Nepal enjoys the glory of always being a sovereign and independent country. It has never been under foreign domination. Ancient Nepal consisted of many small autonomous states. King Prithivi Narayan Shah unified Nepal by bringing these small states together into one nation in 1769. Since then Kathmandu has been the capital of Nepal. After the Anglo-Nepali War (1814-1816), Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana greatly expanded his powers and established the Rana lineage of hereditary Prime Ministers who ruled Nepal until 1951, when the late King Tribhuvan led a popular revolution which put an end to the Rana autocracy. In 1959, the first general election was held and the parliamentary government was set up for a short period. Nepal experienced the liberal panchayat system for three decades. The popular people's movement welcomed the new era of democracy in 1990. A new constitution was written to secure the sovereignty of the people and a democratic political system with constitutional monarchy was established.