The
first civilizations
in Nepal,
which flourished around the 6th century B.C., were
confined to the fertile Kathmandu Valley where the
present-day capital of the same name is located. It
was in this region that Prince
Siddhartha Gautama was born circa 563 B.C. Gautama
achieved enlightenment as Buddha, and spawned Buddhist
belief.
Nepali
rulers' early patronage of Buddhism
largely gave way to Hinduism, reflecting the increased
influence of India, around the 12th century. Though
the successive dynasties of the Gopalas, the Kiratis,
and the Licchavis expanded their rule, it was not
until the reign of the Malla kings from 1200–1769
that Nepal
assumed the approximate dimensions of the modern state.
The
kingdom of Nepal
was unified in 1768 by King Prithvi Narayan Shah,
who had fled India following the Moghul conquests
of the subcontinent. Under Shah and his successors
Nepal's borders expanded as far west as Kashmir
and as far east as Sikkim
(now part of India). A commercial treaty was signed
with Britain in 1792, and again in 1816 after more
than a year of hostilities with the British
East India Company.
In
1923, Britain
recognized the absolute independence of Nepal.
Between 1846 and 1951, the country was ruled by the
Rana family, which always held the office of prime
minister. In 1951, however, the king took over
all power and proclaimed a constitutional monarchy.
Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah became king in 1955. After
Mahendra died of a heart attack in 1972,
Prince Birendra, at 26, succeeded to the throne.
In
1990, a prodemocracy movement forced King Birendra
to lift the ban on political parties. The first free
election in three decades provided a victory for the
liberal Nepali Congress Party in 1991, although the
Communists
made a strong showing. A small but growing Maoist
guerrilla movement, seeking to overthrow the constitutional
monarchy and install a Communist government, began
operating in the countryside in 1996.
