11 ATLASES

History of Nepal in maps

Nepal as it appears in 11 interactive history atlases, from 1914 to 1918: Nepal. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.

Open this map in the interactive atlas →

WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.

Free printable Mongol Empire study guide, sent by email ↓

What was Nepal before it was Nepal? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.

Nepal · Mongol Empire

1206	Beyond the conquests — the opening position

MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Nepal · Industrial Revolution

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Nepal · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia

OCT 1964

Non-aligned or stateless — the opening position

MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Nepal (treaty kingdom) · Indian independence

Nepal was never conquered or annexed. The 1816 treaty left it sovereign, while the Raj recruited its hillmen as Gurkhas. They fought in every British war in this atlas’s span, from Flanders to Kohima, and also stood in Dyer’s firing party at Jallianwala Bagh. The isolationist Rana dynasty kept the kingdom neutral throughout the era, yet the end of the Raj was followed within three years by the Ranas’ fall to Nepal’s own democracy movement. The relationship with British India had an earlier chapter: in 1857–58, Rana ruler Jung Bahadur led Gurkha regiments to help Britain retake Lucknow. The defeated Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh took refuge in Kathmandu, where she died in 1879.

JAN 1857

Beyond the Raj · Portuguese & French India — the opening position

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Nepal · WWI

NOV 1914

Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position

WWI: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Nepal · Chinese Revolution

Nepal guarded its isolation under the Rana regime while Gurkha regiments fought Britain’s wars from Flanders to Burma. Those campaigns included the fighting that reopened China’s road. A treaty with Britain in 1923 confirmed an independence older than that of most states on the map. Between the fall of the Qing and the rise of the PRC, Nepal’s chief policy was to be forgotten, and it succeeded.