Annapurna. Siân Pritchard-Jones

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      Durbar Square. Patan

      From a hilltop fortress above the town of Gorkha (Gurkha) came Prithvi Narayan Shah. His forces swept in from the west, subduing the cities of the Kathmandu Valley and unifying Nepal. Nepalese armies invaded Tibet in 1788, but were later repulsed by Tibet with Chinese intervention. In 1816 the British defeated the Gurkhas and, in the treaty of Segauli, Nepal had to cede Sikkim to India, with the current borders delineated. The British established a resident office, but Nepal effectively became a closed land after 1816.

      In 1846 a soldier of the court, Jung Bahadur Kunwar Rana, took power after a bloody massacre in Kot Square in Kathmandu. The queen was sent into exile and the king dethroned. For the next 100 years the Rana family ruled Nepal, calling themselves Maharajas. Family intrigues, murder and deviousness dominated the activities of the autocratic Ranas. The country remained closed to all but a few invited guests, retaining its medieval traditions until 1950.

      After Indian independence in 1947, a Congress Party was formed in Kathmandu. The powerless king became a symbol for freedom from the Ranas’ rule. For those who dared to confront the Ranas, there was a terrible price to pay; many suffered the death penalty. King Tribhuvan finally ousted the Ranas in 1951.

      A coalition government was installed, with a fledgling democracy. The country opened to visitors and Mount Everest was climbed in May 1953. King Tribhuvan died in 1955 and his son Mahendra assumed power. In 1960 Mahendra ended the brief experiment with democracy, introducing the party-less panchayat system, based on local councils of elders with a tiered system of representatives up to the central parliament. In 1972 King Birendra became the new king, but his coronation did not take place until the spring of 1975, on an auspicious date. In 1980 a referendum was held and the panchayat system was retained. After 1985, rapid expansion brought many changes; the population grew astonishingly, and the traditional rural lifestyle of the valley began to disappear under a wave of construction.

      In April 1990 full-scale rioting and demonstrations broke out, forcing the king to allow a form of democracy to be introduced. But political corruption and infighting did little to enhance the democratic ideals, and in the late nineties a grass roots Maoist rebellion developed. Many had genuine sympathy with the need for greater social equality, but violence and demands for a leftist dictatorship met with resistance. In a tragic shooting spree in June 2001 King Birendra and almost his entire family were wiped out by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra. King Birendra’s brother Gyanendra became king, but in October 2002 he dissolved parliament and appointed his own government until elections could be held. Meanwhile the Maoist rebellion continued to threaten all parts of the country. Coercion and intimidation were rife in the countryside and no solutions were in sight.

      King Gyanendra relinquished power in April 2006 and the Maoist leaders entered mainstream politics after winning a majority of votes in the election. Since then, the government of Nepal has been in freefall, with a political stalemate and paralysis derailing development. A new constitution was finally promulgated in September 2015, but it remains to be seen where the ruling elite will take the country. Tourism is still one of the main foreign exchange earners, but an increasing number of young Nepalese are seeking work outside the country, particularly in the Arabian Gulf. Despite the political uncertainty, tourists are still made to feel very welcome in the country.

People of Nepal