Global - Technology - Review

Nepal lies between India and China, and its territory contains eight of the world’s ten highest peaks. There is a narrow strip of lowland in the south, but then the terrain gradually rises over some two hundred kilometres to the ‘Roof of the World’, including Sagarmatha, known to the rest of the world as Mount Everest. Thus Nepal’s climate ranges from tropical savannah to temperate coniferous forest, and finally to glaciers, rock and ice. The capital, Kathmandu, lies deep in the mountains, linked to India only by a single road. There are few natural resources and a poor transport infrastructure. Most Nepalese are Hindus, but many also follow the tenets of Buddhism, whose founder Siddhartha Gautama was born in Nepal at Lumbini, today a place of pilgrimage and a World Heritage Site. Nepal has had a number of years of political instability, with the Royal Massacre of 2001 and the subsequent deposition of King Gyanendra. This has affected the vitally important tourist indistry. Britain has had a long association with Nepal through the Gurkha regiments which have served in the British Army with distinction in many conflicts. The Nepalese flag is the only one which is not rectangular.