By
radiocarbon dating and investigating the
alluvial deposits of Pokhara Valley, researchers have found that there were at least three large medieval earthquakes in 1000, 1255, and 1344
AD. Up to 9 cubic kilometres of conglomerates, massive mud and silt show indications of one or several megafloods that emanated from the Sabche Cirque in the Annapurna range. A more recent 2023 study, by a team of French scientists, estimated that a single landslide, dated approximately to 1190 AD, removed as much as 23 cubic kilometers of material from Annapurna IV - now 7525 meters high, but could have been as high as above 8000 meters prior to the catastrophic event - and sent most of it to where the City of Pokhara were to be built subsequently. Pokhara lies on an important old trading route between China and
India. In the 17th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Kaski which was one of the
Chaubisi rajya (24 Kingdoms of Nepal, चौबिसे राज्य) ruled by a branch of the
Shah dynasty. Many of the hills around Pokhara have medieval ruins from that time. In 1786,
Prithvi Narayan Shah, the last ruler of the
Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the
Kingdom of Nepal, added Pokhara to his kingdom. It had by then become an important trading place on the routes from Kathmandu to
Jumla and from India to Tibet. The first settlement of the valley is theorized to have taken place when the first King of
Kaski,
Kulamandan Shah Khad (also called Bichitra Khan and Jagati Khan), made
Batulechaur in the northern side of the valley his winter capital during the mid 14th century. The people settled here included
Parajuli Brahmins, who were asked to look after the
Bindhyabasini temple and were given some land in that locality as Birta.
Dhobi Gauda was the first market center developed in Pokhara valley before the last King of
Kaski brought sixteen families of
Newars from Kathmandu (Bhaktapur) to develop the present-day market (i.e., old market) in the 1770s. Prior to that people were settled in the peripheral hills. Pokhara was envisioned as a commercial center by the King of Kaski in the mid 18th century A.D. when
Newars of Bhaktapur migrated to Pokhara, upon being invited by the king, they settled near the main business locations such as
Bindhyabasini temple,
Nalakomukh and
Bhairab Tole. Most of Pokhara, at the time, was largely inhabited by
Khas (
Brahmin,
Chhetri and
Dalits),
Gurungs,
Magars and
Thakuri. At present, the
Khas,
Gurung (Tamu) and
Magar form the dominant community of Pokhara. There is also a sizeable
Newari population in the city.
Batulechaur in the far north of Pokhara is home to the
Gandharvas or Gaaineys (the tribe of the musicians). in 1982|alt=|left The nearby hills around Pokhara are covered by
Gurung villages with few places belonging to the
Khas community.
Magar communities are also present mostly in the southern outlying hills. A
Newar community is almost non-existent in the villages of outlying hills outside the Pokhara city limits. From 1959 to 1962, approximately 300,000 exiles entered Nepal from neighboring
Tibet following its annexation by China. Most of the Tibetan exiles then sought asylum in
Dharamshala and other Tibetan exile communities in India. According to
UNHCR, since 1989, approximately 2500 Tibetans cross the border into Nepal each year, many of whom arrive in Pokhara typically as a transit to Tibetan exile communities in India. About 50,000–60,000 Tibetan exiles reside in Nepal, and approximately 20,000 of the exiled Tibetans live in one of the 12 consolidated camps, eight in Kathmandu and four in and around Pokhara. The four Tibetan settlements in Pokhara are Jampaling, Paljorling, Tashi Ling, and Tashi Palkhel. These camps have evolved into well-built settlements, each with a
gompa (Buddhist monastery),
chorten and its particular architecture, and Tibetans have become a visible minority in the city. Until the end of the 1960s, the town was only accessible by foot and it was considered even more a mystical place than Kathmandu. The first road was completed in 1968 (
Siddhartha Highway) after which tourism set in and the city grew rapidly. The area along the Phewa lake, called
Lakeside, has developed into one of the major tourism hubs of Nepal. == Geography ==