Nepal

Continent

Asia

Best States to Visit

Arun Kshetra
Janakpur Kshetra
Kathmandu Kshetra
Gandak Kshetra
Kapilavastu Kshetra

Best Cities to Visit

Kathmandu
Lumbini
Pokhara
Bhaktapur
Chitwan

Size

147,516 KM²

Population

28,295,714

GDP

$122,620,000,000

Spending Budget

$595,000,000 - $696,000,000

Famous For

World Heritage sites

Best Time to Visit

January
February
October
November
December

History

By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved. The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time. 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. These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilization, the first urban culture in South Asia. Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district. The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley Civilization. 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. 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. Another possibility for the first people to have inhabited Nepal are the Kusunda people. According to Hogdson (1847), the earliest inhabitants of Nepal were perhaps the Kusunda people, probably of proto-Australoid origin. 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.

Present Day

Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering Tibet of China to the north, and India in 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. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. 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 colonized 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.

Future

Nepal has been hit hard by COVID-19, although the situation has improved more recently. As the outbreak became widespread in mid-2020, a nationwide lockdown was implemented from March to July in 2020, followed by localized lockdowns, including in the Kathmandu Valley up until mid-September. During this time transportation, education and tourism-related activities were significantly restricted. Since October, the number of cases has been declining steadily, allowing a gradual easing of movement restrictions. Nepal launched its vaccination program on January 27, 2021, and about 5.9 percent of the population (or 1,791,606 people) were inoculated by mid-March 2021. Thus, there are good prospects that further outbreaks of COVID-19 can be contained. After contracting for the first time in 40 years in FY20-by 1.9 percent-the economy showed signs of moderate recovery in the first half of FY21. Activity resumed in wholesale and retail trade, transport, and financial services, while favorable monsoons drove agricultural growth. However, tourism remained at a standstill and private investment anemic given high levels of overall uncertainty related to the epidemic as well as political developments. Uncertainty arising from the epidemic has also contributed to fiscal risks due to the degree of fiscal stimulus provided to support individuals and firms and which will need to eventually be rolled back for fiscal sustainability. Political uncertainty also heightened in December 2020 when the Prime Minister dissolved Parliament. The Supreme Court overturned the decision, reinstating Parliament in February 2021 and precipitating the split of the two-party majority coalition in March.

Must Visit Places ------------

Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the largest city in Nepal. The decaying buildings in the city's heart and highlight have long been Durbar Square which was destroyed by an earthquake in 2015, but it is a place to look. The temples and monuments of varying shapes, sizes, styles can be found here. Kathmandu was one of three rival royal cities, along with Bhaktapur being the third royal city with a trade route to Tibet, which is an arterial link and source of wealth. It also shares Durbar Square with Kathmandu and Patan, now known as Lalitpur, a Durbar Square. When you visit these places, you will find historical and amazing monuments of temples with the jaw-dropping backdrop of the cities.

Lumbini

Lumbini is famous for being the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, i.e., Buddha. This is a holy pilgrimage town, and most of the visitors are Buddhist with retracing Buddha’s footsteps and ancient stone from the 2nd century AD depicting Buddha’s birth. A must place to visit in Nepal to know the history of Gautama Buddha and Buddhism. And you have The Maha Devi temple, the holy mother of Buddha, and you have old monasteries to add to this historic place. Lumbini has several older temples, including the Mayadevi Temple, and various new temples, funded by Buddhist organizations from various countries, have been completed or are still under construction. Many monuments, monasteries, museums, and the Lumbini International Research Institute are also within the holy site. Also, there is the Puskarini, or Holy Pond, where the Buddha's mother took the ritual dip before his birth and where he had his first bath. According to tradition, earlier Buddhas were born at other sites near Lumbini and then achieved ultimate Enlightenment and finally relinquished their earthly forms.

Mount Everest

Mount Everest attracts many climbers, including highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the "standard route") and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as significant hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of 2019, over 300 people have died on Everest, many of whose bodies remain on the mountain The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. As Nepal did not allow foreigners to enter the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the north ridge route from the Tibetan side. After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m (22,970 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition pushed the north ridge route up to 8,320 m (27,300 ft), marking the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m (26,247 ft). The 1924 expedition resulted in one of the greatest mysteries on Everest to this day: George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, sparking debate as to whether or not they were the first to reach the top. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first official ascent of Everest in 1953, using the southeast ridge route. Norgay had reached 8,595 m (28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition. The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo, and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the north ridge on 25 May 1960

Swaymbhunath – The monkey temple

Swayambhu is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees' (Wylie: Phags. pa Shing. Kun) for the many varieties of trees found on the hill. However, Shing. Kun may be a corruption of the local Nepal Bhasa name for the complex, Swayambhu, meaning 'self sprung. For the Buddhist Newars, in whose mythological history and origin myth and day-to-day religious practice Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is second only to Boudha. The complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines, and temples, dating back to the Licchavi period. A Tibetan monastery, museum, and library are more recent additions. The stupa has Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on. Between them, the number one (in Devanagari script) is painted in the fashion of a nose. There are also shops, restaurants, and hostels. The site has two access points: a long staircase leading directly to the main platform of the temple, which is from the top of the hill to the east, and a car road around the hill from the south leading to the south-west entrance. The first sight on reaching the top of the stairway is the Vajra. Tsultrim Allione describes the experience:

Chitwan National Park

Chitwan National Park is the first national park in Nepal. It was established in 1973 and granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. It covers an area of 952.63 km2 (367.81 sq mi) and is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal in Nawalpur, Parsa, Chitwan, and Makwanpur. In altitude, it ranges from about 100 m (330 ft) in the river valleys to 815 m (2,674 ft) in the Churia Hills. In the north and west of the protected area, the Narayani-Rapti river system forms a natural boundary to human settlements. Adjacent to the east of Chitwan National Park is Parsa National Park, contiguous in the south Indian Tiger Reserve Valmiki National Park. The coherent protected area of 2,075 km2 (801 sq mi) represents the Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki, which covers a 3,549 km2 (1,370 sq mi) huge block of alluvial grasslands and subtropical moist deciduous forests.