Constitutional monarchy in Asia between India and China; 56,800 square miles; population 28,200,000. Catholic missionaries, especially from Portugal, visited this region as early as the 16th century, and in successive organizations of missions, prefectures, and dioceses, the territory has been included with Tibet or with the adjoining part of northern India. A new Mission "Sui Iuris" of Nepal was founded on October 7, 1983, elevated to the Prefecture Apostolic of Nepal on November 9, 1996, and then to a Vicariate Apostolic on February 10, 2007, but only a tiny percentage of the population is Christian.