History of Nepal

The history of Nepal has been influenced by its position in the Himalaya and its two neighbours, modern day India and China. Due to the "arrival of disparate settler" groups from outside through the ages, it is now a multiethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi religious, and multilingual country. Central Nepal (Currently Kathmandu Valley) was split into three kingdoms from the 15th century until the 18th century, when it was re-unified under the Shah rule. The most spoken language of Nepal is Nepali followed by other various national languages.

Nepal had experienced a struggle for democracy at times in the 20th century and early 21st century. During the 1990s and until 2008, the country was in a civil strife. A peace treaty was signed in 2008 and elections were held in the same year. In a historical vote for the election of the constituent assembly, Nepalese parliament voted to oust the monarchy in June 2008. Nepal became a federal republic and was formally renamed the 'Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal' ending the 200 year old Shah dynasty.

The derivation of the word Nepal is the subject of a number of different theories:

Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 11,000 years. The earliest inhabitants of Nepal and adjoining areas were people from the Indus Valley Civilization. The Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in South Asia (around 3300 BCE), before the coming of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border.Tharus, people of mixed Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic features are the forest-dwelling natives of the Terai region of Nepal. The Kirat people arrived from Tibet some 2000 years ago and lived in northern Nepal. Other ethnic groups of Indo-Aryan origin later migrated to southern part of Nepal from India.

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