Kathmandu Districtकाठमाडौँ जिल्ला

Kathmandu district contains the national capital and dominates every national ranking: 2,041,587 people at the 2021 census — far more than any other district — packed into a statistical area of 395 km² at 5,169 persons per km², the highest density in Nepal. Its eleven local levels, Kathmandu Metropolitan City plus ten surrounding municipalities, are all urban; with Bhaktapur it is one of only two districts with no rural municipality. The district covers the northwestern half of the Kathmandu Valley bowl, rimmed by hills from Chandragiri and Nagarjun to Shivapuri, between roughly 1,260 m and 2,730 m in elevation.

As the seat of federal government, the headquarters of nearly every bank, media house and major company, and home of Tribhuvan International Airport — the country's main air gateway — Kathmandu is Nepal's political and economic engine. It is also its educational pioneer: Durbar High School (the first school), Trichandra College (the first college) and Tribhuvan University at Kirtipur (the first university) all stand here, and at 89.2% the district's literacy rate is the highest in Nepal. Tourism, handicrafts and garments round out an economy that draws migrants from every district, reflected in a male-skewed sex ratio of 102.97 and growth of 1.51% per year.

Historic Kantipur, the Malla royal city that became the Shah capital after 1769, anchors a remarkable concentration of heritage. Four of the seven monument zones of the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO World Heritage property (inscribed 1979) lie in this district alone: the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, the hilltop stupa of Swayambhunath, the great stupa of Boudhanath at the centre of Nepal's Tibetan Buddhist life, and the Pashupatinath temple complex on the Bagmati, the holiest Shiva site in the country. The Newar hill town of Kirtipur and the sleeping-Vishnu statue of Budhanilkantha add to a density of monuments unmatched in South Asia.

Kathmandu district occupies the historic core of the Kathmandu Valley, one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions of the Himalaya, with settlement evidence reaching back to ancient times. According to a tradition recorded in Buddhist texts, the bodhisattva Manjushri is said to have drained a primordial lake that filled the valley, making the land habitable. The valley first flourished under the Licchavi dynasty (roughly the 4th to 8th centuries AD), a period that produced fine stone sculpture, the earliest dated inscriptions, and many of the temples and stone water-spouts that still survive. Newar Buddhism took root in this era, with monasteries (bahals and bahis) established across the settlements that would grow into Kathmandu.

The city takes its name from Kasthamandap, a great wooden pavilion in present-day Kathmandu Durbar Square that, by tradition, was built from the timber of a single tree. The founding of the city is traditionally credited to King Gunakamadeva, and through the medieval period it was widely known as Kantipur. During the Malla era (13th to 18th centuries) the valley was divided among rival fortified city-kingdoms, chiefly Kantipur (Kathmandu), Lalitpur (Patan) and Bhaktapur, alongside Kirtipur. This was a golden age of art and architecture: Malla kings competed to endow their durbar squares with tiered pagoda temples, palaces, sunken stone fountains and richly carved woodwork, much of which is now inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.

In 1768-69, Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha conquered the valley and made Kathmandu the capital of a newly unified Nepal, a status it has held ever since. From 1846 the country was effectively ruled by the hereditary Rana prime ministers, who built grand neoclassical palaces and laid out New Road as a modern commercial street; the landmark Dharahara tower also dates from the 19th century. As the national capital, the district led Nepal's modern development, hosting the country's first school (Durbar High School), first college (Tri-Chandra College) and first university (Tribhuvan University, headquartered in Kirtipur).

Modern Kathmandu has been shaped by political upheaval and natural disaster. It was the focus of the 2006 People's Movement that ended direct royal rule and led to the abolition of the monarchy in 2008, when Nepal became a federal democratic republic. On 25 April 2015 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Nepal, killing roughly 9,000 people nationwide and devastating the valley's heritage: at Kathmandu Durbar Square alone numerous monuments collapsed, including the historic Kasthamandap and the Maju Dega temple, while many others were severely damaged. Extensive reconstruction has since restored a number of these landmarks, including a rebuilt Kasthamandap and the Dharahara tower.

Kathmandu district lies in the north-western part of the bowl-shaped Kathmandu Valley in Bagmati Province, central Nepal, with an area of roughly 414 square kilometres. The valley floor sits at about 1,400 metres above sea level, but the district's terrain is far from flat: elevations range from around 1,260 metres on the valley floor to over 2,700 metres on the forested hills that ring it, including Shivapuri to the north, Nagarjun to the north-west and Chandragiri to the south-west. These hill rims form a natural boundary and feed the rivers and springs of the valley.

The Bagmati River, sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, is the principal river of the district and flows past the Pashupatinath temple complex; it is joined by tributaries such as the Bishnumati, Dhobi Khola and Manohara. The Bagmati and its feeders have historically supplied the valley's water, irrigated its farmland and shaped its religious geography, with many temples and cremation ghats lined along their banks.

Kathmandu has a humid subtropical climate moderated by altitude, giving warm summers and cool, dry winters. Summer temperatures typically reach the low-to-mid 20s Celsius while winter days are mild and nights can fall near or below freezing on the hill rims. Most of the roughly 1,400 millimetres of annual rainfall comes during the June-to-September monsoon. The higher elevations of Shivapuri and Chandragiri are noticeably cooler and more temperate than the urban valley floor.

Kathmandu is the largest economic hub of Nepal, concentrating a disproportionate share of the country's commerce, services, government offices and industry. The metropolitan economy generates a substantial fraction of national GDP, and per-capita income in the district is well above the national average. Trade and services dominate, ranging from wholesale and retail commerce in historic market districts such as Asan, Indra Chowk and New Road to banking, education, transport and hospitality.

Manufacturing and crafts remain important. The district is a centre for handicrafts, woollen and Tibetan carpets, pashmina, garments, metalwork, thangka painting and handmade lokta paper, much of it exported. Kathmandu's role as a trading entrepot is ancient: it once sat on a branch of the trans-Himalayan trade route linking the Indian plains with Tibet, and that legacy of long-distance commerce underpins its modern economy.

Tourism is a cornerstone of the district's economy. As the gateway to Nepal and home to several of the valley's UNESCO World Heritage monument zones, Kathmandu draws pilgrims, trekkers and cultural travellers from around the world. The Thamel district is the main hub for tourist accommodation, restaurants, trekking outfitters and nightlife, while heritage sites, temples and museums sustain large numbers of artisans, guides and small businesses. Although valley agriculture has shrunk as the city has urbanised, farming on the surrounding hill slopes and remaining valley land still produces vegetables, rice and dairy for the urban market.

Kathmandu district is the heartland of Newar civilisation, and the indigenous Newar people are central to its identity, language and art. Nepal Bhasa (Newari), a Sino-Tibetan language, is widely spoken alongside Nepali, and the district's population is among the most diverse in the country, including large communities of Bahun (Hill Brahmin), Chhetri, Tamang, Magar and many others. It is also Nepal's most literate district, reflecting its long-standing concentration of schools and universities.

Religiously, the district blends Hinduism and Buddhism so closely that many shrines are venerated by both faiths. Pashupatinath is one of the most important Shiva temples in the Hindu world, while Boudhanath and Swayambhunath are major centres of Tibetan and Newar Buddhism; the city also preserves over a hundred traditional Newar Buddhist monastery courtyards. A distinctive local institution is the Kumari, a young girl from the Newar community worshipped as a living goddess and residing in the Kumari Ghar beside Kathmandu Durbar Square.

The district's calendar is rich with festivals. Indra Jatra (Yenya), Kathmandu's greatest street festival, fills the old city with masked Lakhe dances, towering god-poles and a chariot procession of the living goddess Kumari. Other widely observed celebrations include Dashain, Tihar (Swanti), Shivaratri at Pashupatinath, Buddha Jayanti, Gai Jatra and Holi, many marked by processions, music and traditional Newari feasts.