Nepal

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,[20] is a sove reign country in South Asia. It is mainly in the Himalayas, but also includ es parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is the 49th largest country by popul ation and 93rd largest country by area. It is landlocked, and borders China in the north and India in the south, east and west, while Bangladesh is locat ed within only 27 km (17 mi) of its southeastern tip and Bhutan is separated f rom it by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallesta mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the cap ital and the largest city. Nepal is a multiethnic country with Nepali as the official l anguage. The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subc ontinent, the era in ancient India when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founde r of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were int ertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwi ned with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confeder acy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal . The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never col onized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parl iamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms Nepal as a secular federal pa rliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. It remains the only multi-party, fully democratic nation in the world ruled by a communist party. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and the People's Republic of China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secret ariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The military of Nepal is the fifth largest in Sout h Asia; it is notable for its Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.