History History

While the discovery of prehistoric objects in many places attests to a very ancient human presence, the known history of Nepal begins around 1600 BC, at the time when the Trojan War was being fought in the West.

In the centuries that preceded our era, nomadic conqueror peoples from the eastern confines of Europe, such as the Arya, invaded and settled in northern India and the Himalayas. Following them, the Kirati succeeded in establishing sovereignty over the Kathmandu Valley. Yalambar, their first king, would have been the first to rule this coveted valley. The Kirati dynasty would have had 29 rulers, but very little is known about them. The Kathmandu Valley became the kingdom of Nepal from that time, but until the 19th century, this kingdom only covered the territory restricted to the valley.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born into the Sakya royal family of Kapilavastu, a small kingdom in southern Nepal, not far from present-day Lumbini. After years of meditation, Siddhartha attained "enlightenment" and became the Buddha ("the Awakened One"). Thus was born Buddhism, which spread throughout Asia and remains very present there today. In the 3rd century B.C., Buddhism really took off with the involvement of Emperor Ashoka, the first unifier of Northern India. The powerful ruler had a column erected to commemorate his pilgrimage to Buddha's birthplace. He stays in Kathmandu and is credited with the construction of the four great stupas surrounding Patan, as well as the marriage of his daughter to a local prince.

During the first century AD, a dynasty of kings from India, the Licchavi, drove the Kirati to eastern Nepal where their descendants, the Rai and Limbu tribes, still live today. The Licchavi rule from palaces built in several sites scattered throughout the Kathmandu valley, and now extinct. They organize society according to the caste principle and mint their currency. The trans-Himalayan trade allowed from that time on substantial profits to be invested in the construction of a multitude of temples, sanctuaries, stupas, statues or simple reliquaries. Although Hindu, the Licchavi protected and encouraged the rise of Buddhism as well as all possible forms of religion. Swayambunath, Pashupatinath, Bodnath: all the great sanctuaries of the valley developed at the beginning of this era. However, at this time, Hinduism regained strength and the site of Lumbini, the origin of Buddhism, was somewhat neglected.

In 602, succeeding his father-in-law Licchavi, King Thakuri Amsuwarman ascended the throne and succeeded, by marrying his daughters to Indian and Tibetan princes, in consolidating the Nepalese kingdom. The use of Newari, the language spoken by the majority of the population of Mongolian origin, spreads and replaces Sanskrit. Invaded by Tibet in 705 and then by Kashmir in 782, the Nepalese kingdom nevertheless managed to maintain itself thanks to its strategic position and the fertility of the Kathmandu plain. Nepal then experiences until 1200, a dark period in its history, about which there are few indications, but during which the foundation of Kantipur (now Kathmandu) by King Gunakamaveda would have taken place.

Originally from India, the Malla took power around 1200 in the Kathmandu valley. From that time on, the kings gave themselves the title of Malla, which means "wrestler". At the beginning of this period, invasions, famines and earthquakes hit the valley. In 1255, a very strong earthquake decimated the population. Thirty years later, the first attacks came from the Kha, an Indo-European people who had carved out a vast kingdom based about 800 km from Kathmandu. The Kha rule over western Nepal today, and their stranglehold extends as far as Tibet. Then came the Mithilas from the south, and finally, in the early 14th century, an army of Muslims in the pay of the Sultan of Bengal, Shamsud-Din, plundered Nepal, destroying many shrines, without however compromising the local strength of Buddhism.

Nepal at this time experienced several centuries of stability which allowed Jayasthiti (1355-1395) to reorganize the Newar into a single kingdom, with Bhatgaon (Bhaktapur) as its capital. With order, opulence returned to the valley and the era of the builders began. The Malla dynasty was responsible for the construction of almost all the monuments visible today. Jaya Yaksa (1428-1482) conquered Gurkha and other strategic principalities but he did not achieve the unity of Nepal and divided his possessions among his sons. Bhatgaon, Patan and Kathmandu thus remain separate kingdoms, of which the kings will not cease to be jealous. Mahendra Malla (1560-1579) and Pratap Malla (1641-1674) were the two great architects of Kathmandu, which, however, at that time, achieved the status of a great Newar city. At that time, the rest of Nepal consisted of some 50 independent states.

Nepal owes its unity to Prithvi Narayan Shah (1722-1775), the king of the modest town of Gurkha, who not only succeeded in conquering the Newar kingdoms, but also in unifying and expanding Nepal while establishing the Shah dynasty. But in 1814 the British put a military end to the expansion of the young nation.

From then on, weakened by the war and the fixing of its borders, Nepal was going to isolate itself from the rest of the world for more than a century. The only external contacts were with the British, who recognized Nepal's independence in 1923. It will still be necessary to wait until the middle of the 20th century to note a first opening.

Against a backdrop of internal intrigue, the Rana family was set up at the expense of the Shah and ended up holding real power in 1846. The Rana will impose their power on the kingdom for a century, and although the country closes in on itself, some important reforms are nevertheless put in place during this period.

But the departure of the British weakened them badly and the heir of the founder of the nation, King Tribbuvan succeeded in removing them and forming an open government. His son Mahendra succeeded him in 1955, taking the same political line as him.

For the first time in Nepalese history, in 1959, an election was held by universal suffrage. The Congress Party won the majority of seats, but Mahendra dissolved the office of Prime Minister B.P. Koirala in December 1960. Nepali Congress Party leaders were arrested or forced into exile in India, and in 1962 the King established a single party system, the Panchayat, which operated for 28 years. Nicknamed the "Tito of the Himalayas", Mahendra succeeded in imposing Nepal's independence internationally.

By invading Tibet, Communist China is moving dangerously close to India, whose security is threatened: the risk of invasion by India is taken seriously by the Nepalese. King Mahendra's western-educated son, Birendra, is crowned in 1975: he declares Nepal a zone of peace, thus finding a clever way to limit the interference of neighbouring countries and attract worldwide sympathy for his country.

Domestically, the opposition is calling for the abolition of the single party system, the Panchayat. In 1979, Birendra granted a referendum to defuse student riots, but 55% of the voters voted for a simple reform of the Panchayat. Ten years later, India imposed a trade blockade on Nepal. Taking advantage of the discontent of the Nepalese people, who were suffering severe deprivation, the opposition launched a campaign to restore democracy. In 1990, crowds took to the streets and the crisis reached its climax on April 3, 1990, when the army fired on a demonstration approaching the palace, killing at least 45 people. That same evening, Birendra abolished the Panchayat system and authorized political parties.

The new Constitution adopted by Nepal in 1990 guarantees the main principles of democracy. The King remains the head of the armies and the depositary of some exceptional powers

In 1991, the Nepali Congress Party won a majority in the legislative elections, but a new movement was set up: the Communist Party of Nepal, the UML, which gathered a large number of protest votes. With Girija Prasad Koirala as prime minister, the Congress Party quickly descended into an internal war, and public life was severely disrupted by strikes that were severely repressed by the police. In December 1994, the king called on Man Mohan Adhikari, the leader of the communists, to form a government, but a motion of censure brought down his cabinet in September 1995. Sher Bahadur Deuba, the new leader of the Congress Party, forms a coalition government and the 1998 parliamentary elections give him an absolute majority in parliament. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and then Girija Prasad Koirala became Prime Minister. Maoist guerrilla warfare was born and developed, finding an echo among the people, tired of the war of the leaders within the Nepali Congress Party.

In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), supported by the people, called for a "people's war". In the poor western regions of the country, they attacked police stations and government agencies. Then the guerrilla war spreads, claiming many victims among police and government officers. It is in this difficult context that the death of King Birendra and ten members of his lineage occurred in 2001, during a family tragedy in their palace in Narayan Hiti. After a hasty funeral, his uncle, Prince Gyanendra, became the new king. His clan takes a hard line against the insurgency that threatens the integrity of the country, but talks with the Maoists are unsuccessful. In October 2002, King Gyanendra suspended Parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for his inability to resolve the insurgency problem. The king seized full powers and formed a Council of Ministers composed of loyalists. A state of emergency is declared, the King introduces censorship and suspends fundamental rights in order to muzzle the opposition. For its part, the guerrillas took advantage of the political instability in the country and continued to increase their hold on the people.

In early 2006, the seven main opposition parties formed an alliance with the Maoist rebels to organize a general strike to put pressure on the king to restore democracy. The strike began on 6 April 2006 and developed into a major popular protest movement. The regime brutally tries to contain the hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating across the country: curfew, order to shoot on sight, sealing off the capital to protect the royal palace... The country is paralysed. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) condemns the abusive use of force by the police and army. On 24 April 2006, the King finally gave in and announced the restoration of Parliament. The alliance of opposition parties nominated a Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, who was appointed by the King. Parliament was convened and the Prime Minister formed a seven-member government. Nepal is living a historic moment: democracy is restored.

On 21 November 2006, Prime Minister Koirala signed a peace agreement with Prachanda, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) and its armed wing. The signing ended a 12-year civil war that had claimed 13,000 lives. The Maoists agree to join a provisional government and to place their weapons under the supervision of the United Nations. In 2007, they entered Parliament and in December of that year, Parliament put an end to the monarchy.

In July 2008, Ram Baran Yadav became the first President of the Republic. However, political crises followed one after the other, including the resignation of Prime Minister Kamal Pushpa Dahal, known as Prachanda, during a televised address on 4 May 2009.

The Constitutional Assembly responsible for drafting the new constitution is dissolved on 27 May 2012. The following year, with a view to ending the persistent political stalemate, the four major political groups set up an interim electoral council to organize the elections. The country finally seemed to be on the right track when the earthquake of 25 April 2015 struck, destroying the capital and its surroundings and killing thousands of people. Following this tragedy, the government pulled together and adopted the Constitution. However, not everything was settled: the new constitution was deeply criticised and the country was plagued by new demonstrations in which 30 people were killed.

At the end of 2015, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari is elected and Pushpa Kamal Dahal becomes Prime Minister again.

In March 2023, Ram Chandra Poudel was elected President of Nepal on the Nepali Congress ticket, with 68.54% of the vote against Subash Chandra Nemwang of the Communist Party of Nepal. Today, the political situation seems relatively stabilized and democracy has taken root, despite latent crises. With international support, Nepal is now focusing its efforts on reconstruction.

On January 15, a Yeti Airlines plane crashed near Pokhara, killing 72 people on board, including a Frenchman.

On May 18, Sherpa Gelje rescued a 33-year-old Malaysian who he found almost dead at 8500 m altitude, cold and alone. He abandons the summit climb with his Chinese client to carry the trekker for 6 hours on his back to a camp, where he is transferred by helicopter, and saves his life.

On May 23, mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Everest (8,849 meters), the roof of the world, for the ^28th time in his 28-year career, at the age of 53. This is the new world record.