The Kafiristan region, located in the southern range of Hindu Kush
Map showing present-day Nuristan Province of Afghanistan
Country
Afghanistan
Map of Kafiristan prior to its conversion to Islam in 1890s
Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān (Pashto: کاپیرستان; Persian: کافرستان; lit.'Land of Infidels'), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech (Kamah), Landai Sin river and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the main range of the Hindu Kush on the north, Pakistan's Chitral District to the east, the Kunar Valley in the south and the Alishang River in the west.
Kafiristan took its name from the enduring kafir (non-Muslim) Nuristani inhabitants who once followed a distinct form of ancient Hinduism mixed with locally developed accretions; they were thus known to the surrounding predominantly Sunni Muslim population as Kafirs, meaning "disbelievers" or "infidels".[1] They are closely related to the Kalash people, an independent people with a distinctive culture, language and religion.
The area extending from modern Nooristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of "Kafir" cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over a long period of time, which eventually led them to become Muslim on the orders of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan who conquered the territory in 1895–96. The region was earlier surrounded by Buddhist states that temporarily brought literacy and state rule to the mountains; the decline of Buddhism heavily isolated the region. It was surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century.[2]
^Richard F. Strand (31 December 2005). "Richard Strand's Nuristân Site: Peoples and Languages of Nuristan". nuristan.info.
^Alberto M. Cacopardo (2016). "Fence of Peristan – The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication". Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia. Società Italiana di Antropologia e Etnologia: 69, 77.
Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān (Pashto: کاپیرستان; Persian: کافرستان; lit. 'Land of Infidels'), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province...
Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in The Phantom...
period of time, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign in Kafiristan and followed up his conquest with forced conversion of the Kafirs to Islam;...
The Journey to Kafiristan (German: Die Reise nach Kafiristan) is a 2001 drama film written and directed by Donatello and Fosco Dubini. The film follows...
The Prefecture Apostolic of Kafiristan and Kashmir (Latin: Praefectura Apostolica de Kafiristania et Caspira) was a Roman Catholic missionary division...
centuries. Before their conversion, the Nuristanis or Kafir people of Kafiristan practiced a form of ancient Hinduism infused with locally developed accretions...
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan, making up about 1.27% of the population according to the 2017 Census. Of these, approximately half...
13 August 1889) was a British surveyor, the first British explorer of Kafiristan (now Nuristan). Details of McNair's life up to the time of his 1883 journey...
Greek occupying forces of Alexander the Great. It was formerly called Kafiristan (Pashto: كافرستان) ("Land of the Infidels") until the inhabitants were...
rulers and effectively Islamized the wider region, with the exception of Kafiristan. Mahmud made Ghazni into an important city and patronized intellectuals...
of the Hindu Kush only became Islamized relatively recently, such as Kafiristan, which retained ancient polytheistic beliefs until the 19th century when...
neighbouring Nuristani people of the adjacent Nuristan (historically known as Kafiristan) province of Afghanistan once had the same culture and practised a faith...
Landai Sin and Kunar rivers in the east. More broadly, the Nuristan (or Kafiristan) region is located at the northern intersection of the Indian subcontinent...
tribes, which bordered the Indian lands. In 1918, Lévi suggested it to be Kafiristan, but later retracted it in 1923; B. Liebich suggested they lived in the...
languages. Better known historically as the Kafirs of what was once known as Kafiristan (land of pagans). In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand...
Requiem for a Romantic Woman (1999) The Farewell (2000) The Journey to Kafiristan (2001) The Architects [de] (2004, TV film) Bis in die Spitzen (2005, TV...
Ltd. Sir George Scott Robertson was the first Victorian to travel into Kafiristan and recounted the experience of his adventures in his book The Kafirs...
best known for his arduous journey to the remote and rugged region of Kafiristan in what is now northeastern Afghanistan and for his overall command of...
According to the first proto-ethnographic documentations, the inhabitants of Kafiristan, the Nuristanis, went about without any headgear. They also used to shave...
1996, p. 6. Barolini 2005, p. 91, 98. Robertson, George Scott (1911). "Kafiristan" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge...
on outskirts of Kafiristan were demarcated by 1895 with an agreement reached on 9 April 1895. Emir Abdur Rahman Khan invaded Kafiristan in the winter of...
extremely high mountain passes in the Hindu Kush and isolated areas like Kafiristan. Some in Britain feared that the Empire of Russia, which at the time wielded...
part in rebellion. In 1895–1896, Abdur Rahman directed the invasion of Kafiristan and the conversion of its indigenous peoples to Islam. The region was...
Civil and military gazette press. p. i. Leitner, Gottlieb William (1880). Kafiristan. Section 1: the Bashgeli Kafirs and their language. Lahore: Dilbagroy...
Global Information
Afghanistan