Peshawar is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the eighth-most populous Pakistani city, with a population of over 1.9 million. It is located in the north-west of the country, lying in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the Khyber Pass.
Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least the sixth century BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in South Asia. One of the principal cities of the ancient Gandhara, Peshawar served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka the Great in the second century CE. A variety of Muslim empires ruled the city following the conquest of Peshawar by the Ghaznavids from the Hindu Shahis in 1001 CE. It was an important trading centre of the Mughal Empire, later serving as the winter capital of the Durrani Empire from 1776 until the capture of the city by the Sikh Empire in 1823. In 1849, the city was captured by the East India Company and subsequently became part of the British Raj. In 1901, Peshawar became the capital of the North-West Frontier Province after it was created from the northwestern districts of Punjab Province. Following the Partition of British India in 1947, it became part of Pakistan.
Peshawar is a major cultural, political and economic centre of the region. During the colonial period and well into the early years after independence, the lingua franca of Peshawar was Hindko;
Etymology
thumb|A vintage photo postcard of the main street, Peshawar. Digitized by [[Panjab Digital Library.]]
The modern name of the city "Peshawar" is possibly derived from the reconstructed Sanskrit word "Purushapura" (). It was named so by Mughal Emperor Akbar from its old name Parashawar, the meaning of which Akbar did not understand. The ruler of the city during its founding may have been a Hindu raja named Purush; the word pur means "city" in Sanskrit. Sanskrit, written in the Kharosthi script, was the literary language (along with Gandhari Prakrit) employed by the Buddhist kingdoms which ruled over the area during its earliest recorded period. The city's name may also be derived from the Sanskrit name for "City of Flowers", Poshapura, a name found in an ancient Kharosthi inscription that may refer to Peshawar.
Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's seventh-century account of a city in Gandhara called the city Po-la-sha-pu-lo (Chinese: 布路沙布邏, bùlùshābùló), and an earlier 5th century account by Faxian records the city's name as Fou-lou-sha (Chinese: 弗樓沙, fùlóushā), the Chinese equivalent of the Sanskrit name of the city, Purushapura. An ancient inscription from the Shapur era identifies a city in the Gandhara valley by the name pskbvr, which may be a reference to Peshawar.
The Arab historian and geographer al-Masudi noted that by the mid-tenth century, the city was known as Parashāwar. The name was noted to be Purshawar and Purushavar by al-Biruni.
The city began to be known as Peshāwar by the era of Emperor Akbar. or, more literally, "forward city", though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may account for the city's new name. 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. Akbar's bibliographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the city's name as both Parashāwar, transcribed in Persian as , and Peshāwar ().
History
thumb|In [[Outline of ancient India|ancient Indian subcontinent, the city of Purushapura (which became Peshawar), was established near the Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati]]
Ancient history
Foundation
Peshawar was established as the city of Puruṣapura, on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar, after the 100 CE. It may have been named after a Hindu raja, who ruled the city, who was known as Purush. near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, near present-day Charsadda.
Greek invasion
In the winter of 327–26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of the Indus Valley, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexander's conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under the suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. A locally made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles' play Antigone.
Mauryan empire
thumb|The nearby [[Takht-i-Bahi monastery was established in 46 CE, and was once a major centre of Buddhist learning.]]
Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE.
As Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized the region around 190 BCE. It was made the empire's winter capital. was seen as the secondary capital of the empire, 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. After his death, the magnificent Kanishka stupa was built in Peshawar to house Buddhist relics. The golden age of Kushan empire in Peshawar ended in 232 CE with the death of the last great Kushan king, Vasudeva I.
Around 260 CE, the armies of the Sasanid Emperor Shapur I launched an attack against Peshawar, and severely damaged Buddhist monuments and monasteries throughout the Valley of Peshawar. as the Sasanids blocked lucrative trade routes westward out of the city.
White Huns
The White Huns devastated ancient Peshawar in the 460s CE, and ravaged the entire region of Gandhara, destroying its numerous monasteries. The Kanishka stupa was rebuilt during the White Hun era with the construction of a tall wooden superstructure, built atop a stone base, The Chinese monk and traveler Xuanzang visited ancient Peshawar around 630 CE, after Kapisa victory, and expressed lament that the city and its great Buddhist monuments had decayed to ruin—although some monks studying Theravada Buddhism continued to study at the monastery's ruins. Xuanzang estimated that only about 1,000 families continued in a small quarter among the ruins of the former grand capital. and established rule of the Ghaznavid Empire in the Peshawar region. During the Ghaznavid era, Peshawar served as an important stop between the Afghan plateau, and the Ghaznavid garrison city of Lahore. and are believed to have settled regions up to the Indus River by the 11th century. The Arab historian and geographer al-Masudi noted that by the mid tenth century, the city had become known as Parashāwar.
Delhi sultanate
In 1179–80, Muhammad Ghori captured Peshawar, though the city was then destroyed in the early 1200s at the hands of the Mongols. The Ghoryakhel and Khashi Khel tribe pushed the Dilazak Pashtun tribes east of the Indus River following a battle in 1515 near the city of Mardan. During Babur's rule, the city was known as Begram, and he rebuilt the city's fort. Babur used the city as a base for expeditions to other nearby towns. Peshawar remained an important centre on trade routes between India and Central Asia during Mughal period. The Peshawar region was a cosmopolitan region in which goods, peoples, and ideas would pass along trade routes. Under the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, direct Mughal rule over the city was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun king, Sher Shah Suri, who began construction of the famous Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century. Mughal rule in the area was tenuous, as Mughal suzerainty was only firmly exercised in the Peshawar valley, while the neighbouring valley of Swat was under Mughal rule only during the reign of Akbar.
Peshawar was an important trading centre on the Grand Trunk Road. founder of the egalitarian Roshani movement, who assembled Pashtun armies in an attempted rebellion against the Mughals. The Roshani followers laid siege to the city until 1587. which no longer exist. Emperor Aurangzeb's governor of Kabul, Mohabbat Khan used Peshawar as his winter capital during the 17th century, and bestowed the city with its famous Mohabbat Khan Mosque in 1630. Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674.
On 18 November 1738, Peshawar was captured from the Mughal governor Nawab Nasir Khan by the Afsharid armies during the Persian invasion of the Mughal Empire under Nader Shah.
Durrani Empire
thumb|220px|Peshawar's [[Bala Hissar, Peshawar|Bala Hissar fort was once the royal residence of the Durrani Afghan kings.]]
In 1747, Peshawar was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire. The city was captured in spring of 1758 by the Maratha Confederacy in alliance with the Sikhs. Before that, the fort of Peshawar was being guarded by Durrani troops under Timur Shah Durrani and Jahan Khan. When Raghunathrao, Malhar Rao Holkar and Sikh alliance of Charat Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia left Peshawar, Tukoji Rao Holkar was appointed as the representative in this area ofgain the sub-continent.
In the following year Ahmad Shah agin occupied the city. Under the reign of his son Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced, with the practice maintained until the Sikh invasion. Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Afghan kings during their winter stay in Peshawar, and it was noted to be the main centre of trade between Bukhara and India by British explorer William Moorcroft during the late 1700s. Peshawar was at the centre of a productive agricultural region that provided much of north India's dried fruit. Following the Sikh victory against Azim Khan at the Nowshera in March 1823, Ranjit Singh captured Peshawar again and reinstated Yar Mohammed as the governor.
The Sikh Empire formally annexed Peshawar in 1834 following advances from the armies of Hari Singh Nalwa Sikh settlers from Punjab were settled in the city during Sikh rule. The city's only remaining Gurdwaras were built by Hari Singh Nalwa to accommodate the newly settled Sikhs. The Sikhs also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of the city.
British Raj
thumb|The British-era [[Islamia College University|Islamia College was built in an Indo-Saracenic Revival style.]]
thumb|Built for wealthy [[Peshawaris|Peshawari merchants in a Central Asian architectural style, the Sethi Mohallah features several homes dating from the British era.]]
Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845–46 and the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, some of their territories were captured by the British East India Company. The British re-established stability in the wake of ruinous Sikh rule.
The British laid out the vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city in 1868, and made the city its frontier headquarters. 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. the North-West Frontier Province was separated from Punjab Province in 1901, after which Peshawar became capital of the new province. A month prior, in February 1910, prominent community religious leaders met with officials and agreed that Holi would be solely celebrated in predominantly Hindu neighbourhoods of the city, notably in Andar Shehr and Karim Pura.