Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located mainly in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. With an estimated population of 26.4 million, it is the 48th largest country by population and 93rd largest country by area. Nepal covers 147,181 sq. kilometers (56,827 sq. miles), sandwiched between the People’s Republic of China to the north and India to the west, south, and east. It is a geographically diverse, land-locked country. Of course, Nepal is associated with the Himalayan Range, including the world’s tallest mountain, Mt.Everest.
Key Cities
Key cities in Nepal include Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lalitpur, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bharatpur, Janakpur, Hetauda, Nepalgunj.
Historical, Cultural facts & Religion
Central Nepal was split into three kingdoms from the 15th to 18th century when it was unified under the Gorkha monarchy. The national language of Nepal is called ‘Nepali’, a name is given – long after unification of Nepal – to the language called Khas Kura.
Religions practiced in Nepal are Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism, Bon, ancestor worship and animism. The majority of Nepalis are either Hindus or Buddhism. The two have co-existed in harmony through centuries. Buddha is widely worshipped by both Buddhists and Hindus of Nepal.
Brief Country History
Nepal shares geographical borders with India and China and correspondingly shares a history with its two giant neighbors. It was influenced to a large extent by the same incidents that proved to be turning points in the history of India and China. Over 2,800 years back, the initial history of Nepal was recorded when a kinfolk of Mongolian people—the Kiratis—arrived in the Himalayan territory, across the Tibetan plateau. The current societies of Limbu and Rai are believed to be direct progenies of the Kiratis. From the Indu plains, the Buddhist Shakyas are accredited with introducing Mahayana Buddhism to Nepal and it became the main religion. The Licchavis and the Guptas arrived in Nepal from the northern parts of India, in an around 300 B.C.E when the present-day Nepal acknowledge huge migration, the newcomers ousted the Kiratis progenies and ushered in Hinduism as the official religion of the country and alternated power. The Guptas are believed to have introduced the caste system, essentially outlandish to the dominant cultural system, but it remained restricted among the elite. The Licchavis ruled for three centuries and were colonial by the Thakuris in 600 B.C.E.Ansuvarman, the originator of the Thakuri dynasty, was a wise and wealthy king. In order to protect his northern borders from invasion by the Tibetan kings, he married his daughter to a Tibetan prince. Ansuvarman had affection for a valley in the eastern part of his kingdom and established his capital city there. After that, in 10th century that Kasthmandap (Holy Place of Wood) was built, which has arisen to be known as Kathmandu later. Ansuvarman’s palace, in Durbar Square in Kathmandu, which the Nepalese monarch continued till the modern Narayanhity Palace was built.
Nepal was ruled by the Thakuri dynasty for three centuries and the 12th century carried the Malla dynasty. Foremost of the Malla rulers, King Arideva’s reign was considered to be one of great wealth and prosperity for the Himalayan Kingdom. The Mallas, though Hindu, were accepting the other major religion, Buddhism, but were particularly strict on implementing the caste system. However, the Malla dynasty lost control within a century over large parts of the country, which divided into small city-states, as many as 48 at one point. Partly responsible were the frequent invasions of India by Muslim militaries from the northwest, which also invaded Nepal several times. It was nearly 100 years later when another Malla king took charge of the country. In the meantime, two kingdoms began to gain the power to dare the Kathmandu valley, that of the Palpa and the Khas Kingdom.In 1372, king of Kathmandu, Jayasthiti Malla, conquered the neighboring city-state of Patan, and, a decade later, the city-state of Bhaktapur. The present Kathmandu Valley kingdom expanded enormously during the reign of his successor, King Yaksha Malla. By the middle of the next century, Nepal’s borders stretched southwards to the Ganga River, and north deep into Tibet. During this time, the caste system embedded as a smart method of social stability, ensuring the Malla reign. However, after his death in 1482, Nepal once again fragmented into many small states. This lasted for almost two centuries. In the 18th century, Shah dynasty came to power. In the Gorkha Kingdom, Prithvi Narayan Shah born in Gorkha set about to unify the many princely states in reaction to colonialism. He gradually stretched his power until finally, in 1768, he captured the Kathmandu Valley and established the modern nation of Nepal. Hardly 20 years later, war broke out between Nepal and China over Tibet. Lasting nearly a decade, the Nepalese were defeated and forced to sign a treaty that obligated them to pay annual homage to the Chinese. This honor continued for over a century and ended in 1912. In the meantime, Nepal also fought the British, who had been conquering territory in India. The British were struggling for control over the southern parts of Nepal and the Ganga plains. Eventually, Nepal was defeated and lost much of its territory to the British in the war of 1814-1816.
Language (s) Written & Spoken
The 2011 National census lists 123 Nepalese languages spoken as a mother tongue (first language) in Nepal. Most belong to the Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan language families. The official language of Nepal is Nepali, formerly called Khas-Kura then Gorkhali.
Important Types of Commerce in Nepal
Nepal is a country in Southern Asia. It is landlocked in the Himalayas region while part of the country lies in the Indo-Gangetic plains. In 2018, Nepal had a GDP on purchasing power parity of about $84 billion and GDP per capita on purchasing power parity of $2,842. Similarly, in the same year, the country had a nominal GDP of $27 billion and nominal GDP per capita of $919.
In 1951, the country entered the modern era without roads, hospitals, electric power, telecommunications, civil service, or industry. However, the country has made considerable progress and has managed to achieve sustainable economic growth. Today, the leading industries in Nepal include tourism, agriculture, food and beverage processing, and textiles.
Language Services US and others will provide working with Nepal
Tourism is one the main service industry and the largest source of foreign exchange of Nepal. This increases the need for language services. The areas, where the services of native Nepali translators are especially in demand, are marketing (naming, slogans localization, copywriting, etc.), law, localization of corporate sites and internet portals text content, software, and manuals localization. Translating and localizing the products/services to Nepali will allow faster growth by removing any language or cultural barriers that would prevent potential clients from understanding what a business is offering. This opens up a new opportunity for both travelers and website owners. Companies that offer a multilingual site will find an increase in traffic and, consequently, will be able to convert all those potential leads into sales.
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