Before the reunification of Nepal by Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah, this district was part of the Doti Kingdom, one of the Baise (22) principalities, and the wider region was long inhabited by Tharu communities in the fertile Terai plains. After the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-1816), Nepal lost the territory to the East India Company under the territorial concessions of the Sugauli Treaty. Under the treaty of 1860 the British returned these 'Naya Muluk' (new territories) — Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke and Bardiya — to Nepal under Jung Bahadur Rana in gratitude for Nepal's assistance in suppressing the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. During Rana rule there were four Bazzar Adda (market centres) in the district: Sati, Bajani, Kailali and Dhangadhi. Government malaria-eradication programmes in the 1960s-70s triggered large-scale migration from the hill districts, transforming Dhangadhi into a multi-ethnic urban centre; Dhangadhi was declared a municipality in 1976 and became the far-west's first sub-metropolitan city in 2015.
Researched by the ChillNepal team from published sources. Spot something out of date? Tell us from the place's page.
