History of Swat Valley

YOUSAFZAI  STATE OF SWAT 

Yousafzai State of Swat (locally known as Dera Yousafzai) was a kingdom founded in 1849 and ruled by chiefs known as Akhunds. It was then recognized as a princely state in an alliance with the British Indian Empire between 1926 and 1947, after which Akhund joined the new independent state of Pakistan. Swat remained an autonomous region until it was dissolved in 1969, and incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

HISTORY                                                                                                                                                    

ARYAN

 The earliest recorded history of the region, preserved by oral tradition, was the settlement and society of the Indo-Aryan people. According to some, the name of the Swat River, which was recorded in the Rig Veda, Sosto, which may mean "fair habitation", refers to the presence of Aryan settlements in the area. Gandhara tomb culture that emerged. It lasted until 1400 BC and 800 BC, and was found on the middle of the Swat River, in the name of their different ways of recreation. Later Indo-Aryan tribal movements saw the emergence of ethnic Nuristani and Dardak populations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

GREEK                                                                                                                                       

In 327 BC, Alexander the Great fought against Odigram and Barikot and raided their battlefields. In Greek accounts, these towns have been identified as Ora and Bazira. Alexandrian After the attack on Swat and the adjoining areas of Buner, control of large areas of Gandhara was handed over to Seleucus I Nectar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

OTHER

The Swat region has been inhabited for more than two thousand years and in ancient times it was known as Udiana. The location of Swat made it a major obstacle for many invaders, including Alexander the Great and Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. In the second century BC, Swat became part of the Gandhara Buddhist civilization. 

Swat was the center of the Hanayin Buddhist and Mahayana school that developed from it. A Chinese pilgrim who visited the valley around 403 AD mentions 500 monasteries. Subsequently, Sun Yun (519 AD), Xuanzang (630 AD), and Wu Qing (752 AD) also visited Swat and learned about the region's wealth, favorable climate, abundance of forests, flowers and Praised the fruit trees. And the respect that Buddhism held.

The Kishan dynasty ruled for four centuries until it was conquered by the white Huns in the fifth century AD and the glory of the Gandhara period came to an end. Xuanzang recorded the decline of Buddhism. According to him, most of the 1,400 monasteries that were supposed to be there were in ruins or abandoned. The monks still quote from the scriptures but now they do not understand. Grapes were plentiful but fields were scarce.

Tajiks have lived and ruled in Swat for centuries until the Yousafzai Pashtun tribes, led by Malik Ahmad Khan, ended their rule in a battle in 1519 AD.

The Islamic State of Swat was established in 1849 under Syed Akbar Shah with Sharia law in place, but the state remained inactive from 1878 to 1915. Later, Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah, nephew of Syed Akbar Shah, was made ruler by a local. The jirga and the use of force were difficult. In 1917, another jirga appointed Mian Gul Golzada Abdul Wadud, the founder of the Swat family. The British recognized this ruler and state as an imperial state in 1926. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947 , the ruler annexed the state to Pakistan while maintaining considerable autonomy. The Swat ruler was given a hereditary salute of 15 cannons in 1966. As a result, the state was incorporated into present-day Pakistan. 

Now swat is the part of Pakistan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

SWAT DISTRICT                                                                                                                         

Swat District is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With a population of 2,309,570, Swat is the 15th largest district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the 2017 National Census.                                                                                                                                       
The Swat district is centered on the Swat Valley, commonly referred to simply as Swat, a natural geographical area along the Swat River. The Gandhara Valley was a major center of early Hinduism and Buddhism under the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, and Gandhara was a major center of Buddhism, with Buddhist pockets in the valley until the 10th century, when Done. Until 1969, Swat Yousafzai was part of the state of Swat, an independent princely state that Pakistan inherited after independence from British rule. The area was captured by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in late 2007 until Pakistani control was restored in mid-2009.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Swat has an average elevation of 980 meters (3,220 feet), resulting in a much cooler and wetter climate than the rest of Pakistan. With lush forests, green alpine meadows and snow-capped mountains, Swat is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.                                                                                                                                                            

 GEOGRAPHY                                                                                                                        

The total area of Swat is 5,337 sq km (2,061 sq mi). Administratively, Swat is bounded on the west by Chitral, Upper Dir and Lower Dir, on the north by Gilgit-Baltistan and on the east and southeast by Kohistan, Buner and Shangla respectively. The former tehsil of Buner was given the status of a separate district in 1991.                                                                                                                                                                                         

VALLEY                                                                                                                                                

The Swat Valley is formed by natural geographical boundaries, and is centered on the Swat River, whose head originates in the Hindu Kush, 18,000 to 19,000 feet long. The valley is surrounded by mountains, and meets streets and valleys. On the tops of the mountains in the west are the valleys of the Panjkura River, in the north the Gilgit Valley and in the east the ghats of the Indus River. To the south, across a series of low mountains, lies the vast valley of Peshawar.

The northernmost area of ​​Swat District is the high valleys of Swat Mountains and alpine grasslands, an area where several glaciers feed the Osho and Gabral rivers (also called the Otrar River), which converge at Kalam, and its After that Swat is formed. River - which forms the backbone of the Swat Valley and the district. Swat is currently characterized by dense forests along the narrow valleys of the Kalam Valley to the city of Madinah. From there, the river flows slowly for 160 km from the vast Yousafzai plains of the Swat Valley to Chakdara.                                                                                                                                       

CLIMATE                                                     

The climate in Swat is high altitude, with the mountains in the Kohistan region covered in snow all year round. The upper parts of the district are subject to cold, icy winters. Dry and hot temperatures in the lower parts of Yousafzai district where summer temperatures can reach 105 ° F (41 ° C), although occasional snow falls in the lower plains. Both areas are subject to two monsoon seasons - one in winter and the other in summer. The lower parts of Swat are characterized by dry shrubs and deciduous trees, while the upper parts of the district are covered with dense pine forests.