Nepal enjoys the glory of always being a sovereign and
independent country. It has never been under foreign domination.
Ancient Nepal consisted of many small autonomous states. King
Prithivi Narayan Shah unified Nepal by bringing these small
states together into one nation in 1769. Since then Kathmandu
has been the capital of Nepal. After the Anglo-Nepali War
(1814-1816), Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana greatly expanded
his powers and established the Rana lineage of hereditary Prime
Ministers who ruled Nepal until 1951, when the late King
Tribhuvan led a popular revolution which put an end to the Rana
autocracy. In 1959, the first general election was held and the
parliamentary government was set up for a short period. Nepal
experienced the liberal panchayat system for three decades. The
popular people's movement welcomed the new era of democracy in
1990. A new constitution was written to secure the sovereignty
of the people and a democratic political system with
constitutional monarchy was established.