The Story of Nepal

Nepal is a country that defies its size. Wedged between the two most populous nations on Earth, it was never colonized. Its soldiers — the Gurkhas — are feared worldwide. Its mountains include the highest point on the planet. And in 2008, it did something almost no country has done in the 21st century: it abolished a 240-year-old monarchy and became a republic. But Nepal's story is not all triumph. The Rana oligarchy kept it in darkness for a century. A royal massacre destroyed the dynasty from within. A Maoist insurgency killed thousands. And a devastating earthquake tested the nation's resilience to its limits. This timeline traces the full arc — from Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification to the earthquake and beyond.