NEPAL

Our country is Nepal. There are many views about the origin of the word ‘Nepal’. It is said that Nepal is named after Tibetan words ‘Ne’ and ‘Pal’. In the Tibetan language, ‘Ne’ means ‘home’ and ‘pal’ means ‘wool’ . The joint from of these two words means ‘home of wool’ .


Another version is that a great saint named ‘Ne’ protected and developed the place and the land was called Nepal.

Nepal is a small country. It is situated on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. It is a landlocked country. It is situated between 26.22degree N and 30.27degree N latitudes and 80.4degree E and 88.12degree E longitudes. It is situated between China in the north and India in the south.

Nepal is rectangular in shape. It is wider in the west and extends from the north-west to the south-east. Its average length from the west to east is 885Km and its width varies from 241 Km in the west to 145 Km in the east. The average width is 193 Km.

Nepal has a total area of 1,47,181 Sq Km which is 0.3% off the total area of Asia and 0.03% of the total land area of the earth. However, Nepal is larger in area than some of its neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India is approximately 22 times bigger and china is approximately 65 times bigger than Nepal.

To the north of Nepal lies the mighty Himalayan range which separates it from china. It is a natural boundary. The two rivers Mechi in the east and Mahakali in the west are also the natural boundaries between Nepal and India. The ten yards wide no-man’s-land with pillars called “Dash Gaja” is the arbitrary boundary between Nepal and the India in the southern part of our country. The India state of West Bangal lies in the east, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh lie in the south and Uttaranchal lies in the west of Nepal.

Topographically, Nepal is divided into three main physical features. They are : the Mountain Region, the Hilly Region and the Terai Region.

Nepal is a mountainous country. About 83% of the total area is covered by lofty and rugged hills and mountains. Such landforms have been a boon to Nepal. Many big and small rivers originate from these mountains. Altogether three are 6,000 streams and rivers in Nepal. Most of the big rivers of Nepal are perennial and they originate from the snow-capped .