Background - Key dates in Nepal's monarchy

Kathmandu_(dpa) _ Important dates in the 240-year Shah dynasty that ruled Nepal since its unification and events leading to Wednesday's vote in the constituent assembly to formally abolish monarchy.

1768 - Prithvi Narayan Shah, a king from a small principality of Gorkha in western Nepal leads a campaign to unify small kingdoms.

1769 - Small states of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhakapur in Kathmandu valley fall to advancing Gorkha army. Prithvi Narayan Shah moves his seat of government to Kathmandu and his successors expand the borders of Nepal to Sikkim in the east and Kumaon and Himachal Pradesh in the west in present day India.

1846 - Young general Jang Bahadur Rana seizes power and becomes the prime minister leading to the hereditary rule of the Ranas as prime ministers. The system lasts for 104 years. The Shah kings are reduced to figureheads.

1946 - The Nepali Congress party is formed.

1950 - King Tribhuvan seeks asylum in India. The Rana prime minister installs Gyanendra, then just 3 years old, as king.

1951 - King Tribhuvan is restored to the throne.

1955 - King Tribhuvan dies and is succeeded by King Mahendra.

1959 - New constitution is promulgated, first general elections are held. Nepali Congress party wins absolute majority.

1960 - King Mahendra seizes power, bans all political parties and jails politicians.

1972 - Mahendra dies and is succeeded by his son King Birendra.

1990, April - King Birendra, under pressure from pro-democracy movement, lifts the ban on political parties. Multi-party democracy is restored in the country.

1996 - Maoists launch armed rebellion to try and topple the monarchy.

2001, June - King Birendra and most members of the royal family killed by then crown prince Dipendra, in a palace shootout. Prince Gyanendra becomes king.

2005, Feb - King Gyanendra seizes absolute powers vowing to crush the Maoists and end corruption.

2006, April - King Gyanendra gives up absolute power after widespread protests. Girija Prasad Koirala, sworn in as prime minister and the parliament, which was dissolved in October 2002, is restored.

2006, November - Prime Minister Koirala and rebel chief Prachanda sign a peace deal, formally ending a war that killed nearly 14,000 people.

2007, September - Interim parliament votes in a non-binding move to abolish monarchy. The decision is to be implemented after ratification by constituent assembly.

2008, April - Nepalese vote in historic constituent assembly elections in which Maoists emerge as the largest political party.

2008, May - Nepal's constituent assembly votes to abolish monarchy. dpa kr pw 281402 Mai 08