Rising up from the Indo-Gangetic Plain and largely tucked away in the precipitous Himalayan Mountains, the country of Nepal is home to people of myriad national and ethnic origins. As a crossroads between India and Tibet, Nepal’s population of approximately 30 million is mostly of Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan heritage. Although Siddhartha Gautama — later known as the Buddha — was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal, over 80% of Nepalese today are Hindu, while Buddhists — concentrated mainly in the northern regions of the country — form Nepal’s largest religious minority (9%). Nearly 3 million Nepalese reside in neighboring India, while small diasporic communities can be found in Southeast Asia, the Gulf region, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.
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Nepali history
Sometime around 4000 B.C.E., Tibeto-Burmese people who migrated from Southeast Asia were the first people to settle Nepal. The first recorded evidence of Nepal and its inhabitants comes from ancient Hindu texts written in the mid-1st century B.C.E., which mention the land and several of its ruling dynasties — including the Kirata dynasty, which ostensibly ruled for over 1,600 years. By the 3rd century B.C.E., the southern reaches of Nepal came under the sway of the Buddhist Maurya Empire of northern India, whose ruler Ashoka the Great made a pilgrimage to visit Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha.
In the 4th century C.E., the Lichchhavi clan migrated eastward from modern-day Bihar in India into Nepal and displaced the Kirata people, establishing a kingdom that ruled over the Kathmandu Valley until 750. After its decline, the Lichchhavi Kingdom was superseded by a dynasty of Thakuri rulers. In the year 879, the dynasty’s founder, King Raghav Dev, introduced the Nepal Sambat: the lunar calendar used in Nepal to this day.
The 11th century saw the rise of the Khasa-Malla Kingdom, an empire of Khasa people situated in the western reaches of Nepal and extending into parts of modern-day India and Tibet. The powerful dynasty ruled for three centuries and exerted a strong cultural influence over the region. Their language, Khas Kura, became the lingua franca of Nepal, later becoming known as “Nepali.” By the 14th century, the empire had fragmented into the chaubisi rajya, a loose association of 24 states. In the south, the warrior king Nanyadeva conquered the fortified city of Simraungadh in the late 11th century, establishing the Tirhut Kingdom which ruled over southern Nepal for two centuries.
Between the early 13th and late 18th centuries, a dynasty of Khas Mall kings governed the Kathmandu Valley. Jayasthiti Malla, who reigned in the late 14th century, was central to Nepal’s transition to Sanskrit and Hindu culture at the expense of Buddhism, including the introduction of a Hindu Varna-based caste system. A century later, the powerful Kathmandu Empire splintered into four separate kingdoms: Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, and Banepa. The rivalry between the wealthy kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley found expression in the arts, namely in architecture, which flourished under the patronage of the rivaling rulers in what is now considered a Golden Age in the history of Nepal.
In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruler of Gorkha — a tiny hilltop kingdom from among the 24 Khas states — set out on a spree of military expansion which, a quarter of a century later, resulted in the conquest of the Kathmandu Valley and the unification of Nepal under his flag. Shah relocated his capital to Kathmandu, establishing a dynasty which would rule Nepal into the 21st century. The Gorkha Kingdom’s reach was such that it provoked the Qing Emperor of China, leading to a 4-year Sino-Nepali War (1788–1792), which concluded with the Nepalese soundly defeated and retreating to their borders. To the south, Gorkha expansion inevitably led to a clash with the British Raj. Despite early treaties, an Anglo-Nepalese War broke out in 1814, ending in defeat for the Gorkha, which were made to cede territory to the Raj. Subsequent factionalism weakened the Shah kings, who were reduced to mere symbolic figureheads under the de facto rule of the Rana dynasty between 1846 and 1951.
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The Ranas supported the British during the Indian Mutiny in 1857, and later in both World War I and World War II. However, a growing discontent regarding the Ranas’ autocratic and exploitative rule was stirring. In the 1940s, inspired by the success of the neighboring Indian Independence Movement, the recently-formed Nepali Congress Party — loyal to King Tribhuvan — successfully ousted the Rana regime and established a parliamentary democracy. However, democracy was short-lived: in 1959, King Mahendra instated a decentralized no-party system, in which the king still retained absolute power over his political subordinates. In 1989, in the face of a heavy shroud of oppressive authoritarianism, Nepali opposition parties formed a coalition called the Jana Andolan (“People’s Movement”) to fight for a multiparty democracy with the king as constitutional head. Supported by hundreds of thousands of Nepalese who took to the streets, the movement was successful: in 1991, 20 parties competed in an open general election.
In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal agitated to replace the royal parliamentary system with a Chinese-style communist regime, leading to a brutal 10-year-long civil war (known as the Maovadi dwandakaal) that resulted in the death of over 17,000 people. In the aftermath of the civil war, the king’s powers were dramatically curtailed and Nepal’s parliamentary system emerged with renewed vigor. Furthermore, Nepal — the last standing Hindu Kingdom in the world — was officially declared a secular state. A year later, in 2007, the monarchy was abolished.
Nepali culture
Nepalese cuisine is a testament to the country’s geographic proximity to and long-standing cultural ties with Tibet and India. Arguably, the most well-known Nepalese dishes are of Tibetan origin, namely momo (spiced dumplings filled with meat and/or vegetables), and thukpa and thenthuk soup (vegetable noodle soups made of regular strong noodles and long, flat noodles, respectively). The Indian influence is most evident in Nepalese dal-bhat-tarkari, a plate consisting of steamed rice, lentil soup, and vegetable curry eaten throughout Nepal. Achaar (spicy pickled vegetables or fruit) is a popular condiment in Nepalese cuisine. Chow mein (a Chinese-style stir fried noodles dish) enjoys tremendous popularity across Nepal.
Nepal enjoys a rich artistic tradition including music, literature, and breathtaking architecture. Nepalese architecture is traditionally divided into 3 styles: the pagoda style, the stupa style, and the shikhara style. Every year, thousands of tourists flock to view the 5th-century Pashupatinath Temple - one of Kathmandu’s oldest Hindu temples and a UNESCO World Heritage Site - as well as the Kathmandu Durbar Square - a Lichchhavi-period royal courtyard and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and many, many other architectural wonders.
Tourists are attracted to Nepal as much for its geography as for its culture. The mountainous country, situated mostly high in the Himalayas, is home to 8 of the world’s tallest mountains, including Mount Everest: the highest peak in the world. Trekking is a particularly popular attraction in Nepal, especially the Annapurna Circuit: a 17-day, 160-to-230-kilometer trek that encircles the Annapurna Massif in central Nepal and attracts more than 40,000 trekkers annually.
Nepali languages
The ethnic diversity of Nepal is reflected in its linguistic diversity, as there are over 120 different Nepalese languages and dialects spoken as native tongues by various peoples in the country. Again reflecting the country’s ethnic makeup, Nepalese languages belong mostly to the Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan language families. Nepalese, an Indo-Aryan language (formerly known as Khas Kura and later Gorkhali), is the national language of Nepal, spoken by over 44% of the country’s population.
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
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- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base