NEPAL: Kathmandu Valley
69 images Created 7 Oct 2011
In the dense cities of the Kathmandu Valley, cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, and pedestrians crowd the narrow medieval streets creating a wonderful chaos and cacophony. The original inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley are Newars, who speak the language "Nepal Bhasa," but Nepali is now the most widely spoken language in Nepal.
The Newar rulers of the Malla Dynasty controlled the Kathmandu Valley and nearby areas from the 1100s to 1600s. Kantipur, capital of Kantipur Malla kingdom, became known as Kathmandu. From 1765-73, the Gorkha (or Gurkha) ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah forcefully unified several separate kingdoms into one Nepal. The resulting Shah Dynasty of Hindu kings ruled with Kathmandu as the capital from 1769 to 2006. A ten year Civil War by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and mass protests led to significant political change in 2005. In 2008, Nepal abolished the monarchy and adopted a federal democratic state.
View palaces of the Malla and Shah kings in Kathmandu's Durbar Square ("Palace" Square, or officially Hanuman Dhoka). Kathmandu Valley bustles with three cities separated by rivers: Kathmandu (population 700,000; elevation 6235 feet / 2230 meters), Patan (190,000 in 2006) and Bhaktapur (78,000).
The Newar rulers of the Malla Dynasty controlled the Kathmandu Valley and nearby areas from the 1100s to 1600s. Kantipur, capital of Kantipur Malla kingdom, became known as Kathmandu. From 1765-73, the Gorkha (or Gurkha) ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah forcefully unified several separate kingdoms into one Nepal. The resulting Shah Dynasty of Hindu kings ruled with Kathmandu as the capital from 1769 to 2006. A ten year Civil War by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and mass protests led to significant political change in 2005. In 2008, Nepal abolished the monarchy and adopted a federal democratic state.
View palaces of the Malla and Shah kings in Kathmandu's Durbar Square ("Palace" Square, or officially Hanuman Dhoka). Kathmandu Valley bustles with three cities separated by rivers: Kathmandu (population 700,000; elevation 6235 feet / 2230 meters), Patan (190,000 in 2006) and Bhaktapur (78,000).
