Kohistan (;'' "Land of Mountains"''), also called Indus Kohistan (), was an administrative district within the

Hazara region Hazara (Hindko: هزاره, Urdu: ) is a region in northeastern Pakistan, falling administratively within Hazara Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is dominated mainly by the Hindko-speaking Hindkowan people, who are the native ethni ...

of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan that was bifurcated into

Upper Kohistan Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

and

Lower Kohistan Lower may refer to: * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни ...

in 2014, and

Kolai-Palas Kolai-Pallas District ( ps, کولئ پالس ولسوالۍ , ur, ضِلع کولئ پالس ) is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It was a sub division of Kohistan district of Hazara division till it was ...

in 2017. It covered an area of and had a population of 472,570 at the 1998 Census. Geographically, Kohistan stretched from the border with

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

in the north, in the east by Mansehra District, in the south by Battagram District, and on the west by Shangla and

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

districts.

Geography

The District lied between 34° 54′ and 35° 52′ north latitudes and 72° 43′ and 73° 57′ east longitudes. It was bounded on the north by the Diamer District of

, on the southeast by Manshera District, while it shared its borders with Kaghan Valley of the Mansehra District in the east, on the south by Battagram District and on the west by Shangla and

Districts. Dassu, Kohistan

Kohistan is where the Hindukush, Karakorum and Himalayan Mountain systems meet and serve as a natural boundary for environmental regions in the chains of the Himalayas,

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

and Hindu Kush mountains. This uniqueness of the mountains system also results in rich flora and fauna and therefore gives home to unique species such as the

western tragopan The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (''Tragopan melanocephalus'') is a medium-sized brightly plumed pheasant found along the Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the west to Ut ...

pheasant and the snow leopard.

Education

The literacy rate of the District among the population aged 10 years and above is 11.1%: male 17.23% and female 2.95%. The proportion of working or employed population to population aged 10 years and above is 26.47% which is 70.53% of the total labor force. Out of the total employed population, 71.60% are self-employed, 10.68% work as employees, and 17.32% are unpaid family helper. Kohistan's literacy rate is amongst the lowest in Pakistan and hovers around 20%. It has the lowest Human Development Index of all districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hindu Kush