History of Nepal

The History of Nepal is characterized by its isolated position in the Himalayas and its two dominant neighbors, India and China. Even though it was independent through most of its history, it was split in three from the 15th to 18th century. It was united as a monarchy, and experienced a failed struggle for democracy in the 20th century. Since the 1990s, the country is in civil strife.

Before Nepal's emergence as a nation in the latter half of the 18th century, the designation 'Nepal' was largely applied only to the Kathmandu Valley. Thus up until the unification of the country, Nepal's history is largely the history of the Kathmandu Valley. References to Nepal in famous Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata, Puranas and also Buddhist and Jain scriptures, establish the country's antiquity as an independent political and territorial entity. The Vamshavalis or chronicles, the oldest of which was written during the 14th century, are the only fairly reliable basis for Nepal's ancient history.

Nepal was created from an amalgam of small principalities in 1768 under King Prithvi Narayan Shah. Under the control of a hereditary king, Nepal then became a ‘buffer state’ between the British empire and the territories to the north. The main instrument of British rule from the mid-19th century onwards was a hereditary prime minister drawn from the Rana family. The country became formally independent in 1923, but it was not until 1947 (the year of Indian independence) and the total withdrawal of the British from the region that Nepal achieved genuine independence. In 1951, the Ranas, who were still in power, were overthrown in a coup organized by the Nepali Congress, and a hereditary monarchy was restored under King Tribhuvan.

Four years later he was succeeded by his son, King Mahendra. In 1959, Mahendra established a parliamentary constitution, and the ensuing elections were won by the Nepali Congress (led by BP Koirala) which had played a key role in the re-establishment of the monarchy. A year later however, a royal coup led to the banning of all political parties and the establishment of a constitution based on the traditional village councils (the Panchayat system). Mahendra ruled until his death in 1972 when he was succeeded by his son Birendra.

Birendra persevered with the Panchayat system, bolstered initially by the result of a referendum which gave a narrow majority in favor of its continued use. In the face of substantial and growing opposition, which increased steadily throughout the 1980s, Birendra resorted to a mix of repression, censorship and cosmetic administrative reforms to defuse the situation. In 1986, a member of the minority Newari community, Marich Man Singh Shrestha, became Prime Minister for the first time. Then, in 1990, growing public unrest forced the King to accept political parties and introduce a draft constitution allowing for direct elections to a bicameral parliament.


Modern Nepal was created in the latter half of the 18th century when Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha, formed a unified country from a number of independent hill states. The country was frequently called the Gorkha Kingdom, the source of the term "Gurkha" used for Nepalese soldiers. After 1800, the heirs of Prithvi Narayan Shah proved unable to maintain firm political control over Nepal. A period of internal turmoil followed, heightened by Nepal's defeat in a war with the British from 1814 to 1816. Stability was restored after 1846 when the Rana family gained power, entrenched itself through hereditary prime ministers, and reduced the monarch to a figurehead. The Rana regime, a tightly centralized autocracy, pursued a policy of isolating Nepal from external influences. This policy helped Nepal maintain its national independence during the colonial era, but it also impeded the country's economic development.

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