North-West Frontier Province

NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE, the most northerly province of British India, created on Oct. 25, 1901. Roughly it may be defined as the tract of country north of Baluch istan, lying between the Indus and Afghanistan. More exactly it consists of (I) the cis-Indus district of Hazara; (2) the com paratively narrow strip between the Indus and the hills consti tuting the settled districts of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan; and (3) the rugged mountainous region between these districts and the borders of Afghanistan, which is inhabited by independent tribes. This last region is divided into five agencies : Dir, Swat and Chitral, with headquarters at Malakand ; Khyber, Kurram, Tochi and Wana. The province lies between 31° 4' and 36° 57' N., and 69° 16' and 74° 7' E. The approxi mate area is 38,665 sq.m., of which 13,419 sq.m. are British • territory and the remainder is held by tribe:, under the political control of the agent to the governor-general.

Rivers and Mountains.

The mountains of the Hindu Kush running from east to west form the northern boundary of the province, and are met at the north-east corner of the Chitral agency by the continuation of an outer chain of the Himalayas after it crosses the Indus above the Kagan valley. From this chain minor ranges run in a south-westerly direction the whole length of Bajour and Swat, till they merge into the Mohmand hills and connect the mid-Himalayas with the Safed Koh. The Suliman system lies south of the Gomal unconnected with the northern hills. To the east the Safed Koh extends its spurs into the Kohat district. The Salt Range crosses the Indus in the Mian wali tahsil of the Punjab, and forms the boundary between Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, merging eventually in the Waziri hills. The chief peaks in the province are Kaisargarh (11,30o ft.) and Pir Ghol (11,58o ft.) in Waziristan; Shekh Budin (4,516 ft.), in the small range; Sikaram (15,621 ft.) in the Safed Koh; Is tragh (18,90o ft.), Kachin (22,641 ft.) and Tirach Mir (25,426 ft.), in the Hindu Kush on the northern border of the Chitral agency; while the Kagan peaks run from io,000 ft. to 16,700 ft.

With the exception of the Kunhar river, which flows down the Kagan valley to the Jhelum, the whole drainage of the province finds its way into the Indus. (See INDUS : KABUL RIVER.) The Pathan Races.—The North-West Frontier Province as now constituted may be described as the country of the Pathans (q.v.). The true Pathan is possibly of Indian extraction. But

around this nucleus have collected many tribes of foreign origin. The whole have now become blended by the adoption of a com mon language, but remain tribally distinct ; all alike have accepted Islam, and have invented traditions of common descent which express their present association. For centuries these tribes main tained their independence in the rugged hills which flank the present kingdom of Afghanistan. In the 15th century they began to settle in the plains. The 16th century saw the Pathan tribes established in their present homes. The spirit of independence which always characterized them soon brought them into collision with the Mogul empire. In the 17th century, after a long struggle, the settlers in the plains wrested from Aurangzeb terms which left them almost as independent as their brothers in the hills. The invasion in 1738 of Nadir Shah, who traversed the province from Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan, is a landmark in the history of the frontier. From his death to the rise of Ranjit Singh, the frontier districts remained an appendage of the Durani empire. Little control was exercised by the rulers of Kabul, and the country was administered by local chiefs or Afghan Sirdars very much as they pleased. The Sikh invasions began in 1818, and from that date to the annexation by the British government the Sikhs were steadily making themselves masters of the plain tracts. After the Second Sikh War, by the proclamation of March 29, 1849, the frontier districts were annexed by the British Government. From that time until the creation of the North-West Frontier Province the settled districts formed part of the Punjab, while the inde pendent tribes were controlled at different times by the Punjab government, and the government of India. Their turbulence still continued, and since 1849 they have been the object of over fifty punitive expeditions. The chief tribes, under the political control of the N.W. Frontier agency, besides Chitralis and Bajouris, are the Utman Khel, Yusafzais, Hassanzais, Mohmands, Afridis, Jo wakis, Mullagoris, Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Chamkannis, Khattaks, Bangashes, Turis, Mahsuds, Wazirs, Bhitanis and Sheranis, etc.