# The Chronicle of Nepal: From the Buddha's birthplace and the valley of art to a Himalayan federal republic. History of Nepal: From the Buddha's birthplace and the valley of art to a Himalayan federal republic. 6 eras and 20 sourced events, every claim traceable… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/NPL/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-15 Founding: Unification under the Shah dynasty — 1768–1769. The modern Nepali state was founded when Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of the small Gorkha principality, conquered the three Malla kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley — Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur — in 1768–69 and made Kathmandu his capital, consolidating numerous hill principalities into a single kingdom. Nepal was never colonised; it abolished its monarchy in 2008 and became a federal democratic republic. Nepal's recorded story runs from the early Kirata and Licchavi rulers of the Kathmandu Valley through the city-state kingdoms of the Mallas, whose artisans made the valley one of Asia's great centres of temple architecture. In its southern Tarai plain lies Lumbini, where the Buddha was born around the 6th century BCE. The modern state was forged by the Gorkha king Prithvi Narayan Shah, who conquered the valley in 1768–69 and unified dozens of hill principalities. Never formally colonised, Nepal endured a century of hereditary Rana rule before a series of democratic upheavals abolished the monarchy in 2008 and produced a federal democratic republic, ratified by a new constitution in 2015. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Ancient Kingdoms: Kirata and Licchavi — Antiquity – c. 750 CE In the fertile Kathmandu Valley, early Kirata rulers gave way to the Licchavi dynasty, whose Sanskrit inscriptions and Indian-style coins made the valley a cultural bridge between India and Tibet. - c. 450 CE: **Rise of the Licchavi dynasty** — The Licchavis establish the first well-documented dynasty of the Kathmandu Valley, using Sanskrit, minting coins and linking India and Tibet by trade. [britannica-licchavi, britannica-nepal-history] - c. 500–700 CE: **Licchavi stone inscriptions** — Dense Licchavi-era inscriptions and chronicles make the valley one of the best-documented early states of the Himalayas, recording Hindu and Buddhist patronage alike. [britannica-licchavi] - 723 CE: **Traditional founding of Kathmandu** — Tradition credits Raja Gunakamadeva with founding the town of Kathmandu during the Licchavi period; it would later give its name to the valley and the nation's capital. [britannica-nepal-history] ## Lumbini and the Birth of the Buddha — 6th century BCE In the Tarai plains of the south, the Shakya prince Siddhartha Gautama was born at Lumbini — a site whose authenticity the emperor Ashoka marked with a pillar two centuries later. - 6th century BCE: **Birth of the Buddha at Lumbini** — Siddhartha Gautama, of the Shakya clan, is born at Lumbini to Queen Mayadevi and King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu; he later founds Buddhism. [unesco-lumbini] - c. 249 BCE: **Ashoka's pillar at Lumbini** — The Mauryan emperor Ashoka visits Lumbini and erects an inscribed sandstone pillar, the earliest material evidence identifying the Buddha's birthplace. [unesco-lumbini] - 1997: **Lumbini inscribed as World Heritage** — UNESCO inscribes Lumbini on the World Heritage List, recognising it as the birthplace of the Buddha and a centre of Buddhist pilgrimage since the 3rd century BCE. [unesco-lumbini] Figures: - Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) (traditionally c. 563–483 BCE) — Founder of Buddhism, born at Lumbini. A prince of the Shakya clan born at Lumbini in the Nepali Tarai. After renouncing his royal life and attaining enlightenment, he taught a path beyond suffering whose followers spread Buddhism across Asia. His birthplace gives Nepal a foundational place in the history of a world religion. ## The Malla City-States and the Valley of Art — c. 1200 – 1769 Under the Malla kings the Kathmandu Valley fractured into the rival city-states of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, whose patronage produced some of the finest temple architecture in Asia. - c. 13th century: **Malla dynasty rules the valley** — The Mallas govern the Kathmandu Valley, codifying Hindu-influenced law and patronising the Newar temple architecture for which the valley becomes famous. [britannica-malla, britannica-nepal-history] - c. 1482: **Valley divided into three kingdoms** — Yaksha Malla partitions the valley among his sons, founding the rival city-states of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, which compete over Tibet–India trade. [britannica-yaksha-malla, britannica-malla] - Malla era: **The Durbar squares and Newar art** — Malla patronage produces the palace squares, pagoda temples and stupas later recognised as the seven monument zones of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. [unesco-kathmandu] Figures: - Yaksha Malla (reigned c. 1429–c. 1482) — Malla king of the Kathmandu Valley. The last ruler of a united valley, Yaksha Malla divided his realm among his sons, creating the independent principalities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. Their rivalry shaped the valley's competitive flowering of temple art and architecture until the Gorkha conquest. ## Gorkha Unification and the British War — 1768 – 1846 Prithvi Narayan Shah's Gorkha armies welded the hill principalities into a single kingdom; expansion then collided with British India, ending in the Treaty of Sugauli and Nepal's enduring independence. - 1768–69: **Conquest of the Kathmandu Valley** — Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha captures Kathmandu in 1768 and the Malla kingdoms by 1769, unifying the hill states into the kingdom of Nepal. [britannica-prithvi, britannica-nepal-history] - 1814–16: **Anglo-Nepalese War** — A border dispute with British India erupts into the Gurkha War; Nepali resistance is fierce but the East India Company prevails. [britannica-anglo-nepalese, britannica-sugauli] - 4 Mar 1816: **Treaty of Sugauli** — Nepal cedes the Tarai and western conquests and admits a British resident, but keeps its independence and monarchy — never becoming a colony. [britannica-sugauli, britannica-anglo-nepalese] Figures: - Prithvi Narayan Shah (c. 1723–1775) — Founder and first king of unified Nepal. King of Gorkha from 1742, he conquered the three Malla kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley in 1768–69 and consolidated dozens of petty principalities into the state of Nepal, establishing the capital at Kathmandu. His Gurkha soldiers became legendary, and his Shah dynasty ruled Nepal for nearly 240 years. ## The Rana Century and the Return of the Crown — 1846 – 1990 For a century hereditary Rana prime ministers ran Nepal in seclusion, until a 1950–51 revolution restored the Shah kings — who then built the autocratic panchayat order overthrown by the democracy movement of 1990. - 1846: **Jung Bahadur founds Rana rule** — After a violent seizure of power, Jung Bahadur becomes prime minister for life with the hereditary title of Rana, sidelining the Shah kings for a century. [britannica-jung-bahadur, britannica-rana] - 1950–51: **Revolution restores the monarchy** — A palace revolt and popular movement end Rana dominance and restore the sovereignty of the Shah crown under King Tribhuvan. [britannica-nepal-fall, britannica-rana] - 1960–62: **Panchayat autocracy** — King Mahendra dissolves parliament in 1960 and bans parties; the 1962 constitution installs the partyless panchayat system under royal control. [britannica-nepal-fall] - 1990: **People's Movement restores democracy** — Nationwide protests force King Birendra to legalise political parties and accept a multiparty parliamentary system, ending the panchayat era. [britannica-nepal-fall] Figures: - Jung Bahadur Rana (1817–1877) — Prime minister and founder of the Rana dynasty. He gained control of the government in 1846, was named prime minister for life and given the hereditary title Rana. The Ranas ruled Nepal as hereditary prime ministers, eclipsing the Shah kings, until the office was overthrown in 1951. ## Insurgency, Republic and Reconstruction — 1996 – present A decade-long Maoist war ended the monarchy and gave Nepal a federal democratic republic in 2008; a devastating 2015 earthquake and a new constitution defined the years that followed. - 1996–2006: **Maoist insurgency** — The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) wages a decade-long armed insurgency that kills more than 12,000 people before a 2006 UN-mediated peace accord. [britannica-nepal-fall] - 28 May 2008: **Monarchy abolished, republic declared** — A newly elected constituent assembly ends more than two centuries of Shah rule and declares Nepal a federal democratic republic. [britannica-nepal-fall, britannica-nepal-federal] - 25 Apr 2015: **Gorkha earthquake** — A magnitude-7.8 quake near Gorkha kills about 9,000 people and devastates Kathmandu Valley heritage, including Durbar squares and the Dharahara tower. [usgs-gorkha, britannica-quake-2015, unesco-kathmandu] - 20 Sep 2015: **Federal constitution promulgated** — Nepal adopts a permanent constitution establishing a secular federal republic of seven provinces with a bicameral Federal Parliament. [britannica-nepal-federal] Figures: - Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' — Maoist leader and prime minister. Leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) during the 1996–2006 insurgency, he later entered mainstream politics and served several terms as prime minister of the republic, including a term beginning in December 2022. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:NPL:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/NPL/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [britannica-nepal-history] Nepal — History (Himalayas, Monarchy, Unification) — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Nepal/History - [britannica-licchavi] Licchavi era — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Licchavi-era - [britannica-malla] Malla era — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Malla-era - [britannica-yaksha-malla] Yaksha Malla — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yaksha-Malla - [britannica-prithvi] Prithvi Narayan Shah — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Prithvi-Narayan-Shah - [britannica-anglo-nepalese] Anglo-Nepalese War — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anglo-Nepalese-War - [britannica-sugauli] Treaty of Sagauli (Sugauli), 1816 — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Sagauli - [britannica-jung-bahadur] Jung Bahadur — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jung-Bahadur - [britannica-rana] Rana era — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Rana-era - [britannica-nepal-fall] Nepal — Fall of the monarchy — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Nepal/Fall-of-the-monarchy - [britannica-nepal-federal] Nepal — Federal republic — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Nepal/Federal-republic - [britannica-quake-2015] Nepal earthquake of 2015 — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nepal-earthquake-of-2015 - [unesco-lumbini] Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666/ - [unesco-kathmandu] Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/121/ - [usgs-gorkha] One Year After the M7.8 Nepal (Gorkha) Earthquake — U.S. Geological Survey · https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/one-year-after-m78-nepal-earthquake - [loc-nepal] Nepal and Bhutan: Country Studies — U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division · https://www.loc.gov/item/93012226/ - [wikipedia-unification-nepal] Unification of Nepal — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Nepal - [statedept-nepal] A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Nepal — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/nepal Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Nepal: From the Buddha's birthplace and the valley of art to a Himalayan federal republic.", terralore.co/country/NPL/chronicle, retrieved .