools.Template:Citation needed By 2017, there were more than seven million students enrolled in 35,601 schools.<ref name=moe17>Template:Cite report</ref> The overall literacy rate (for population age five years and above) increased from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.9% in 2011.Template:Sfn The net primary enrolment rate reached 97% by 2017,<ref name="undp">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> yet enrolment was less than 60% at the secondary level (grades 9 –12),<ref name=uis>Template:Cite web</ref> and around 12% at the tertiary level.<ref name=uis/> Though there is significant gender disparity in overall literacy rate,Template:Sfn girls have overtaken boys in enrolment to all levels of education.<ref name=uis/> Nepal has eleven universities and four independent science academies.<ref name=moe17/> Nepal was ranked 109th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Lack of proper infrastructures and teaching materials, and a high student-to-teacher ratio, as well as politicisation of school management committees<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and partisan unionisation among both students and teachers,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> present a hurdle to progress. Free basic education is guaranteed in the constitution but the programme lacks funding for effective implementation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Government has scholarship programmes for girls and disabled students as well as the children of martyrs, marginalised communities and the poor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tens of thousands of Nepali students leave the country every year in search of better education and work, with half of them never returning.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Health
[edit]
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> up from 54 years in the 1990s and 35 years in 1950.<ref name=ththeal>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two-thirds of all deaths are due to non-communicable diseases; heart disease is the leading cause of death.<ref name=nhrc19>Template:Cite report</ref> 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.<ref name=nhrc19/><ref name=tkpheal19>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=unicefhealth/> Stunting, underweight and wasting has been reduced significantly;<ref name=unicefhealth>Template:Cite web</ref> malnutrition, at 43% among children under five, is extremely high.<ref name=ntimes19>Template:Cite web</ref> Anemia in women and children increased between 2011 and 2016, reaching 41% and 53% respectively.<ref name=ntimes19/> Low birth weight is at 27% while breastfeeding is at 65%.<ref name=ntimes19/> Nepal has reduced maternal mortality rate to 229,<ref name=kpmm>Template:Cite web</ref> from 901 in 1990;<ref name=whomm>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=kpmm/> infant mortality is down to 32.2 per thousand live births compared to 139.8 in 1990.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By paying stipends for four antenatal visits to health centres and hospitalised delivery, Nepal decreased home-births from 81% in 2006<ref name="whomm"/> to 41% in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> School meal programmes have improved education as well as nutrition metrics among children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Immigrants and refugees
[edit]Template:Main Nepal has a long tradition of accepting immigrants and refugees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In modern times, Tibetans and Bhutanese have constituted a majority of refugees in Nepal. Tibetan refugees began arriving in 1959,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and many more cross into Nepal every year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In late 2018, Nepal had a total of 20,800 confirmed refugees, 64% of them Tibetan and 31% Bhutanese.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> lack official recognition; the government facilitates their resettlement in third countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Government of India puts the number of Non-Resident Indians in the country at 600,000.<ref name="mea.gov.in">Template:Cite web</ref>
Culture
[edit]
Society
[edit]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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.Template: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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Many Nepali festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Gadhimai festival, Dashain, Tihar, Teej, Chhath, Maghi, Sakela, Holi, and the Nepali new year.
Gadhimai festival is a Hindu festival held every five years in Nepal at the Gadhimai Temple and has been described as the world's bloodiest festival. The event involves large-scale slaughter of animals and birds, including buffaloes, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, pigeons, pigs, rats and white mice, with the goal of pleasing goddess Gadhimai.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Critics say the festival ritual is barbaric, unsanitary and wasteful, but Hindu devotees insist it has deep religious significance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Dashain is a major Hindu religious festival in Nepal. Driven by the belief that offerings of fresh blood will appease goddess Durga, thousands of buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and ducks are slaughtered during the festival. Numerous animal welfare activists have expressed their concerns over the issue of animal cruelty and mass slaughter. The Nepali government have tried to ban the filming of the animal sacrifices. An animal welfare group who witnessed the festival said "We have been violently and physically assaulted. Our equipment and cameras have been ripped from our hands and smashed into pieces." They also said they saw festival goers defecating in public and they had to walk among human faeces. In another case Nepali people carrying machetes chased animal welfare activists down the street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Witch-hunts are still occurring in Nepal in the twenty-first century. The victims are usually poor elderly women, free-spirited young women, widows,<ref name=af>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=wn>Template:Cite web</ref> women of lower castes, or any possible combination of the above.<ref name=la/><ref name=tkp/> The perpetrators are usually neighbours or residents of the same village, and occasionally family or close relatives. Politicians, teachers, police officers, army officers and other respected members of the community have also been implicated in various incidents.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Execution may be carried out by burning alive.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many victims succumb to their injuries from torture and assault. Non-murderous witch-hunts usually include beating and feeding of excrement.<ref name=la>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=tkp>Template:Cite news</ref>
Symbols
[edit]Template:Main article Template:Infobox place symbols 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".Template:Citation needed
Nepal's flag is the only national flag in the world that is not rectangular in shape.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The constitution contains instructions for a Geometric Construction of the double-pennant flag.<ref>compare this copy of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal Template:Webarchive</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Hutt1991/>
Art and architecture
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image
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 Template:Circa 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 Template:Circa, 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 Template:Circa 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.<ref name="landon2">Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref name=landon2/>
Looting of the cultural heritage of Nepal
[edit]Cultural looting is a crisis in Nepal despite efforts to combat it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Volunteers working for the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign have helped recover artifacts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023 Nepalese artifacts suspected of having been looted were found in the Art Institute of Chicago,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Metropolitan Museum of Art,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Dallas Museum of Art,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Rubin Museum<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and other museums, and turned up in auctions at Christie's,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bonhams<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and other auction houses.
Literature and the performing arts
[edit]_author.jpg){kind=link}
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.<ref name=bba/> 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 have not been found. Newar literature dates back almost 500 years.<ref name=Hutt1991/>
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.<ref name=bba>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=Hutt1991/> 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,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Hutt1991>Template:Cite book</ref>
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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nepal Academy is the foremost institution for the promotion of arts and culture in Nepal, established in 1957.<ref name=Hutt1991/>
Clothing
[edit]
The most widely worn traditional dress in Nepal, for both women and men, from ancient times until the advent of modern times, was draped.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26"/> The sari is tied around the waist and knotted at one end, wrapped around the lower body, and then over the shoulder.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26"/> In its more modern form, it has been used to cover the head, and sometimes the face, as a veil,<ref name="Tarlo1996-26"/> 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.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26"/> 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 Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration, 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.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26-28">Template:Cite book</ref> It too is tied around the waist and wrapped.<ref name="Tarlo1996-26-28"/> 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 Madheshi 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 Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration 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,<ref name="Tarlo1996-26-28"/> 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.<ref name="Rahman-Alkazi2002">Template:Cite book</ref> The arrival of the Kushans from Central Asia, Template:Circa AD, popularised cut and sewn garments in the style of Central Asia.<ref name="Rahman-Alkazi2002"/> 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, Template:Transliteration (Magars) or Template:Transliteration (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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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, Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration. 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 Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and red bangles. Jewellery of gold and silver, and sometimes precious stones, are common. Gold jewellery includes Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration worn with the Template:Transliteration by the Hindus, Template:Transliteration (a huge gold flower worn on the head) and Nessey (huge flattened gold earrings) worn by the Limbus, and Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration worn by the Magars. Tharu women can wear as much as six kilograms of silver in jewellery, which includes Template:Transliteration worn on the head, Template:Transliteration the forehead, and Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration around the neck.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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
[edit]
Nepali cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines. With diversity in soil type, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially, using locally available spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruit.<ref name=tkpcrop>Template:Cite web</ref> The Columbian exchange brought potatoes, tomatoes, maize, peanuts, cashew nuts, pineapples, guavas, and most notably, chilli peppers, to South Asia; all became staples.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Cereals grown in Nepal, their times and regions of planting, correspond strongly to the timing of monsoons<ref name=sen-colleen-p13>Template:Cite book</ref> and variations in altitude. Rice and wheat are mostly cultivated in the terai plains and well-irrigated valleys; maize, millet, barley and buckwheat mostly in the less fertile and drier hills.<ref name=tkpcrop/><ref name=pathak>Template:Cite book</ref>
A typical Nepali meal is a cereal cooked in plain fashion, complemented with flavourful, savoury dishes.<ref name="Davidson2014-p409">Template:Cite book</ref> The latter include lentils, pulses and vegetables, spiced commonly with ginger and garlic, and more discerningly with combinations of coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon, jimbu and others.<ref name="Davidson2014-p409"/> This is typically on a platter, or thali, with a central place for the cooked cereal and small bowls for the flavourful accompaniments. They are combined either by actual mixing—for example, rice and lentils—or in the folding of one—such as bread—around the other, such as cooked vegetables.<ref name="Davidson2014-p409"/> Dal-bhat centred around steamed rice is the most common example.<ref name=cnnfood/> as well as dairy and sometimes meat. Unleavened flat bread made from wheat flour called chapati occasionally replaces 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.<ref name=pathak/>
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.<ref name="Davidson2014-p410">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Davidson2014-p410"/> Among these groups, strong discomfort is felt at thoughts of eating meat.<ref name="SahakianSaloma2016-50">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Nepali cuisines possess their own distinctive qualities to distinguish these hybrid cuisines from both their northern and southern neighbours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=cnnfood>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=cnnfood/> 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.<ref name=tkpcrop/> 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), Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are among the more widely recognised.<ref name=cnnfood/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Juju dhau, a sweet yoghurt originating in Bhaktapur, is also famous.<ref name=cnnfood/> 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.<ref name=tkpcrop/> 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 Template:Transliteration (sun-dried small fish mixed with taro leaves) and biriya (lentil paste mixed with taro leaves) to stock for the monsoon floods.<ref name=tkpcrop/> Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are among the sweet delicacies. Rice pulau or sweet rice porridge called Template:Transliteration are usually the main dish in feasts.<ref name=pathak/> 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
[edit]Template:MainNepali indigenous sports, like dandi biyo and kabaddi which were considered the unofficial national sports until recently,<ref name= voll>Template:Cite news</ref> are still popular in rural areas.<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play">Template:Cite news</ref> Despite efforts, standardisation and development of dandi biyo has not been achieved,<ref name="Online Khabar national sport">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while Kabaddi, as a professional sport, is still in its infancy in Nepal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Ludo, snakes and ladders and carrom are popular pastimes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Chess is also played.<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> Volleyball was declared as the national sport of Nepal in 2017.<ref name=voll/> Popular children's games include versions of tag,<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> knucklebones,<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> hopscotch, Duck, duck, goose<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> and lagori, while marbles,<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> 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<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> and a variety of skipping rope games.<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/>
Football and cricket are popular professional sports.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It usually ranks in the bottom quarter in the FIFA World Rankings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nepal has had some success in cricket and holds ODI status,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> consistently ranking in the Top 20 in the ICC ODI and T20I rankings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=trn>Template:Cite news</ref> Nepal has never won an Olympic medal.<ref name=gauri/> Sports like basketball, volleyball, futsal, wrestling, competitive bodybuilding<ref name=gauri/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and badminton are also gaining in popularity.<ref name="Himalayan Times More than child's play"/> Women in football, cricket, athletics, martial arts, badminton and swimming have found some success.<ref name=award>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=gauri>Template:Cite news</ref> Nepal also fields players and national teams in several tournaments for disabled individuals, most notably in men's<ref name=menb>Template:Cite news</ref> as well as women's blind cricket.<ref name=wmenb>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref name=dash>Template:Cite news</ref> Since the formation of the national team, Nepal has played its home matches of cricket at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground.<ref name="cricktarchv">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nepali sports is hindered by a lack of infrastructure,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> funding,<ref name=menb/> corruption, nepotism and political interference.<ref name=trn/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Very few players are able to make a living as professional sportspeople.<ref name=dash/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
[edit]Citations
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite bookTemplate:Refend
External links
[edit]Government
[edit]- Template:Official website of the Government of Nepal
- Template:Official website of Nepal Tourism Board
General information
[edit]- Nepal country profile from BBC News
- Nepal. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
- Template:GovPubs
- Template:Wikiatlas
- Template:Wikivoyage inline
- Template:Osmrelation-inline
- Key Development Forecasts for Nepal from International Futures
Template:Nepal topics Template:Navboxes Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Nepal
- 1769 establishments in Asia
- Countries in Asia
- Federal constitutional republics
- Former monarchies of Asia
- Hindu states
- Landlocked countries
- Least developed countries
- Member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- Member states of the United Nations
- Republics
- South Asian countries
- States and territories established in 1769