Nepal, on the map of history

What was Nepal before it was Nepal? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.

Nepal · The Mongol Empire, 1206–1294

1206	Beyond the storm — the opening position

OPEN THE MONGOL EMPIRE ON THE LIVING MAP →

Nepal (treaty kingdom) · Indian Independence & Partition, 1905–1948

Never conquered, never annexed: the 1816 treaty left Nepal sovereign at the price of the Raj recruiting its hillmen — the Gurkhas, who fought in every British war on this map’s span, from Flanders to Kohima, and (a darker entry) stood in Dyer’s firing party at Jallianwala Bagh. The Rana dynasty’s isolationist rule kept the kingdom parchment-neutral throughout; the winds of 1947 reached it anyway, and the Ranas fell to Nepal’s own democracy movement within three years of the Raj’s end.

1905	Beyond the Raj — the opening position

OPEN INDIAN INDEPENDENCE & PARTITION ON THE LIVING MAP →

Nepal · China in Revolution, 1911–1949

The Himalayan kingdom that hired out its hillmen and guarded its isolation: Gurkha regiments fight Britain’s wars from Flanders to Burma — including the campaigns that reopened China’s road — while the Rana regime keeps the country closed. Its 1923 treaty with Britain confirmed an independence older than most of the map’s states. From Kathmandu, the fall of the Qing and the rise of the PRC bracket an era in which Nepal’s chief policy was to be forgotten — successfully.