Galyat ( ur, گلیات ) region, or hill tract, (also written Galliat and Galiyat) is a narrow strip or area roughly 50–80 km north-east of
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-la ...
, extending on both sides of the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhw ...
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Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
border, between
Abbottabad
Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and four ...
and
Murree
Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is ab ...
. The word itself is derived from the plural of the
word ''gali'', which means an alley between two mountains on both sides of which there are valleys and it is not the highest point in the range. Many of the towns in the area have the word ''gali'' as part of their names, and are popular tourist resorts.
Being on linguistic and geographical continuum this area has challenged social scientists in terms of anomalous classification.
Brief history and ethnology
The Galyat tracts were first 'discovered' by early British colonial officials, such as
James Abbott (Indian Army officer), who ventured into these areas circa 1846–47. The British found them climatically conducive to them and began to develop some of the sites in the range/tract as hill resorts, to escape the summer heat of the low-lands. Later on, after Partition/Independence of Pakistan in 1947, these were neglected for some time but eventually developed further from the 1960s onwards as popular resorts.
The area, being home to the
Karlal tribe, was called the 'Karral country' during the colonial times by the British (named after the tribe). The Karlal's are still the dominant tribe of the Galyat. The language spoke by the tribesmen is
Hindko
Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punj ...
whereas the dialect of Hindko spoken is called the 'Dhundi-Kairali'.
It is today located in what is the Abbottabad District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At an elevation of 2,410 m (8,000 ft), it is a popular tourist resort in the summer months. It is forested with pine, cedar, oak walnut and also oak and maple trees.
Localities in the Galyat
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Ayubia (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Bara Gali (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Changla Gali
Changla Gali is one of the tourist mountain resort towns of the Galyat area of Pakistan. It has an elevation of 2804m.[Dunga Gali
Dunga Gali is one of the towns of the Galyat area of Ayubia National Park, at an altitude of in northern Pakistan. Dunga Gali is located in Nathia Gali Union Council (subdivision) of Abbottabad District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province ...](_blank)
(Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Khaira Gali (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Khanspur (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Nathia Gali (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Thandiani (Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa)
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Darwaza Ayubia (Khyber Pukhtunkhwa)
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Dagri Naka (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
[ Dagri Naka]
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Bagnotar (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Namli Maira (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Makol (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
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Murree
Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is ab ...
(Punjab)
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Jhika Gali (Punjab)
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Ghora Gali
Ghora Gali is one of the tourist mountain resort towns of the Galyat area of northern Pakistan. It has an elevation of 1691m and is located in the northeastern tip of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Ghora Gali is also a Union council, an adminis ...
(Punjab)
*
Bandi maira kpk)
References
Hill stations in Pakistan
Galyat of Pakistan
Geography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Internal borders of Pakistan
{{PunjabPK-geo-stub