|
Nepal is a small landlocked country in South Asia, surrounded by
the two bigger nations (China occupying Tibet in the North and
India in the South), covering 147,181 square kilometres of the
lands. It embraces a part of the main Himalaya range in
the north including Mount Everest (29,028 ft), the highest mountain
in the world.
Administratively, Nepal is divided into five developmental regions,
14 zones, 75 districts, 58 municipalities and 3914 Village
Development Committees (VDC). It is one of the developing
country in South Asia with over 23 million people of different
ethnic groups, languages and cultures comprising 86.5% Hindus, 7.8%
Buddhists, 3.5% Muslims and 2.7% others. It is formed
mainly by two groups of people who migrated from two different
directions – ‘Tibeto-Burmese’ came from the North, and mostly
inhabit the mountain and hilly areas, while Indo-Aryans entered
from the South, covering plain (Terai) areas as well as hilly
areas.
After
a long internal political war between the Government of Nepal and
the Maoists for over 10 years, currently there is
a ceasefire being held in the country. The tri-polar
political power tussle between the King, Maoist rebels, and the
alliance of the seven mainline democratic political parties have
ended when the King stepped down from the executive power in April
2006 and restored the parliament which was dissolved by him in
2005. Since then, the restored parliament has made the
significant proclamations including declaring Nepal as a secular
kingdom, which was known as the only Hindu Kingdom in the world in
the past.
Country Profile and
History
Further resources and links on Nepal
|
