Introduction:
Nepali Standard Time is 5 hours 45 minutes ahead of GMT and 15 minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time.

Nepal is located in South Asia and lies on the southern laps of the central Great Himalayan Range. It is a landlocked country, total area is 147,181 sq.km. The length from east to west is 885 km and the average breadth is 193 km.

Nepal is a mountainous country 76% of it is area consists of high mountains and hills including valley, tars, basins and low hills and 24% of the low level lands. On the basis of Topographic altitude. Nepal can be further divided into three major geographical regions.

Elevation: 3000-8848m above the sea level.
Length: 885km
Breath: 24-50 km
Area: 25% of Nepal

Snow land is found at an altitude of 5000m above the sea level. World famous Himalayan ranges, peak, glaciers etc are found over 5000m

Sub-divisions of the Himalayan Region

a. The Greater Himalayans:
The Himalayans are 2400 kilometers in length and extend from the valley of the Indus to that of the brahmaputra. The Himalayas of Nepal are the highest mountains range in the world and include the world's highest and also beautiful peaks.

b. The Boarder Himalayas:
It lies between Karnali River in the west and Trishuli River in the east along Nepal-China border. The height of the Border Himalaya is less than the Greater Himalaya. It is almost dry with some glaciers and screeds. This is the cold mountain desert land of Nepal. Mustang (liho-mantang) presents a typical dessert landscape in the north of the Himalayan.

c. The Inner Himalayas:
It lies between the Boarder Himalaya in the north and the Greater Himalayan in the south. These elevated Bhot valley of Tibetan Landscape are surrounded by ice-clad high Himalayan where glaciers and moraines are extended up to the valley floors. This typical feature of the high Himalayan Valley (2400-5000m above the sea level) in most cases is locally known as Bhot. This is the rain-showed region of Nepal. This is also the driest as well as low productive land of Nepal.

This region lies between the Himalayan region in the north and the terai in the south.

Elevation: 600 –3000m above the sea level
Length: 885 km , wide 75-125 km
Area: near about 50% of the land surface of Nepal

This region lies on the boarder with India

Elevation: 60-600 km above the sea level
Length: 885km
Area: 24% of the land surface of Nepal

The word Nepal is derived from Nepa, the old name of Katmandu valley. "Nepal" may be derived from the Sanskrit nipalaya, which means "at the foot of the mountains" or "abode at the foot" or in Tibetan niyampal, which means "holy land".

A third theory suggests that Nepal came from compounding the words NE, which means wool, and PAL, which means a tented house - hence the word NE-PAL.

The history of Nepal is characterized by its isolated position in Himalayas and its two dominant neighbors, India and China. Due to the arrival of disparate settler groups from outside through the ages, it is now a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual country. Its population is predominantly Hindu with significant presence of Buddhists, who were in majority at one time in the past.

Kirats Dynasty:
Kirat PeriodKirat Period (800 BC - 300 AD)
Very little is known about this period in the history of Nepal. The Kirats ruled for about 1000 years and were ruled by a total of 28 kings during that time. The first and best remembered king was Yalambar. Another remarkable event during this period is the coming of Gautam Buddha in the time of the seventh king. The great emperor of India, Ashoka, was also a visitor to Kathmandu in this period. As a follower of Buddhism, Ashoka visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, and erected stupas in Kathmandu. His daughter married a local prince and spread the religion. As the Kirat dynasty came to an end in the valley, parts still remained in the eastern mountains where they are considered to be the forefathers of today's Rai and Limbu castes.

Lichavis Dynasty:
The Lichavis are said to have migrated into Nepal from north India in around 250 A.D. The documented history of Nepal begins with the Changu Narayan temple inscription of King Manadeva I (C 464-505 A.D.) of the Lichavi dynasty. The first Lichavi king of historical importance was Manadeva 1. Another important Lichavi monarch was Anshuverma who opened trade routes to Tibet. One of his daughters, Bhrikuti, who was married to Tibetan ruler Tsrong-tsong Gompo, was instrumental in spreading the Gospel of the Buddha in Tibet and China. Anshuverma has been referred to as a man of many talents in the account of the Chinese traveler Huen Tsang, who had visited India in the 7th century AD. Narendradeval another Lichavi king, initiated friendly relations with China and his successors laid the foundations of friendship with India by entering into matrimonial alliances with the Indian royal families. The Lichchhavi rule spanned over a period of about 630 years, the last ruler being Jayakamadeva.

Malla Dynasty:
Malla PeriodMalla Period (1200 - 1769 AD) The Mallas (literally 'wrestlers' in Sanskrit) had been forced out of India and their name can be found in the Mahabharata and in Buddhist literature.

Though the Malla were active in other areas, they didn't come to the valley
Until 1200 AD when King Ari-deva assumed the title and founded a new, highly accomplished dynasty. The Malla Period is a glorious era in the history of Nepal. Mallas developed trade and commerce, industry, religion and culture. They reached a high level of perfection in the fields of art and architecture. The early Malla monarchs held absolute power by divine right: they were considered to be incarnations of Vishnu, as are the present Shah rulers. Although the Mallas were Hindu Shivites following strict Brahmin rituals, they were tolerant of Buddhism, which was widespread at the court and among the people - especially in its Tantric form, the cult of Vajrayana. Malla divide the population into 64 strictly enforced occupational castes.

Shahs Dynasty:
Shah Period (1769 to date)Shah Period (1769 to2006).During the middle of the 18th Century, there were about 50 states in Nepal. The situation was completely chaotic in the sense that most of them were fighting each other to expand their territory. And then along comes Prithvi Narayan Shah from the state of Gorkha (home of the now famous Gurkha soldier), about 100 km west of Kathmandu. He believed that unless Nepal was unified, it was in danger of going into the hands of British India. He started the process by unifying the small states. In 1768, after ten years of preparation, siege, and attack, Kathmandu fell to Gorkha on the day of the festival of Indra and the Virgin Goddess. Prithvi Narayan died in 1775 and was succeeded by his son Bahadur Shah. The new Shah rulers, transferring their seat of power to Kathmandu after its conquest, undertook to expand and consolidate their territory. The last shah king was "King Ganendra" who was dethroned by the people of Nepal in April28 2006 during the revolution.

Federal Republic of Nepal:
After the revolution in April2006. NEPAL was declared as the Federal Republic of Nepal.

Nepal is the land of diversity, from Tropical forests to the Desert Mountains, from one- Horn Rhino to the Bengal Tiger, from the dense forest of Terai to junipers of Himalayas. The country treasure is filled with amazing natural gifts. The incredible landscape of the hills to the eight of the highest mountains of the world. In Nepal we find more than 6500 types of vegetations, 850 types of birds, different species of butterfly and many more species of herbs. The orchid or the fiancée of the sky, the rhododendron which is the national flower of Nepal makes the forest of Nepal paradise for the nature lovers.

Hinduism and Buddhism co-exist since 2000 years. Hinduism is practice by a greater majority of people in Nepal than in any other nation. Buddhism, through a minority faith in the country, is linked historically with Nepal as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha who was born in Nepal at Lumbini (Kapilvastu).

Every visitor can notice the different ethnic groups with their cultures and their styles of life specific. The Kathmandu valley which is land of Newar(Vajrayana Budhdist) is one of the ethnic group of Nepal. The Northern Region which is habited by the Sherpa (The people from the East- Tibet) also belongs to the ethnic group. The ancient groups which are habited in the Mountains are Gurung, Magar, Rai , Limbu etc. The Southern part of Nepal is habited by the Tharu, Danuar. So, we can say that Nepal is the meeting place of the Indo-Aryan people and the Mongoloid peoples of the Himalaya. Three are more than 66 Ethnic groups in Nepal. Nepal's diverse ethnic groups speak somewhere between 24-100 different language but the official language is Nepalis.