Gorkha

**Gorkha** (ˈɡɔʁka, Gorkhali: गोरखा, *Gorakha*), officially the **Gorkha Empire** (Gorkhali: गोरखा साम्राज्य, *Gorakha Samrajya*), also known under its former name **Nepal** (Gorkhali: नेपाल) or as **Asal Hindustan** (Gorkhali: असल हिन्दुस्तान, lit. *Real Land of the Hindus*), especially when referred to the Gorkha sphere of influence, that includes  Dremoshong,  Druk Yul and  Gorkhaland, is a landlocked Hindu monarchy in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering  Tibet to the north and the  British Empire as  Hindustan to the south and west, while it is narrowly separated from  Bengal by the Siliguri Corridor to the east, where Gorkha borders the aforementioned  Dremoshong and  Gorkhaland. Gorkha covers an area of 200,999 km² (77,606 sq mi) and a population of around 41 million people, which are multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural, with Gorkhali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city.

The ancient name of Gor-kha is derived from Gorakhnath, an influential Hindu saint of the 11th century, with Hinduism being the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as  Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Shah dynasty achieved the Nepali Unification by establishing the  Gorkha Kingdom.  Gorkha soon came in conflict with the expansionist  East India Company, what led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816), which resulted in  Gorkha's defeat. Under the Treaty of Sugauli, the kingdom retained its internal independence in exchange for territorial concessions.

In 1846, the kingdom fell under the control of the totalitarian Rana regime of hereditary premiers, who in the 20th century changed the country's name to  Nepal and formed an alliance with the  British Empire. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between the  Great Qing and the  British Raj. In July 1950, the new British Dominion of  Hindustan signed a friendship treaty in which both nations agreed to respect the other's sovereignty and  Nepal pledged to support the British and Indians in their ongoing civil war. In November of the same year, Anglo-Indian forces played an important role in supporting King Tribhuvan in his overthrow of the Rana regime. By 1953, Anglo-Indian-Nepali-Pakistani forces had successfully repelled a Tibetan invasion and liberated most of northern India, establishing  Ghorkaland as a condominium and  Dremoshong and  Druk Yul as buffer states between them,  Tibet,  China and  Assam. For their staunch military support,  Nepal received  Uttarakhand from the  British Empire.

Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 and 1990 but was twice suspended by Nepali monarchs, first in 1960 when King Mahendra introduced the Panchayat and later in 1996 when the Nepali Civil War broke out and King Birendra suspended democracy. Throughout the bloody civil war, the insurgent Peasant Movement and  Tibet fought royalists and British Gurkha elite troops, who essentially made  Nepal an oligarchic military dictatorship. After the war ended,  Nepal was transformed into the semi-constitutional Gorkha Empire by King Gyanendra and his Gorkha Renaissance policy in 2002. The reforms of the king strengthened the position of the monarchy and British influence on Gorkha politics, while also allowing basic democracy, land reforms and modernization.

Today Gorkha is gradually transforming into a regional power whilst having one of the best equipped armies in Asia, notably known for their Gurkha history, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Gorkha has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth and it's the world's only country to have Hinduism as its state religion. The country was admitted to the  United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with  Hindustan, the  British Empire being Gorkha's closest ally, in 1950 and  China in 1960. Gorkha hosts the permanent secretariat of the  South Asian Association (SAA), of which it is a founding member. Gorkha is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative.