Peshawar پېښور پشور پشاور
City
Clockwise from top: Islamia College University, Cunningham Clock Tower, Sunehri Mosque, Bala Hissar, Bab-e-Khyber, Mahabat Khan Mosque
Nickname:  City of Flowers[1]
Peshawar Location within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Show map of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar Location within Pakistan Show map of Pakistan
Coordinates: 34°00′52″N 71°34′03″E / 34.01444°N 71.56750°E / 34.01444; 71.56750
Country	Pakistan
Province	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
District	Peshawar District
Union councils	92
Government [5][6]
• Type	Mayor–council
• Body	District government
• Mayor	Zubair Ali[2] (JUI-F)
• Commissioner	Muhammad Zubair[3]
• Deputy Commissioner	Aafaq Wazir[4]
Area
• City	215 km2 (83 sq mi)
• Metro	1,257 km2 (485 sq mi)
Elevation	331 m (1,086 ft)
Highest elevation	450 m (1,480 ft)
Population  (2023)[7]
• City	4,758,762
• Rank	6th, Pakistan
• Density	22,000/km2 (57,000/sq mi)
Demonym	Peshawari
Time zone	UTC+5:00 (PKT)
Postal code	25000
Area code	091 (+92)
Languages	Pashto, Hindko, Urdu
Website	cmgp.gkp.pk

Peshawar (/pəˈʃɑːwər/;^[8] Pashto: پېښور [peˈχəwər] ^ⓘ; Hindko: پشور; [pɪˈʃɔːɾ] ^ⓘ; Urdu: پشاور [pɪˈʃɑːʋər] ^ⓘ) is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district population of over 4.7 million in the 2023 census.^[9] It is the capital of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it is the largest city.^[10] It is situated in the north-west of the country, lying in the Valley of Peshawar. Peshawar is primarily populated by Pashtuns, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group in the country.^[11][12]

Situated in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the historic Khyber Pass, Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least 539 BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in South Asia.^[13][14] The area encompassing modern-day Peshawar is mentioned in the Vedic scriptures; it was one of the principal cities of the ancient Gāndhāra. Peshawar served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka^[15][16][17] and was home to the Kanishka Stupa, which was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world.^[18]

Peshawar was then ruled by the Hephthalites, followed by the Hindu Shahis, before the arrival of a variety of Muslim empires. The city was an important trading centre of the Mughal Empire before becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747, after which it served as the Durrani winter capital 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, under whose rule it remained until the Partition of British India and subsequent independence of Pakistan in 1947.

The modern name of the city "Peshawar" is possibly derived from the Sanskrit word "Purushapura" (Sanskrit: पुरूषपुर Puruṣapura, meaning "City of Men" or "City of Purusha").^[19][20][21] It was named so by Mughal Emperor Akbar from its old name Parashawar, the meaning of which Akbar did not understand.^[22][23] The ruler of the city during its founding may have been a Hindu raja (king) named Purush; the word pur means "city" in Sanskrit.^[24][25][26] Sanskrit, written in the Kharosthi script, was the literary language employed by the Buddhist kingdoms which ruled over the area during its earliest recorded period.^[27] The city's name may also be derived from the Sanskrit name for "City of Flowers," Poshapura, a name found in an ancient Kharosthi inscription that may refer to Peshawar.^[28]

Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's seventh-century account of a city in Gandhara called the city Po-la-sha-pu-lo (Chinese: 布路沙布邏, bùlùshābùló), and an earlier fifth-century account by Fa-Hien records the city's name as Fou-lou-sha (Chinese: 弗樓沙, fùlóshā), the Chinese equivalent of the Sanskrit name of the city, Purushapura.^[29][30] An ancient inscription from the Shapur era identifies a city in the Gandhara valley by the name pskbvr, which may be a reference to Peshawar.^[31]

The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid-tenth century, the city was known as Parashāwar. The name was noted to be Purshawar and Purushavar by Al-Biruni.^[32]

The city began to be known as Peshāwar by the era of Emperor Akbar.^[33] The current name is said by some to have been based upon the Persian for "frontier town"^[33] or, more literally, "forward city", though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may account for the city's new name. One theory suggests that the city's name is derived from the Persian name "Pesh Awardan", meaning "place of first arrival" or "frontier city", as Peshawar was the first city in the Indian subcontinent after crossing the Khyber Pass.^[34][35] Akbar's bibliographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the city's name as both Parashāwar, transcribed in Persian as پَرَشَاوَر,^[36] and Peshāwar (پشاور).^[37]

Peshawar alongside the modern day Ghandara region were found in the Vedic Scripture as Pushkalavati.^[38]

Peshawar was founded as the city of Puruṣapura,^[19][39][40] on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar in 100 CE.^[41][42] It may have been named after a Hindu raja who ruled the city who was known as Purush.^[24] The city likely first existed as a small village in the fifth century BCE,^[43] within the cultural sphere of ancient India.^[44] Puruṣapura was founded near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, near present-day Charsadda.^[45][21]

In the winter of 327–26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of the Indus Valley,^[46] as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys.^[47] Following Alexander's conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under the suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. A locally-made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles' play Antigone.^[48]

Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE.^{[citation needed]} Around 300 BCE, the Greek diplomat and historian Megasthenes noted that Purushapura (ancient Peshawar) was the western terminus of a Mauryan road that connected the city to the empire's capital at Pataliputra, near the city of Patna in the modern-day Indian state of Bihar.^[50][51]

As Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized ancient Peshawar around 190 BCE.^{[citation needed]} The city was then captured by Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. Gondophares established the nearby Takht-i-Bahi monastery in 46 CE.^[49]

In the first century of the Common era, Purushapura came under control of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire.^[52] The city was made the empire's winter capital.^{[53][failed verification]} The Kushan's summer capital at Kapisi (modern Bagram, Afghanistan)^[54] was seen as the secondary capital of the empire,^[53] while Puruṣapura was considered to be the empire's primary capital.^[53] Ancient Peshawar's population was estimated to be 120,000, which would make it the seventh-most populous city in the world at the time.^[55][43] As a devout Buddhist, the emperor built the grand Kanishka Mahavihara monastery.^[56] After his death, the magnificent Kanishka stupa was built in Peshawar to house Buddhist relics. The golden age of Kushan empire in Peshawar ended in 232 CE with the death of the last great Kushan king, Vasudeva I.

Around 260 CE, the armies of the Sasanid Emperor Shapur I launched an attack against Peshawar,^[57] and severely damaged Buddhist monuments and monasteries throughout the Valley of Peshawar.^[43] Shapur's campaign also resulted in damage to the city's monumental stupa and monastery.^[43] The Kushans were made subordinate to the Sasanids and their power rapidly dwindled,^[58] as the Sasanids blocked lucrative trade routes westward out of the city.^[43]

Kushan Emperor Kanishka III was able to temporarily reestablish control over the entire Valley of Peshawar after Shapur's invasion,^[43] but the city was then captured by the Central Asian Kidarite kingdom in the early 400s CE.^[59]

The White Huns devastated ancient Peshawar in the 460s CE,^[60] and ravaged the entire region of Gandhara, destroying its numerous monasteries.^[61] The Kanishka stupa was rebuilt during the White Hun era with the construction of a tall wooden superstructure, built atop a stone base,^[53] and crowned with a 13-layer copper-gilded chatra.^[53] In the 400s CE, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian visited the structure and described it as "the highest of all the towers" in the "terrestrial world",^[53] which ancient travelers claimed was up to 560 ft (170 m) tall,^[53] though modern estimates suggest a height of 400 ft (120 m).^[53]

In 520 CE the Chinese monk Song Yun visited Gandhara and ancient Peshawar during the White Hun era, and noted that it was in conflict with nearby Kapisa.^[62][63] The Chinese monk and traveler Xuanzang visited ancient Peshawar around 630 CE,^[64] after Kapisa victory, and expressed lament that the city and its great Buddhist monuments had decayed to ruin^[65]—although some monks studying Theravada Buddhism continued to study at the monastery's ruins.^[66] Xuanzang estimated that only about 1,000 families continued in a small quarter among the ruins of the former grand capital.^[61]

Until the mid seventh century, the residents of ancient Peshawar had a ruling elite of Central Asian Scythian descent,^[62] who were then displaced by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul.^[62]

Islam is believed to have been first introduced to the Buddhist, Hindu and other indigenous inhabitants of Puruṣapura in the later seventh century.

As the first Pashtun tribe to settle the region, the Dilazak Pashtuns began settling in the Valley of Peshawar,^[67] and are believed to have settled regions up to the Indus River by the 11th century.^[67] The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid tenth century, the city had become known as Parashāwar.

In 986–87 CE, Peshawar's first encounter with Muslim armies occurred when Sabuktigin invaded the area and fought the Hindu Shahis under their king, Anandpal.^[33]

On 28 November 1001, Sabuktigin's son Mahmud Ghazni decisively defeated the army of Raja Jayapala, son of Anandpal, at the Battle of Peshawar,^[68] and established rule of the Ghaznavid Empire in the Peshawar region.

During the Ghaznavid era, Peshawar served as an important stop between the Afghan plateau, and the Ghaznavid garrison city of Lahore.^[33] During the tenth–12th century, Peshawar served as a headquarters for Hindu Nath Panthi Yogis,^[54] who in turn are believed to have extensively interacted with Muslim Sufi mystics.^[54]

In 1179–80, Muhammad Ghori captured Peshawar, though the city was then destroyed in the early 1200s at the hands of the Mongols.^[33] Peshawar was an important regional centre under the Lodi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate.

The Ghoryakhel Pashtuns Khalil, Muhmands, Daudzai, Chamkani tribes and some Khashi Khel Pashtuns, ancestors of modern-day Yusufzai and Gigyani Pashtuns, began settling rural regions around Peshawar in the late 15th and 16th centuries.^[69] The Ghoryakhel and Khashi Khel tribe pushed the Dilazak Pashtun tribes east of the Indus River following a battle in 1515 near the city of Mardan.^[69]

Peshawar remained an important centre on trade routes between India and Central Asia. The Peshawar region was a cosmopolitan region in which goods, peoples, and ideas would pass along trade routes.^[70] Its importance as a trade centre is highlighted by the destruction of over one thousand camel-loads of merchandise following an accidental fire at Bala Hissar fort in 1586.^[70] Mughal rule in the area was tenuous, as Mughal suzerainty was only firmly exercised in the Peshawar valley, while the neighbouring valley of Swat was under Mughal rule only during the reign of Akbar.^[71]

In July 1526, Emperor Babur captured Peshawar from Daulat Khan Lodi.^[72] During Babur's rule, the city was known as Begram, and he rebuilt the city's fort.^[73] Babur used the city as a base for expeditions to other nearby towns in Pashtunistan.^[33]

Under the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, direct Mughal rule over the city was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun king, Sher Shah Suri, who began construction of the famous Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century. Peshawar was an important trading centre on Sher Shah Suri's Grand Trunk Road.^[51] During Akbar's rule, the name of the city changed from Begram to Peshawar.^[33] In 1586, Pashtuns rose against Mughal rule during the Roshani Revolt under the leadership of Bayazid Pir Roshan,^[74] founder of the egalitarian Roshani movement, who assembled Pashtun armies in an attempted rebellion against the Mughals. The Roshani followers laid siege to the city until 1587.^[74]

Peshawar was bestowed with its own set of Shalimar Gardens during the reign of Shah Jahan,^[75] which no longer exist.

Emperor Aurangzeb's Governor of Kabul, Mohabbat Khan bin Ali Mardan Khan used Peshawar as his winter capital during the 17th century, and bestowed the city with its famous Mohabbat Khan Mosque in 1630.^[33]

Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughal rule during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667,^[70] and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions nearby Attock.^[70] Afridi tribes resisted Mughal rule during the Afridi Revolt of the 1670s.^[70] The Afridis massacred a Mughal battalion in the nearby Khyber Pass in 1672 and shut the pass to lucrative trade routes.^[76] Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674.^[70]

Following Aurangzeb's death in 1707, his son Bahadur Shah I, former Governor of Peshawar and Kabul, was selected to be the Mughal Emperor. As Mughal power declined following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, the empire's defenses were weakened.^[77]

On 18 November 1738, Peshawar was captured from the Mughal governor Nawab Nasir Khan by the Afsharid armies during the Persian invasion of the Mughal Empire under Nader Shah.^[78][79]

In 1747, Peshawar was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire.^[80] Under the reign of his son Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced,^[33][81] with the practice maintained until the Sikh invasion.^[82] Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Afghan kings during their winter stay in Peshawar, and it was noted to be the main centre of trade between Bukhara and India by British explorer William Moorcroft during the late 1700s.^[83] Peshawar was at the centre of a productive agricultural region that provided much of north India's dried fruit.^[83]

Timur Shah's grandson, Mahmud Shah Durrani, became king, and quickly seized Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah Durrani.^[84] Shah Shujah was then himself proclaimed king in 1803, and recaptured Peshawar while Mahmud Shah was imprisoned at Bala Hissar fort until his eventual escape.^[84] In 1809, the British sent an emissary to the court of Shah Shujah in Peshawar, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the British and Afghans.^[84] His half-brother Mahmud Shah then allied himself with the Barakzai Pashtuns, and captured Peshawar once again and reigned until the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823.^[84]

The Capture of Peshawar took place in spring of 1758^{[85][86] [87]} when Maratha Confederacy in alliance with the Sikhs, defeated the Durrani Empire.^[88][89][90] Before that, the fort of Peshawar was being guarded by Durrani troops under Timur Shah Durrani and Jahan Khan. When Raghunathrao, Malhar Rao Holkar and Sikh alliance of Charat Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia left Peshawar, Tukoji Rao Holkar was appointed as the representative in this area of the sub-continent.^[91][89][92]

Ranjit Singh invaded Peshawar in 1818, but handed its rule to Peshawar Sardars as vassals.^[93][94] Following the Sikh victory against Azim Khan at the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823, Ranjit Singh captured Peshawar again and reinstated Yar Mohammed as the governor.^[94][93] By 1830, Peshawar's economy was noted by Scottish explorer Alexander Burnes to have sharply declined,^[83] with Ranjit Singh's forces having destroyed the city's palace and agricultural fields.^[83]

Much of Peshawar's caravan trade from Kabul ceased on account of skirmishes between Afghan and Sikh forces,^[83] as well as a punitive tax levied on merchants by Ranjit Singh's forces.^[83] Singh's government also required Peshawar to forfeit much of its leftover agricultural output to the Sikhs as tribute,^[83] while agriculture was further decimated by a collapse of the dried fruit market in north India.^[83] Singh appointed Neapolitan mercenary Paolo Avitabile as administrator of Peshawar, who is remembered for having unleashed a reign of terror. His time in Peshawar is known as a time of "gallows and gibbets". The city's famous Mahabat Khan, built in 1630 in the Jeweler's Bazaar, was badly damaged and desecrated by the Sikh conquerors.^[95]

The Sikh Empire formally annexed Peshawar in 1834 following advances from the armies of Hari Singh Nalwa^[93]—bringing the city under direct control of the Sikh Empire's Lahore Durbar.^[93] An 1835 attempt by Dost Muhammad Khan to re-occupy the city was unsuccessful after being unable to breach the Peshawar fort's defenses.^[96] Sikh settlers from Punjab were settled in the city during Sikh rule. The city's only remaining Gurdwaras were built by Hari Singh Nalwa to accommodate the newly settled Sikhs.^[97] The Sikhs also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of the city.^[84]

Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845–46 and the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, some of their territories were captured by the British East India Company. The British re-established stability in the wake of ruinous Sikh rule.^[83] During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the 4,000 members of the native garrison were disarmed without bloodshed;^{[citation needed]} the absence of conflict during the rebellion meant that Peshawar was not affected by the widespread devastation that was experienced throughout the rest of British India and local chieftains sided with the British after the incident.^[98]

The British laid out the vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city in 1868, and made the city its frontier headquarters.^[99] Additionally, several projects were initiated in Peshawar, including linkage of the city by railway to the rest of British India and renovation of the Mohabbat Khan mosque that had been desecrated by the Sikhs.^[95] British suzerainty over regions west of Peshawar was cemented in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British Indian government, who collaboratively demarcated the border between British controlled territories in India and Afghanistan.

The British built Cunningham clock tower in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and in 1906 built the Victoria Hall (now home of the Peshawar Museum) in memory of Queen Victoria.^[95] The British introduced Western-style education into Peshawar with the establishment of Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913, along with several schools run by the Anglican Church.^[95] For better administration of the region, Peshawar and the adjoining districts were separated from the Punjab Province in 1901,^[100] The North-West Frontier Province was separated from Punjab Province in 1901, after which Peshawar became capital of the new province.^[33]

Communal riots broke out in the old city of Peshawar during the spring of 1910, when the annual Hindu festival of Holi coincided with Barawafat, the annual Muslim day of mourning, resulting in a considerable loss of life along with hundreds of looted businesses and injuries.^[a][102] A month prior, in February 1910, prominent community religious leaders met with officials and agreed that Holi would be solely celebrated in predominantly Hindu neighbourhoods of the city, notably in Andar Shehr and Karim Pura.^[b] On 21 March 1910, however, rumors of musicians from Amritsar and a dancing boy from Haripur being brought into the city for Holi celebrations, led to a group of individuals who were marking Barawafat into forming a mob with the intention of stopping the procession.^[c] Despite Muslim and Hindu community leaders calling for calm, both parties ultimately clashed at the Asamai Gate, when the Holi procession was en route to Dargah Pir Ratan Nath Jee, with a Hindu procession member stabbing a Muslim individual in the mob.^[d] Riots ensued for the following three days, involved individuals from outlying tribal regions who had entered the city, with a mob at Bara Bazar allegedly chanting "Maro Hindu Ko" (Kill the Hindus).^[e] Estimates detail the riots resulted in a total of 451 damaged shops and homes, primarily belonging to members of the Hindu community, while at least 4 Muslims and 6 Hindus were killed, alongside hundreds of injuries.^[102]

Peshawar emerged as a centre for both Hindkowan and Pashtun intellectuals during the British era. Hindko speakers, also referred to as xāryān ("city dwellers" in Pashto), were responsible for the dominant culture for most of the time that Peshawar was under British rule.^[103] Peshawar was also home to a non-violent resistance movement led by Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. In April 1930, Khan, leading a large group of his followers, protested in Qissa Khwani Bazaar against discriminatory laws that had been enacted by the colonial government; hundreds were killed when a detachment of the British Indian Army opened fire on the demonstrators.^[104]

In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest. The partition of India saw the departure of many Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who held key positions in the economy of Peshawar.^[105][106] The University of Peshawar was established in the city in 1950, and augmented by the amalgamation of nearby British-era institutions into the university.^[107] Until the mid-1950s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. In the 1960s, Peshawar was a base for a CIA operation to spy on the Soviet Union, with the 1960 U-2 incident resulting in an aircraft shot down by the Soviets that flew from Peshawar. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, Peshawar was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail.^[108]

During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Peshawar served as a political centre for the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence-trained mujahideen groups based in the camps of Afghan refugees. It also served as the primary destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province,^[109] with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981.^[109] The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure,^[110] and drastically altered the city's demography.^[110]

Like much of northwest Pakistan, Peshawar has been severely affected by violence from the attacks by the terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban. Local poets' shrines have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban,^[111] a suicide bomb attack targeted the historic All Saints Church in 2013, and most notably the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in which Taliban militants killed 132 school children. Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010,^[112] which had declined to 18 in 2014,^[112] before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan. A large attack on a Shiite mosque in the city killed dozens and injured 200 people on 4 March 2022. In January 2023, another terrorist attack occurred at Peshawar in which 100 people were killed.^[113]

Peshawar is located in the broad Valley of Peshawar, which is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides, with the fourth opening to the Punjab plains. The city is located in the generally level base of the valley, known as the Gandhara Plains.^[54]

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Peshawar features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), with very hot, prolonged summers and brief, mild to cool winters. Winter in Peshawar starts in November and ends in late March, though it sometimes extends into mid-April, while the summer months are from mid-May to mid-September. The mean maximum summer temperature surpasses 40 °C (104 °F) during the hottest month, and the mean minimum temperature is 25 °C (77 °F). The mean minimum temperature during the coolest month is 4 °C (39 °F), while the maximum is 18.3 °C (64.9 °F).

Peshawar is not a monsoon region, unlike other parts of Pakistan; however, rainfall occurs in both winter and summer. Due to western disturbances, the winter rainfall shows a higher record between the months of February and April. The highest amount of winter rainfall, measuring 236 mm (9.3 in), was recorded in February 2007,^[114] while the highest summer rainfall of 402 mm (15.8 in) was recorded in July 2010;^[115] during this month, a record-breaking rainfall level of 274 mm (10.8 in) fell within a 24-hour period on 29 July 2010^[115]—the previous record was 187 mm (7.4 in) of rain, recorded in April 2009.^[114] The average winter rainfall levels are higher than those of summer. Based on a 30-year record, the average annual precipitation level was recorded as 400 mm (16 in) and the highest annual rainfall level of 904.5 mm (35.61 in) was recorded in 2003.^[114] Wind speeds vary during the year, from 5 kn (5.8 mph; 9.3 km/h) in December to 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h) in June. The relative humidity varies from 46% in June to 76% in August. The highest temperature of 50 °C (122 °F) was recorded on 18 June 1995,^[114] while the lowest −3.9 °C (25.0 °F) occurred on 7 January 1970.^[114]