culture and history

Pre 20th Century History

The Newars are regarded as the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, but their origins are shrouded in mystery. They speak a Tibeto-Burmese language, but their physical features range from distinctively Mongoloid to Indo-Aryan. It seems most likely that the Kathmandu Valley has long been a cultural and racial melting pot, with people coming from both east and west. This fusion has resulted in the unique Newari culture that is responsible for the valley's superb art and architecture.

The Newari golden age peaked in the 17th century when the valley consisted of small city-states, and Nepal was a vitally important trading link between Tibet and the north Indian plains. The valley's visible history is inextricably entangled with the Malla kings. It was during their reign, particularly in the 1600s and 1700s, that many of the valley's finest temples and palaces were built. Competition between the cities was intense and an architectural innovation in one place would inevitably be copied throughout the valley.

The unification of Nepal in 1768 by Gorkha's King Prithvi Narayan Shah signalled the end of the Kathmandu Valley's fragmentation. Nepali, an Indo-European language spoken by the Khas of western Nepal, replaced Newari as the country's language of administration. In 1816 the Shahs closed the borders of Nepal and kept the country isolated until the mid 20th century. In 1846 a bloody massacre of Kathmandu's 100 most powerful men, held in the very public forum of Durbar Square, ended the Shah dynasty and installed the Ranas.

Modern History

While the Ranas maintained tight controls on Nepal's borders, they weren't averse to a little tourism themselves. The first Rana maharaja set off for Europe with a huge entourage, visiting Queen Victoria and causing quite a stir in stuffy old England. The Ranas were so impressed with European architecture that they began introducing neo-classical buildings into Nepal, including the 1904 Singha Durbar in Kathmandu. The Ranas began dressing like European royalty, and imported all the latest inventions. During this period of royal extravagance, the majority of people in Kathmandu became much poorer and the Hindu caste system became much more rigid - on the other hand, the archaic customs of human sacrifice, slavery and sati (the practice of burning widows on their husband's funeral pyre) were abolished.On 15 January 1934 a huge earthquake struck the Kathmandu Valley, killing 4296 people and destroying many of Kathmandu's temples and palaces. Inspired by the independence movement in India, Nepalis began a political upheaval - an alliance was formed between the ousted Shahs, the army's Gurkha regiments and the dissatisfied poorer extended families of the Rana clan. In November 1950 they revolted. King Tribhuvan, a Shah, was anointed ruler in 1951 and struck up a government comprised of Ranas and members of the newly formed Nepali Congress Party. Power, of course, remained with only one party - the king's. The same year, the first European visitors in more than a century were allowed to enter Nepal, spearheaded by the Swiss explorer Toni Hagen.In 1956, the first motorable road in Nepal was constructed, linking Kathmandu with India. Ten years later another highway opened, and in 1974 international air services began. Foreign aid began pouring in from the 1960s, bringing with it foreign aid workers and new prosperity for the city. Kathmandu's population tripled in 20 years, and the city sprawled as modern houses sprang up to meet the needs of ex-pats and immigrants pouring in from the country. In the 60s, the tourists also started arriving in droves, looking for cheap living and eastern answers to the questions of life, as well as a more permissive attitudes towards drugs and draft dodging than those found in Europe, Australia and America. Freak St became the centre of the action, as the hippies set up a huge market for every type of drug, every hybrid philosophy and any kind of pie you could imagine. Kathmandu was transformed into a tourist mecca, and the jumping-off point for the new trekking industry.More recently, Kathmandu's Shangri-la image has taken a bit of a knock owing to the ongoing wrangles over the status of Nepali democracy. Parliamentary democracy was officially introduced in 1989, after years of uprisings against the self-serving system of panchayat, where politicians were directly appointed by the king. Just over a decade later, Nepali democracy was in crisis and the man who introduced it - King Birendra - was dead, massacred along with most of the royal family by an errant prince. Riots erupted across Kathmandu and even Thamel was placed under curfew.

Recent History

Birendra's successor, King Gyanendra, has succeeded in alienating almost every possible facet of Nepali society, cracking down on students and opposition politicians, repeatedly dissolving parliament and comprehensively failing to resolve the deadly Maoist uprising that has killed tens of thousands of Nepalis since 1996. Pro-democracy rallies and strikes and heavy-handed responses by the police and army are now commonplace and Kathmandu is frequently cut off entirely from the rest of the country by Maoist blockades. At times, most of Nepal has been under Maoist control apart from the Kathmandu Valley. With Republican feeling growing and conflict erupting on the streets of Kathmandu, the country is in a state of turmoil; travellers should monitor the situation carefully.