Nepal - Tourism and Travel

Nepal is a country in Asia between China and India. It is located in the eastern Himalaya mountains.

The Himalayas are the highest and most extensive mountain range on Earth. The were formed about 40 million years ago, when the Indo-Australian continental plate crashed into the Eurasian continental plate, causing great masses of land to be pushed up.

This collision also created smaller mountain ranges in Tibet and southeast Asia.

The northern part of Nepal is covered in very tall mountains, the most famous of which is Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Mount Everest is 29,035 feet (850 meters) high.

Nepal has an area of 56,827 square miles (147,181 square kilometers) and a population of over 29 million.

Most of the people live in valleys in the center of the country, where the climate is temperate, or on plains in the south, where there is a subtropical climate.

Most of the people of Nepal are descendants of people who emigrated from Tibet, China India and Burma (Myanmar). They belong to a wide variety of ethnic groups, including the Chhetri, Hill Brahman, Tharu, Magar and Tamang.

The most common language is Nepali. Maithili and Bhojpuri are also spoken.

Ninety percent of the people of Nepal are Hindu.

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is believed to have been born in Lambini, in Nepal.

Decorated Hindu shrines can frequently be found around cities, including the capital, Kathmandu.

Nepal also has some Buddhists, Muslims and Christians.

Most of Nepal's income comes from forestry and agriculture.

The slopes of hills are often terraced, so that the land on them can be cultivated. The soil is not very good, however, so terraces are usually abandoned after a few years.

Other important industries in Nepal are tourism and textile manufacturing.

People have been living in the area that is now Nepal for over 2,500 years.

In the 18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah unified the ethnically and religiously diverse people there under one kingdom, which became known as the Kingdom of Nepal.

Nepalese cuisine is vegetarian, reflecting the importance of Hindu culture. A typical Nepalese dish is dal-bhat-tarkari, which consists of lentils (dhal) with vegetable curry (tarkari) served over rice (bhat).