Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the eighth-most populous Pakistani city, with a population of over 1.9 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, lying in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the Khyber Pass.

Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least sixth century BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in South Asia. One of the principal cities of the ancient Gandhara, Peshawar served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka the Great, in the second century CE. A variety of Muslim empires ruled the city following the conquest of Peshawar by the Ghaznavids from the Hindu Shahis, in 1001 CE. It was an important trading centre in the Mughal Empire, later serving as the winter capital of the Durrani Empire from 1776 until the capture of the city by the Sikh Empire in 1823. In 1849, the city was captured by the East India Company and subsequently became part of British Raj. In 1901, Peshawar became capital of the North-West Frontier Province after it was created from the northwestern districts of Punjab Province. Following the Partition of British India it became part of Pakistan, in 1947.

Peshawar is a major cultural, political and economic centre of the region. During the colonial period and well into the early years after independence, the lingua franca of Peshawar was Hindko; in the succeeding decades, the rapid urbanization and the high rate of migration from the rural and tribal areas of the province, as well as the influx of Afghan refugees following the Soviet–Afghan War, transformed Peshawar from Hindko to a Pashto-speaking city. Today Peshawar is largely populated by Pashtuns, although the original urban population, known as Peshoris, still has a significant presence in the central areas of the old Walled City.