Nepal profile - Timeline

A chronology of key events:

1768 - Gurkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah conquers Kathmandu and lays foundations for unified kingdom.

1792 - Nepalese expansion halted by defeat at hands of Chinese in Tibet.

1814-16 - Anglo-Nepalese War; culminates in treaty which establishes Nepal's current boundaries.

1846 - Nepal falls under sway of hereditary chief ministers known as Ranas, who dominate the monarchy and cut off country from outside world.

1923 - Treaty with Britain affirms Nepal's sovereignty.

1950 - Anti-Rana forces based in India form alliance with monarch.

1951 - End of Rana rule. Sovereignty of crown restored and anti-Rana rebels in Nepalese Congress Party form government.

1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1955 - Nepal joins the United Nations.

1955 - King Tribhuwan dies, King Mahendra ascends throne.

1959 - Multi-party constitution adopted.

1960 - King Mahendra seizes control and suspends parliament, constitution and party politics after Nepali Congress Party (NCP) wins elections with B. P. Koirala as premier.

1962 - New constitution provides for non-party system of councils known as "panchayat" under which king exercises sole power. First elections to Rastrya Panchayat held in 1963.

1972 - King Mahendra dies, succeeded by Birendra.

1980 - Constitutional referendum follows agitation for reform. Small majority favours keeping existing panchayat system. King agrees to allow direct elections to national assembly - but on a non-party basis.

1985 - NCP begins civil disobedience campaign for restoration of multi-party system.

1986 - New elections boycotted by NCP.

1989 - Trade and transit dispute with India leads to border blockade by Delhi resulting in worsening economic situation.

1990 - Pro-democracy agitation co-ordinated by NCP and leftist groups. Street protests suppressed by security forces resulting in deaths and mass arrests. King Birendra eventually bows to pressure and agrees to new democratic constitution.

1991 - Nepali Congress Party wins first democratic elections. Girija Prasad Koirala becomes prime minister.

1994 - Koirala's government defeated in no-confidence motion. New elections lead to formation of Communist government.

1995 - Communist government dissolved.

1995 - Start of Maoist revolt which drags on for more than a decade and kills thousands. The rebels want the monarchy to be abolished.

1997 - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba loses no-confidence vote, ushering in period of increased political instability, with frequent changes of prime minister.

2000 - GP Koirala returns as prime minister, heading the ninth government in 10 years.

2001 1 June - Crown Prince Dipendra kills King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and several members of the royal family, before shooting himself. The king's brother, Gyanendra is crowned king.

2001 July - Maoist rebels step up campaign of violence. Prime Minister GP Koirala quits over the violence; succeeded by Sher Bahadur Deuba.

2001 November - Maoists end four-month old truce with government, declare peace talks with government failed. Launch coordinated attacks on army and police posts.

2001 November - State of emergency declared after more than 100 people are killed in four days of violence. King Gyanendra orders army to crush the Maoist rebels. Many hundreds are killed in rebel and government operations in the following months.

2002 May - Parliament dissolved, fresh elections called amid political confrontation over extending the state of emergency. Sher Bahadur Deuba heads interim government, renews emergency.

2002 October - King Gyanendra dismisses Deuba and indefinitely puts off elections set for November.

2003 January - Rebels, government declare ceasefire.

2003 August - Rebels pull out of peace talks with government and end seven-month truce. The following months see resurgence of violence and frequent clashes between students/activists and police.

2004 April - Nepal joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

2004 May - Street protests by opposition groups demanding a return to democracy. Royalist Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa quits.

2005 February - King Gyanendra dismisses the government, restores an absolute monarchy and declares a state of emergency, citing the need to defeat Maoist rebels.

2005 April - King Gyanendra bows to international pressure, lifts the state of emergency and reinstates parliament.

2005 November - Maoist rebels and main opposition parties agree on a programme intended to restore democracy.

2006 April - King Gyanendra agrees to reinstate parliament following weeks of violent strikes and protests against direct royal rule. Maoist rebels call a three-month ceasefire.

2006 May - Parliament votes unanimously to curb the king's political powers. The government holds peace talks with the Maoist rebels.

2006 November - The government sign a peace deal with the Maoists - the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) - formally ending the decade-long insurgency.

2007 January - Maoist leaders enter parliament under the terms of a temporary constitution.

2007 April - Maoists join an interim government, a move which brings them into the political mainstream.

2007 September - Three bombs hit Kathmandu in the first attack in the capital since the end of the Maoist insurgency.

Maoists quit the interim government, demanding the abolition of the monarchy. November's constituent assembly elections are postponed.

2007 December - Parliament approves the abolition of monarchy as part of peace deal with Maoists, who agree to rejoin government.

2008 January - A series of bomb blasts kill and injure dozens in the southern Terai plains, where activists have been demanding regional autonomy.

2008 April - Former Maoist rebels win the largest bloc of seats in elections to the new Constituent Assembly (CA), but fail to achieve an outright majority.

2008 May - Nepal becomes a republic.

2008 June - Maoist ministers resign from the cabinet in a row over who should be the next head of state.

2008 July - Ram Baran Yadav becomes Nepal's first president.

2008 August - Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda forms coalition government, with Nepali Congress going into opposition.

2009 May - Prime Minister Prachanda resigns following a row with President Yadav over the integration of former rebel fighters into the military.

2009 May - Britain announces that Gurkha veterans with at least four years' service in the British army will be allowed to settle in the UK.

2009 December - Four people are killed in clashes triggered by a Maoist-led land grab in the far west, giving rise to fears for peace process.

2010 May - The Constituent Assembly (CA) votes to extend the deadline for drafting the constitution, the first of four extensions.

2011 January - UN ends its peace monitoring mission.

2012 May - The Constituent Assembly (CA) is dissolved after failing to produce a draft constitution.

2013 November - The left-wing Nepali Congress wins the second Constituent Assembly elections, pushing the former ruling Maoists into third place and leaving no party with a majority.

2014 February -Nepali Congress leader Sushil Koirala is elected prime minister after securing parliamentary support.

2014 April - Sixteen Nepalese sherpa guides die in an avalanche on Mount Everest in the worst recorded accident in the mountain's history.

2014 November - Nepal and India sign a deal to build a $1bn hydropower plant on Nepal's Arun river to counter crippling energy shortages.

2015 April - A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Kathmandu and its surrounding areas killing more than 8,000 people, causing mass devastation and leaving millions homeless.

Landmark constitution

2015 September - Parliament passes a landmark constitution, which defines Nepal as a secular country, despite calls to delay voting after more than 40 people are killed in protests.

2015 October - K.P. Prasad becomes the first prime minister to be elected under the new constitution.

2016 February - Government lifts fuel rationing after the ethnic minority Madhesi communities, partially backed by India, end a six-month border blockade in protest over the new constitution which they say is discriminatory.

2016 July - Maoist party pulls out of the governing coalition. Prime Minister K.P. Oli resigns ahead of a no-confidence vote in parliament.

2016 August - Parliament elects former communist rebel leader and Maoist party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda as prime minister for the second time.

2017 April - Three former soldiers are convicted over the murder of a 15-year-old girl during the civil war, the first time serving or former members of the army have been found guilty of crimes linked to the conflict.

China and Nepal hold their first ever joint military exercise.

2017 June - Pushpa Kamal Dahal replaced as prime minister by the Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba under a rotation agreement reached the previous April and set to last until elections in February 2018.