Geography of Nepal
Geography & History of Nepal
Nepal’s Geography
Nepal is a landlocked country lying between 800 4′- 800 12′ east longitude and 260 22′- 300 4′ north latitude. The total area comprises 147181 sq. km. Nepal is bordered by the Tibet, an Autonomous Region of China, to the north and India in the east, south and west. The country is rectangular in shape, approximately 885 km long boarded by Mechi River in east and Mahakali River in west and roughly 200 km tall north to south.
Nepal is divided into three geographical regions known as, Himalayan region, Mountain Region and the Terai Region.
In the north it straddles the hills and mountains between the enormous Ganges plain and high Tibetan plateau. The Himalayan range content close to the one third of the entire greater Himalaya range including 8 of the world’s 10 highest mountain. There are about 1300 other peaks well above 6000 meters high resting in this region. In the south a narrow strip of flat land known as Terai exist bordered by Siwalik Hill and Mahabharat Range. Between are boarded valleys, the inner Terai which were once infested with deadly malaria but this area is now a rapidly developing area since DDT was spread to eradicate Malaria. The Terai region is also known and fertile bread basket of Nepal. Between Himalayas and Terai the Mountain region covers 64% of total surface area of Nepal.
Nepal’s History in Short
Modern Nepal was unified by King Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha. Before the unification, Nepal was ruled by various Kirats, Lichchavis, Thakuris and Mallas. The history mentioned that Kirats ruled Nepal during the 7th century BC. Though much was not known about Kirats,the Lichchavi dynasty followed the Kirats which lasted from the 2nd to 9th century AD. Nepal was ruled by the Thakuris who were followed by the Mallas for two centuries after The Lichchavis. Nepal was divided into many principalities and small kingdoms In the fifth centuries of Malla rule,. Those kingdoms have their own currency, administration and large armies. Malla dynasty is known as golden period and it was during the reign of the Mallas that Nepal developed into a great center of art and architecture. It was mentioned in history that some of the best known monuments were built during this time which can be seen even today. Taking the advantage of quarrel between these small kingdoms, in 1768, King Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha invaded the Kathmandu Valley and unified Nepal, thus Shah Dynasty was established in Nepal.
Jang Bahadur Rana the then Prime Minister of Nepal revolted against the royalty In 1844. The famous Koot Massacre took place during this period in which numbers of noblemen were killed. The Rana took absolute power but continued to maintain the Shah family in the palace. Chandra Shamsher the later Ranas has brought many reforms including the abolition of slavery. Colleges, schools, hospitals and, started newspapers were built during Ranas regime. The 104 years reign of Ranas came to and end due to their autocratic rules.
It was in November 1950 King Tribhuvan restored democracy overthrowing the Rana regime with large number of Nepalese people support. He restored Shah regime again in Nepal.After his death King Birendra ruled Nepal and know as one of the noble and peaceful king of Nepal.
The entire family of King Birendra was massacred in June 2001 popularly Known and Royal Massacre 2001.Prince Dipendra was crowned as King while on coma later he took his last breath lying in hospital bed.
Gyanendra Shah late King Birendra’s brother was coroneted as the King of Nepal.
In 2006, a decade-long People’s Revolution by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) along with several weeks of mass protests by all major political parties of Nepal signed a peace accord, dethroned King Gyanendra Shah and established Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
