[edit] Current events Map of NepalAccording to officials, on June 1, 2001, the Heir Apparent Dipendra went on a killing spree in the royal palace, in response to his parents' rejection of his choice of wife. His parents were killed and he died 3 days later. Following the carnage, the throne was inherited by Birendra's brother Gyanendra. But many Nepalese believed that the family was killed by Gyanendra, the present king but this issue was forgotten gradually with time. In the face of unstable governments and a Maoist siege on the Kathmandu Valley in August 2004, popular support for the monarchy waned.[4]
On February 1, 2005 Gyanendra dismissed the entire government and assumed full executive powers in the name of combating the Maoist movement.[3] In September 2005, the Maoists declared a three-month unilateral ceasefire which was not reciprocated by the royal government; the latter vowed to defeat the rebels by force. A few weeks later, the government stated that parliamentary elections would be held by 2007 even after the failed municipal elections.[5]
The Maoists, through support from the seven parliamentary parties (SPA)[6] , arranged a mass uprising against the reign of King Gyanendra. The royal government used various means to quell the uprising. Frustrated by lack of security, jobs and good governance, thousands of people took to the streets to demand that the king renounce power outright, but the royal government turned even more ferocious and continued its suppression including daytime curfews amid a Maoist blockade. Food shortages took effect. Soon there was a plan to march over one million people into the city center and encircle the royal palace. The security forces turned brutal. Thousands were injured and 21 people died in the uprising.

HistoryMain article: History of NepalNeolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 9,000 years. It appears that people who were probably of Tibeto-Burman ethnicity lived in Nepal 2,500 years ago. [2]
Indo-Aryan tribes entered the valley around 1500 BC. Around 1000 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose. One of the princes of the Shakya confederation was Siddhartha Gautama (563–483 BC), who renounced his royalty to lead an ascetic life and came to be known as the Buddha ("the one who has awakened"). By 250 BC, the region came under the influence of the Mauryan empire of northern India, and later became a puppet state under the Gupta Dynasty in the 4th century. From the late 5th century, rulers called the Licchavis governed the area. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Newar era, from 879, although the extent of their control over the entire country is uncertain. By late 11th century, southern Nepal came under the influence of the Chalukya Empire of southern India. Under the Chalukyas, Nepal's religious establishment changed as the kings patronised Hinduism instead of the Buddhism prevailing at that time