Parent portals : Geography / Asia / Nepal

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

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 colonised 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.

The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. (Full article...)

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A caravan crossing the Tuna Plain in Tibet, Mt. Chomolhari in background.

Lhasa Newar (alternate name: Lhasa Newah) (Newar: ल्हासा नेवा) refers to the expatriate Newar traders and artisans who traveled between the Kathmandu Valley and Tibet from centuries ago. These Nepalese merchants conducted trade between Nepal, Tibet and Bengal, India over the Silk Road, and acted as a bridge for economic and cultural exchanges between South Asia and Central Asia.

Along with the merchants, there were colonies of artisans in various parts of Tibet who were engaged in creating Buddhist art. They were major players in the exchange of art styles across the Himalaya. (Full article...)

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Loot (Nepali: लूट) is a 2012 Nepali crime thriller film that was directed and written by Nischal Basnet as his debut. The film received critical acclaim with praise directed towards the performances of the cast, the screenplay, twists, climax and the direction of Nischal Basnet. The film, and especially Saugat Malla's character Haku Kale, developed a cult following in Nepali cinema. With an estimated budget of 5,000,000 to 7,000,000 Nepalese rupees (NPR), Loot grossed 52 million NPR at the box office and went on to become the highest grossing Nepali movie of all time, breaking several records at the box office. It is credited for bringing realism to Nepali cinema rather than focusing on larger than life routine masala Nepali film and brought a new wave of Cinema in Nepal. The film is also credited for reviving the box office in Nepal, attracting Nepali youth audience who at that time were attracted to Hollywood and Bollywood cinema moreso than routine Nepali cinema. The film won three National Film Awards.

The film was produced by Madhav Wagle and Narendra Maharjan with Princess Movies and Black Horse Pictures. The film features an ensemble cast including Saugat Malla, Dayahang Rai, Karma Shakya, Prateek Raj Neupane, Sushil Raj Pandey, Reecha Sharma, Srijana Subba, Praveen Khatiwada and Sushma Karki. In the film, Haku Kale (Saugat Malla) suffers from poverty and, inspired by a recent successful bank robbery, plans to rob a bank in Kathmandu alongside four other criminals. A sequel, Loot 2 was released in 2017. (Full article...)

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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 932 km2 (360 sq mi) and is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal in the districts of Nawalparasi, Parsa, Chitwan and Makwanpur


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Prithvi Narayan Shah c. 18th Century

Prithvi Narayan Shah (Nepali: श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव, romanized: Shri Panch Badamaharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah Dev; 7 January 1723 – 11 January 1775), was the last king of the Gorkha Kingdom and first king of the Kingdom of Nepal (also called the Kingdom of Gorkha). Prithvi Narayan Shah started the unification of Nepal. He is also credited for moving the royal seat of power to Kathmandu.

Prithvi Narayan Shah is considered the Father of the Nation in Nepal. (Full article...)

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Production of Chhurpi in Nepal

Chhurpi (Tibetan: ཆུར་བ།, THL: churwa), otherwise known as durkha and chogo/chugo, is a traditional cheese consumed in Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Northeastern India. The two varieties of chhurpi are a soft variety (consumed usually as a side dish with rice) and a very hard variety. Chhurpi is considered one of the hardest cheeses in the world. (Full article...)

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  • ... that construction of the 195 m (640 ft) Gorkha Bridge in Nepal reconnected seven remote villages and reestablished a portion of a popular hiking trail?

Wiki Loves Nepal

The following pages at Wikimedia Commons contain a plethora of images taken in Nepal.
Suspension bridge over he Kali Gandaki river near Tatopani.: Wiki Loves Earth 2017 3rd Price Winner Gokyo Lakes This image won the 2nd prize in the national contest of Nepal in Wiki Loves Earth 2017: Sunrise near Samagauon village – Manaslu trek area.

Wiki Loves Earth is an international photographic competition to promote natural heritage sites around the World through Wikimedia projects (mainly Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons).


Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photographic competition to promote cultural monuments around the World through Wikimedia projects (mainly Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

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Below is a clickable map of Nepal's Provinces

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