A trading city on the road to Lhasa
Kathmandu grew where the old trade route from India to Tibet crossed the valley. Licchavi-era settlements stood here by the first millennium CE, and in the Malla period the town known as Kantipur became one of three rival royal capitals. Newar merchants from its tols ran trading houses in Lhasa for generations, bringing back wool, salt and musk, and paying for temples, rest houses and spouts at home.
The great builder was Pratap Malla, who ruled in the mid-17th century. He added to the palace, set his multilingual inscription in its wall, built the steps and shrines at Swayambhu and dug Rani Pokhari, the Queen's Pond, in memory of a son. A century later, Jaya Prakash Malla built the Kumari Ghar in 1757. He lost his city to Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1768, during Indra Jatra, when the Gorkha king took the throne as the festival went on.
Under the Shah kings and Rana prime ministers, Kathmandu became the capital of a unified Nepal and spread east with palaces and parade grounds. Tourism arrived after 1951, with the hippie years on Freak Street and then the trekkers in Thamel. The 2015 earthquake damaged the Durbar Square heavily. Rebuilding has been slow and argued over in places, but Kasthamandap stands again, built with traditional timber and brick and community labour.
