52 Facts About Peshawar

The largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the sixth-largest city in Pakistan, Peshawar is primarily populated by Pashtuns, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group in the country.

Peshawar was then ruled by the Hephthalites, followed by the Hindu Shahis, before the arrival of a variety of Muslim empires.

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.

Peshawar was founded as the city of Purusapura, on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar in 100 CE.

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.

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Until the mid 7th century, the residents of ancient Peshawar had a ruling elite of Central Asian Scythian descent, who were then displaced by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul.

Peshawar was an important regional centre under the Lodi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate.

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.

Peshawar was an important trading centre on Sher Shah Suri's Grand Trunk Road.

In 1747, Peshawar was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire.

Peshawar was at the centre of a productive agricultural region that provided much of north India's dried fruit.

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.

Capture of Peshawar took place in spring of 1758 when Maratha Empire in alliance with the Sikhs, defeated the Durrani Empire.

Singh appointed Neapolitan mercenary Paolo Avitabile as administrator of Peshawar, who is remembered for having unleashed a reign of terror.

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.

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.

Peshawar emerged as a centre for both Hindko and Pashtun intellectuals during the British era.

Peshawar was home to a non-violent resistance movement led by Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest.

The University of Peshawar was established in the city in 1950, and augmented by the amalgamation of nearby British-era institutions into the university.

Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010, which had declined to 18 in 2014, before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan.

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.

Peshawar is not a monsoon region, unlike other parts of Pakistan; however, rainfall occurs in both winter and summer.

Peshawar'storically, the old city of Peshawar was a heavily guarded citadel that consisted of high walls.

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Primary native languages spoken in Peshawar are Pashto and Hindko, though English is used in the city's educational institutions, while Urdu is understood throughout the city.

Peshawar has hosted Afghan refugees since the start of the Afghan civil war in 1978, though the rate of migration drastically increased following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

In 2005, Peshawar district was home to 611, 501 Afghan refugees — who constituted 19.

Peshawar's economy benefited from tourism in the mid-20th century, as the city formed a crucial part of the Hippie trail.

Peshawar's estimated monthly per capita income was ?55, 246 in 2015, compared to ?117, 924 in Islamabad, and ?66, 359 in Karachi.

Peshawar was noted by the World Bank in 2014 to be at the helm of a nationwide movement to create an ecosystem for entrepreneurship, freelance jobs, and technology.

Peshawar's Industrial Estate on Jamrud Road is an industrial zone established in the 1960s on 868 acres.

Peshawar's economy has been negatively impacted by political instability since 1979 resulting from the War in Afghanistan and subsequent strain on Peshawar's infrastructure from the influx of refugees.

Peshawar will be linked to ports in Karachi by uninterrupted motorway access, while passenger and freight railway tracks will be upgraded between Peshawar and Karachi.

Peshawar is to be completely encircled by the Peshawar Ring Road in order to divert traffic away from the city's congested centre.

Peshawar is connected to Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the 155 kilometre long M-1 Motorway.

Peshawar was once the terminus of the Khyber Train Safari, a tourist-oriented train that provided rail access to Landi Kotal.

The service was discontinued as the security situation west of Peshawar deteriorated with the beginning of the region's Taliban insurgency.

Peshawar is served by the Bacha Khan International Airport, located in the Peshawar Cantonment.

BRT Peshawar has replaced Peshawar's old, chaotic, dilapidated, and inadequate transportation system.

BRT Peshawar is complemented by a feeder system, with an additional 100 stations along those feeder lines.

Peshawar is well-served by private buses and vans that offer frequent connections to throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as all major cities of Pakistan.

Peshawar has historically served as the political centre of the region, and is currently the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Plurality of voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, elected one of Pakistan's only religiously-based provincial governments during the period of military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf.

Peshawar Museum was founded in 1907 in memory of Queen Victoria.

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Currently, Peshawar has universities for all major disciplines ranging from Humanities, General Sciences, Sciences, Engineering, Medical, Agriculture and Management Sciences.

The first public sector university, University of Peshawar was established in October 1950 by the first Prime Minister of Pakistan.

University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar was established in 1980 while Agriculture University Peshawar started working in 1981.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, the first women university of Peshawar, started working in 2009 while private sector IQRA National University was established in 2012.

Apart from good range of universities, Peshawar has host of high quality further education educational institutes.

The oldest international cricket ground in Peshawar however is Peshawar Club Ground, which hosted the first ever test match between Pakistan and India in 1955.

The Peshawar Zalmi represents the city in the Pakistan Super League.