Nepal historical timeline

Chronology

c. 250 BC — The Mauryan emperor Ashoka makes a pilgrimage to Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, and erects a pillar. Its inscription is the starting point of properly recorded Nepali history, and the pillar is still there.
AD 464 — A stone inscription at the Changu Narayan Temple, the first in Nepal since Ashoka's at Lumbini.
c. AD 400 — The Licchavi dynasty comes to power in the Kathmandu Valley, pushing the Kiratas east. It leaves monuments and a series of inscriptions, and the period's history is pieced together almost entirely from them. In 641 Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire enters the valley.
c. 1100 — Simraungadh, in the south-east on the Bihar border, is the capital of the Karnats of Mithila and stands as a powerful kingdom for more than two hundred years, ruling Kathmandu for a time.
mid-14th century — The Mallas establish themselves in Kathmandu and Patan, ruling first under the suzerainty of Tirhut and then independently by the late fourteenth century. Apart from one destructive sacking of the valley in this period, Nepal remains largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India.
late 15th century — The Malla princes divide their kingdom into four — Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur and Banepa. The competition for prestige between these brotherly kingdoms is what built the three Durbar Squares: the reason there are three of them a few kilometres apart is that they were rivals.
1769 — Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of Gorkha, conquers the Kathmandu Valley after securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms and a series of bloody sieges, notably at Kirtipur. This is the unification of Nepal.
1815–1816 — The Anglo-Nepali War. The East India Company underestimates the Nepali and is soundly defeated before committing far more than it had expected to; the war establishes the reputation of the Gurkhas and ends in the Treaty of Sugauli, under which Nepal cedes its recent conquests. Gorkha control had earlier reached from Kumaon and Garhwal in the west to Sikkim in the east, until the Qing emperor's Sino-Nepali War pushed Nepal back in the north.
1846 — A plot by the queen against a rising military leader leads to the Kot massacre: armed clashes that end in the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains. Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerges as Jung Bahadur Rana and founds the Rana dynasty, making the king a titular figure and the prime ministership powerful and hereditary. The Ranas are staunchly pro-British, assisting in 1857 and in both world wars.
1919 and 1924 — Sati, the practice of a widow dying on her husband's pyre, is banned in 1919, and slavery officially abolished in 1924. Rana rule is otherwise marked by tyranny, economic exploitation and religious persecution.
late 1940s–1951 — Pro-democracy movements, with Indian support and the cooperation of King Tribhuvan, topple the Rana regime and establish a parliamentary democracy.
1955 — Nepal is admitted to the United Nations. Friendship treaties had been signed with India in 1950 and follow with China in 1960; Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of SAARC.
1960 — After a decade of power struggle, King Mahendra scraps the democratic experiment and imposes a “partyless” panchayat system. Parties are banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled. The panchayat modernises the country, building infrastructure, while curtailing liberties and imposing heavy censorship.
1990 — The People's Movement forces the end of absolute monarchy and the restoration of multiparty democracy.
1996 — The Maoist party begins a violent campaign to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic. The Nepalese Civil War that follows runs a decade and kills more than 16,000 people.
2001 — King Birendra and Crown Prince Dipendra die in a massacre in the royal palace perpetrated by Dipendra. Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherits the throne and assumes full executive powers to fight the insurgency himself.
2008 — Nepal becomes a secular state and, on 28 May, is declared a federal republic, ending its status as the world's only Hindu kingdom. That is why the palace in Kathmandu is a museum.
2015 — On 25 April an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 kills nearly 9,000 people and injures nearly 22,000, the worst natural disaster since the Nepal–Bihar earthquake of 1934. It triggers an avalanche on Everest that kills 21, and destroys centuries-old buildings including World Heritage structures in the Kathmandu Valley; a major aftershock follows on 12 May. On 20 September the new constitution is promulgated, making Nepal a federal democratic republic of seven provinces after a decade of instability and two constituent assembly elections.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — By 250 BC the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire, and the emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, erecting a pillar whose inscriptions mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal, A stone inscription dated 464 AD in the premises of the Changu Narayan Temple is the first in Nepal since the Ashoka inscription of Lumbini, around 250 BC, In the Kathmandu valley the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, whose dynasty came to power around 400 AD, built monuments and left a series of inscriptions from which the period's history is pieced together almost entirely, and in 641 Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire entered, Simraungadh in south-eastern Nepal on the Bihar border was the capital of the Karnats of Mithila or Tirhut around 1100 AD and stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years, even ruling Kathmandu for a time, The Mallas established themselves in Kathmandu and Patan by the middle of the 14th century, ruling first under the suzerainty of Tirhut and then independently by the late 14th century, and apart from one destructive sacking of the Kathmandu valley in the mid-14th century Nepal remained largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India, In the late 15th century the Malla princes divided their kingdom into four — Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur in the valley and Banepa to the east — and the competition for prestige among these brotherly kingdoms produced the flourishing of art and architecture and the building of the Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares, In the mid-18th century Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of Gorkha, set out to assemble present-day Nepal by first securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms, and after several bloody battles and sieges, notably the Battle of Kirtipur, he conquered the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, Gorkha control reached its height from Kumaon and Garhwal in the west to Sikkim in the east; a dispute with Tibet prompted the Qing emperor to start the Sino-Nepali War compelling a Nepali retreat in the north, and rivalry with the East India Company led to the Anglo-Nepali War of 1815–16, in which the British underestimated the Nepali and were soundly defeated before committing more resources, beginning the reputation of the Gurkhas, and which ended in the Sugauli Treaty under which Nepal ceded its recent conquests, In 1846 a plot by the reigning queen against the rising military leader Bir Narsingh Kunwar led to the Kot massacre, in which armed clashes resulted in the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains; Kunwar emerged victorious and founded the Rana dynasty as Jung Bahadur Rana, the king was made a titular figure and the prime ministership made powerful and hereditary, and the Ranas were staunchly pro-British, assisting in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and later in both world wars, The Hindu practice of sati was banned in 1919 and slavery officially abolished in 1924, and Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution, By the late 1940s pro-democracy movements criticised the Rana autocracy and, with India's support and the cooperation of King Tribhuvan, the Nepali Congress toppled the Rana regime and established a parliamentary democracy, Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, signed friendship treaties with India in 1950 and China in 1960, and hosts the permanent secretariat of SAARC, After a decade of power wrangling King Mahendra scrapped the democratic experiment in 1960 and a partyless panchayat system was imposed, political parties banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled; panchayat rule modernised the country with reforms and infrastructure but curtailed liberties and imposed heavy censorship, In 1996 the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic, leading to the Nepalese Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths, King Birendra and Crown Prince Dipendra died in a massacre in the royal palace perpetrated by Dipendra, and Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne in 2001 and subsequently assumed full executive powers to quash the Maoist insurgency himself, Nepal became a secular state and on 28 May 2008 was declared a federal republic, ending its status as the world's only Hindu kingdom, and after a decade of instability and two constituent assembly elections the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces, On 25 April 2015 an earthquake of moment magnitude 7.8 killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000, the worst natural disaster since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest killing 21, destroyed centuries-old buildings including UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu valley, and was followed by a major aftershock on 12 May 2015 (September 2026).