The history of Nepal is characterized by its isolated position in the Himalayas a nd its two neighbors, India and China.

Due to the arrival of disparate settler groups from outside through the ages, it is now a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multilingual country. Central Nepal was split in three kingdoms from the 15th century until the 18th century, when it wa s unified under the Shah monarchy. The national language of Nepal is Nepali, whi ch is also the most-spoken language of Nepal. Nepal experienced a struggle for democracy in the 20th century. During the 1990s and until 2008, the country was in civil strife. A peace treaty was signed in 2 008 and elections were held in the same year. Many of the ills of Nepal have been blamed on the royal family of Nepal. In a hi storical vote for the election of the constituent assembly, Nepalese voted to ou st the monarchy in Nepal. In June 2008, Nepalese ousted the royal household. Nep al was formally renamed the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal when it became a federal republic. Toponymy [edit] The word Nepal is first attested in the Atharvaveda Parisista (c. 1978). "Nepal" was derived from the Sanskrit nipalaya, which means "at the foot of the mountai ns" or "abode at the foot", a reference to its location in relation to the Himal ayas. Thus, it may be an Eastern equivalent of the European toponym "Piedmont." Other, folk etymologies include:

It has been suggested that the name comes from the Tibetan niyampal, which m eans "holy land". A third theory suggests that Nepal came from compounding the words NE, which means wool, and PAL, which means a tented house; a long time ago, Nepal used to produce a lot of wool and the houses were used to store the woolhence the word N E-PAL. The name Nepal is also supposed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "NEP"( ), w ith the suffix "AL" ( ) added to it; though still under controversy, NEP were the p eople who used to be cow herdersthe GOPALS ( )who came to the Nepal valley for the firs time from the Ganges plain of India. According to Nepali scholar Rishikesh Shaha, the ancient chronicles report t hat a sage (muni) named Ne became the protector (pla) of this land and the founde r of its first ruling dynasty. The name of the country, Ne-pla, therefore origina lly meant the land 'protected by Ne.