Nepal, officially known according to its Interim Constitution as the State of Nepal (previously known as Kingdom of Nepal ) (Nepali: नेपाल [neˈpaːl] (help·info)) is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia that overlaps with East Asia. It is bordered by Tibet and China to the north and by India to the south, east and west.
The origin of the name Nepal may derive from the Nepal Bhasa language of Newars, who call the Kathmandu Valley Nepa. Some say the name also comes from an ancient sage living in the arean title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since April 2007" style="white-space: nowrap;">[citation needed].
For a small territory, the Nepali landscape is uncommonly diverse, ranging from the humid Terai in the south to the lofty Himalayas in the north. Nepal boasts eight of the worlds top ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, which is located near the Chinese border. The country is famous for: tourism, trekking, hiking, camping, mountain biking, national wildlife parks, jungle safaris, river rafting, sport fishing, and its many beautiful temples and places of worship.
Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. Other main cities include Pokhara, Biratnagar, Lalitpur (Patan), Bhaktapur, Birendranagar, Bharatpur, Nepal, Siddhartanagar (Bhairahawa), Birganj (Birgunj), Butwal, Janakpur, Nepalganj (Nepalgunj), Hetauda, Dharan, Damak, Dhangadhi, and Mahendranagar.
After a long and rich history, during which the region splintered and coalesced under a variety of absolute rulers, Nepal became a constitutional monarchy in 1990. However, the monarchy retained many important and ill-defined powers. This arrangement was marked by increasing instability, both in the parliament and, since 1996, in large swathes of the country that have been fought over by Maoist insurgents. The Maoists, alienated from mainstream political parties, went underground and started a guerrilla war against both monarchy and mainstream political parties. They have sought to overthrow feudal institutions, including the monarchy, and establish a Maoist state. This led to the Nepalese Civil War in which more than 15,000 people have died. After the intra-party conflict within the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) on the issue of continuation of state of emergency to deal with Maoist insurgents, then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba recommended the king for the dissolution of lower house seeking a fresh mandate in 2002. The king accepted his recommendation and dissolved the house as per the constitution of the country. Later on, Mr. Deuba recommended the king for the postponement of the parliamentary election on the pretext of insecurity due to the Maoist insurgents. Then the king sacked the elected prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress (Democratic) in 2002 on the ground of not able to hold election and started ruling through prime ministers appointed by him. He then unilaterally declared a state of emergency early in 2005, and assumed all executive powers. Following the 2006 democracy movement, the king agreed to relinquish the sovereign power back to the people and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives on April 24, 2006. Using its newly acquired sovereign authority, on May 18, 2006, the newly resumed House of Representatives unanimously passed a motion to curtail the power of the king and declared Nepal a secular state. As of September, 2006, a complete rewrite of the countrys constitution was still expected to happen in the near future.
