Nepal
The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is a country in South Asia. It is a landlocked country and lies between China and India. The capital and largest city is Kathmandu. Before it was Kathmandu, the city was Kantipur, meaning “City of Glory". The capital is home to more than half of Nepal’s population and in Nepal located almost 29 million peoples. It is a multi ethnic nation with Nepali as the official language. However, the most mountainous part of Nepal in the north contains eight of the earth’s ten tallest mountains, including its most famous, Mount Everest. Through all its history of border expansion and contraction, Nepal has never been colonized and ruled by foreigners.
The first written records date back to the Kirati people, who lived in eastern Nepal, and the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley. Stories of their exploits begin around 800 B.C. A pivotal moment in Nepal's history was the birth of Buddhism. The Malla dynasty, which ruled from the 10th to 18th centuries, imposed a uniform Hindu legal and social code on Nepal. Under the pressure of inheritance fights and Muslim invasions from northern India, the Malla were weakened by the early 18th century. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rajput Rana dynasty of premiers.
In 1950, the push for democratic reforms began. A new constitution was finally ratified in 1959, and a national assembly elected. In 1951, the Parliamentary democracy was introduced but twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs. The Nepalese Civil War occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s. One result of the war was was that the monarchy system ended in June 2008.
An interesting fact is, that the national flag from Nepal is not a square or rectangle, but is a double-pennon shape. The Birenda Order for Democracy is the highest title.
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