Kohistan (;'' "Land of Mountains"''), also called Indus Kohistan (), was an administrative

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

within the

Hazara region Hazara (Hindko: هزاره, Urdu: ) is a region in northeastern Pakistan, falling administratively within Hazara Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is dominated mainly by the Hindko-speaking Hindkowan people, who are the native ethn ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

Province in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

that was bifurcated into Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan in 2014, and Kolai-Palas in 2017. It covered an area of and had a population of 472,570 at the 1998 Census. Geographically, Kohistan stretched from the border with

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

in the north, in the east by

Mansehra District Mansehra District is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It was established as a district in 1976, prior to which it was a tehsil within the former Hazara District. Two former subdivisions of Mansehra we ...

, in the south by

Battagram District Battagram ( ps, بټګرام ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Abaseen Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The headquarter is Battagram, which is about 75-km from Mansehra. Overview and history The district of Battagra ...

, and on the west by Shangla and

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

districts.

Geography

The District lied between 34° 54′ and 35° 52′ north latitudes and 72° 43′ and 73° 57′ east longitudes. It was bounded on the north by the Diamer District of

, on the southeast by Manshera District, while it shared its borders with

Kaghan Valley The Kaghan Valley ( ur, ) is an alpine valley located in the Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The valley covers a distance of across northern Pakistan, rising from its lowest elevation of to its highest point at the Babusa ...

of the Mansehra District in the east, on the south by

and on the west by Shangla and

Districts. Dassu, Kohistan

Kohistan is where the Hindukush,

Karakorum Karakorum ( Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in t ...

and Himalayan Mountain systems meet and serve as a natural boundary for environmental regions in the chains of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

and

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

mountains. This uniqueness of the mountains system also results in rich flora and fauna and therefore gives home to unique species such as the

western tragopan The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (''Tragopan melanocephalus'') is a medium-sized brightly plumed pheasant found along the Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the west to Ut ...

pheasant and the

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

Education

The literacy rate of the District among the population aged 10 years and above is 11.1%: male 17.23% and female 2.95%. The proportion of working or employed population to population aged 10 years and above is 26.47% which is 70.53% of the total labor force. Out of the total employed population, 71.60% are self-employed, 10.68% work as employees, and 17.32% are unpaid family helper. Kohistan's literacy rate is amongst the lowest in Pakistan and hovers around 20%. It has the lowest

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, w ...

of all districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hindu Kush

Geography

Education

See also

References