HAZARA, a district of British India, in the Peshawar di vision of the North-West Frontier Province (q.v.), with an area of 3,391 sq.m. It is bounded on the north by the Black mountain, the Swat country, Kohistan and Chilas ; on the east by the native state of Kashmir ; on the south by Rawalpindi district ; and on the west by the river Indus. The district forms a wedge of terri tory extending far into the heart of the outer Himalayas, and consisting of a long narrow valley, shut in on both sides by lofty mountains, whose peaks rise to a height of 17,00o ft. above sea level. Towards the centre of the district the vale of Kagan is bounded by mountain chains, which sweep southward, and send off spurs on every side dividing the country into numerous minor dales. The district is well watered by the tributaries of the Indus, the Kunhar, which flows through the Kagan valley into the Jhelum, and many rivulets. To the north rise the distant peaks of the snow-clad ranges ; midway, the central mountains stand clothed to their rounded summits with pines and other forest trees, while grass and brushwood spread a green cloak over the nearer hills, and cultivation covers every available slope. The chief frontier tribes on the border are the cis-Indus Swatis, Has sanzais, Akazais, Chagarzais, Pariari Syads, Madda Khels, Ama zais and Umarzais. Within the district Pathans are not numerous. Pop. (1931), 670,117.
Hazara is also the name of a race found in the Hazarajat, the "thousands," or Hazaristan "Hazaraland," in Afghanistan, de scended from military colonists settled by Jenghiz Khan in the highlands of the Upper Halmund and on the slopes of the Hindu Kush range north of Kabul. Probably of almost pure Mongolian origin, they now speak a Persian dialect. Strict Shi'as by sect they were only subjugated by the great Amir of Afghan istan, Abd-ur-Rahman, in 1851, after a long resistance but were then enlisted in his engineer companies; and they are also re cruited in pioneer regiments of the Indian Army. As Turks and Shi'as intermarriage with them is avoided by the Afghans, and though they may have once taken Persian wives they have pre served the purity of the Mongolian type in a marked degree. In the western part of the Hazarajat extending nearly to Herat and the Harud valley the Hazaras include four tribes, Chahar Aimaq, which speak Turki and are Sunnis by sect.
See The Encyclopaedia of Islam, II., 1916, for full bibliographies.