Peshawar (Pekhawar)
Pashto: Ù¾Ûښور Pekhawar/Peshawar,
Hindko: Ù¾Ùشور Pishor,
Urdu: پشاور, is the capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
History of Peshawar:
Peshawar is now officially recognised as being one of the Oldest Living Cities in Asia. Its history and culture has continued uninterrupted since several centuries. This fact was confirmed by the discovery of silver punch-marked coins from the Government House in 1906–07 and the ongoing excavation at Gor Khatri which is the deepest and widest in the world. Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central, South, and West Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a centre of trade between Afghanistan, South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Independence:
In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly independent state of Pakistan after politicians from the Frontier approved merger into the state that had just been carved from British India. While a large majority of people approved of this action, others believed in the unity of India, such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
Geography:
Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass and sits mainly on the Iranian plateau along with the rest of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Peshawar is literally a frontier city of South-Central Asia and was historically part of the Silk Road
Demographics:
Peshawar is a rapidly growing city with a population of 2,982,816 in 1998. The current population growth rate is 3.29% per year, which is higher than the average of many other Pakistani cities.
Culture:
Peshawar is the centre of Ghandara (Hindko) culture and arts in Pakistan. With the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan, Peshawar became home for many Afghan musicians and artists.[33] The city has become the centre for Pashto music and cinema as well Persian music for the Tajiks. There is also a thriving book publishing activity in the Persian language in Peshawar, concentrated primarily on Islamic Shia literature and located in the Qissa Khawani Bazaar.
