page_title: Greater Nepal
section_title: Campaigns by Shah kings
hierarchical_section_title: Greater Nepal / Campaigns by Shah kings
caption_attribution_description: English: This fascinating hand colored 1814 map by Edinburgh cartographer John Thomson depicts northern India and Nepal. Bounded on the east by Persia and the Indus valley, on the North by Tibet, on the south by Berar, and on the east by Assam and Bhutan. Much of the upper portion of this map includes a detailed inset of the Kingdom of Nepal or Nepaul. This area is depicted in impressive detail considering that, when this map was printed very few western travelers had ever been to Nepal. Includes roads, mountain passes and the residences of important Lamas. Extends fully into the Tibetan plateau as far as Te Shoo Loomboo and the Road to Lhasa (Lassa). The right hand corner of this map contains an inset of Kabul or Cabul.
context_page_description: Greater Nepal is a nascent irredentist concept of Nepal extending beyond its present boundaries to include current Indian territories controlled by the Gurkha army after defeating some neighbouring kingdoms in wars fought from 1791 to 1804 but ceded to the East India Company under the Sugauli Treaty after the Gurkha king was defeated in the 1814–16 Anglo-Nepalese War. The concept of "Greater Nepal" does not include those parts of Tibet that the Gurkha army occupied very briefly after defeating Tibetans in wars fought from 1789 to 1791 but from where the Gurkha army was ejected by Chinese army which defeated the Gurkha king in 1792 Sino-Nepalese War. In 1813, this historical "Greater Nepal" extended from the Sutlej to the Teesta River, spanning 1,500 km. Rule over this expanse was brief, however, and in the aftermath of the 1814-1815 war with the East India Company the Gorkhali realm was whittled down considerably. The real time Gorkhali presence in Garhwal was for 12 years, Kumaon for 24 years, and Sikkim for 33 years. The Treaty of Sugauli, between the Gorkhali king and the Company, was ratified in 1816.
context_section_description: Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–75) decided to enlarge his kingdom that was confined to the small Gorkha region of present day Nepal and had an area of just 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi). He defeated major principalities in wars and unified them under his rule starting from the 1740s ending with shifting of his Gorkha Kingdom’s capital from Gorkha region to Kathmandu in 1769. He then attacked and absorbed dozens of other small principalities and gave a new name "Nepal" to his Gorkha kingdom. After his death in 1775, his eldest son Pratap Singh Shah continued defeating other smaller princes and absorbing their fiefdoms. Pratap Shah died at the age of twenty-five in 1777. Then Prithvi Narayan Shah’s second son, Bahadur Shah, ruled until 1794.
caption: This fascinating hand coloured 1814 map by Edinburgh cartographer John Thomson depicts northern India and Nepal. Bounded on the west by Persia and the Indus valley, on the north by Tibet, on the south by Berar, and on the east by Assam and Bhutan. Much of the upper portion of this map includes a detailed inset of the Kingdom of Nepal or Nepaul. This area is depicted in impressive detail considering that, when this map was printed very few western travellers had ever been to Nepal. Includes roads, mountain passes and the residences of important Lamas. Extends fully into the Tibetan plateau as far as Te Shoo Loomboo and the Road to Lhasa (Lassa).
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