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The Burusho, or Brusho, also known as the Botraj, are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Yasin,
Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a m ...
,
Nagar Nagar ( -nagar) can refer to: Places Bangladesh * Nagar, Rajshahi Division, a village * Nagar, Barisal Division, a settlement India * Nagar taluka, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra State * Nagar, Murshidabad, a village in West Bengal * Nagar, Rajasthan ...
, and other valleys of
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 northern Pakistan, as well as in
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
, India. Their language,
Burushaski Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...
, has been classified as a language isolate. Although their origins are unknown, it is claimed that the Burusho people "were indigenous to northwestern India and were pushed higher into the mountains by the movements of the Indo-Aryans, who traveled southward sometime around 1800 B.C."


History

Prior to the modern era, the area in which most Burusho now live was part of the independent state of Chitral. The state was a hereditary monarchy, controlled by the Karur dynasty, and headed by a ''mir'' (a title usually translated as king). In 1947, it became part of Pakistan. The construction of the Karakoram Highway during the 1970s brought more extensive contact with the outside world. Many traders, preachers, tourists, and others had new access to the Burusho's homeland, and this subsequently altered the culture and local economy of the area. The Burusho are known for their love of music and dance, along with their progressive views towards education and women.


Hunza

Clark and Lorimer reported frequent violence and starvation in Hunza. Upper Hunza, locally called Gojal, is inhabited by people whose ancestors moved up from proper Hunza to irrigate and defend the borders with China and Afghanistan. They speak a dialect called Wakhi, which is influenced by Burushahski and Pamiri languages due to the closeness and contact with these mountain communities. The Shina-speaking people live in the southern
Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a m ...
. They have come from
Chilas Chilas ( ur, ) is a city and is the divisional capital of Diamer District located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on the Indus River. It is part of the Silk Road connected by the Karakoram Highway and N-90 National Highway, which link it to Islam ...
,
Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a ...
, and other Shina-speaking areas of Pakistan.


Longevity myth

A widely repeated claim of remarkable longevity of the Hunza people has been refuted as a
longevity myth Longevity myths are traditions about long-lived people (generally supercentenarians), either as individuals or groups of people, and practices that have been believed to confer longevity, but for which current scientific evidence does not suppo ...
, citing a life expectancy of 53 years for men and 52 for women, although with a high standard deviation. There is no evidence that Hunza life expectancy is significantly above the average of poor, isolated regions of Pakistan. Claims of health and long life were almost always based solely on the statements by the local mir (king). An author who had significant and sustained contact with Burusho people, John Clark, reported that they were overall unhealthy.


Jammu and Kashmir

A group of 350 Burusho people also reside in the Indian union territory of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
, being mainly concentrated in Batamalu, as well as in Botraj Mohalla, which is southeast of
Hari Parbat Hari Parbat (), also called Koh-i-Maran (), is a hill overlooking Srinagar, the largest city and the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is the site of a fort, built by the Durrani Empire, and of a Hindu temple, mosques, and gurdwara. The ...
. This Burusho community is descended from two former princes of the British Indian princely states of
Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a m ...
and
Nagar Nagar ( -nagar) can refer to: Places Bangladesh * Nagar, Rajshahi Division, a village * Nagar, Barisal Division, a settlement India * Nagar taluka, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra State * Nagar, Murshidabad, a village in West Bengal * Nagar, Rajasthan ...
, who with their families, migrated to this region in the 19th century A.D. They are known as the ''Botraj'' by other ethnic groups in the state, and practice
Shiite Islam Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
.
Arranged marriages Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...
are customary. Since the
partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...
in 1947, the Indian Burusho community have not been in contact with the Pakistani Burusho. The Government of India has granted the Burusho community Scheduled Tribe status, as well as
reservation __NOTOC__ Reservation may refer to: Places Types of places: * Indian reservation, in the United States * Military base, often called reservations * Nature reserve Government and law * Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty * Reservation in India, ...
, and therefore, "most members of the community are in government jobs." The Burusho people of India speak Burushashki, also known as Khajuna, and their dialect, known as Jammu & Kashmir Burushashski (JKB), "has undergone several changes which make it systematically different from other dialects of Burushaski spoken in Pakistan". In addition, many Jammu & Kashmiri Burusho are multilingual, also speaking
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
and Hindustani, as well as Balti and Shina to a lesser extent.


Genetics

A variety of Y-DNA haplogroups are seen among certain random samples of people in Hunza. Some haplogroups found in the Burusho were
R1a1 Haplogroup R1a, or haplogroup R-M420, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup which is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia and Central Europe to southern Siberia and South Asia. While R1a originated c. 22,000 ...
and R2a, the former of which is associated with
Indo-European peoples The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
and the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
migration into South Asia c. 2000 BC, and probably originated in either South Asia, Central AsiaR. Spencer Wells et al., "''The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity''," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (28 August 2001). or Iran and Caucasus. R2a, unlike its extremely rare parent R2, R1a1 and other clades of haplogroup R, is now virtually restricted to South Asia. Two other typically South Asian lineages, haplogroup H1 and haplogroup L3 (defined by SNP mutation M20) have also been observed from few samples. Other Y-DNA haplogroups reaching considerable frequencies among the Burusho are
haplogroup J2 In human genetics, Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup which is a subclade (branch) of haplogroup J-M304. Haplogroup J-M172 is common in modern populations in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Europe, Northwestern Iran an ...
, associated with the spread of agriculture in, and
from From may refer to: * From, a preposition * From (SQL), computing language keyword * From: (email message header), field showing the sender of an email * FromSoftware, a Japanese video game company * Full range of motion, the travel in a range of ...
, the neolithic Near East, and haplogroup C3, of East Eurasian male origin and possibly representing the patrilineage of Genghis Khan. Present at lower frequency are haplogroups O3, also of East Eurasian male lineage, and Q Siberian male origin, P, F, and G. DNA research groups the male ancestry of some of the Hunza inhabitants with speakers of Pamir languages and other mountain communities of various ethnicities, due primarily to the M124 marker (defining Y-DNA haplogroup R2a), which is present at high frequency in these populations.R. Spencer Wells et al., The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity
, ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America''
However, they have also an East Asian genetic contribution, suggesting that at least some of their ancestry originates north of the Himalayas. No Greek genetic component among the Burusho have been detected in tests.


Influence in the Western world

Healthy living advocate J. I. Rodale wrote a book called ''The Healthy Hunzas'' in 1948 that asserted that the Hunzas, noted for their longevity and many
centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...
s, were long-lived because they consumed healthy
organic foods Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...
, such as dried
apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
s and almonds, and had plenty of fresh air and exercise. He often mentioned them in his ''
Prevention Prevention may refer to: Health and medicine * Preventive healthcare, measures to prevent diseases or injuries rather than curing them or treating their symptoms General safety * Crime prevention, the attempt to reduce deter crime and crimin ...
'' magazine as exemplary of the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle. Dr. John Clark stayed among the Hunza people for 20 months and in his 1956 book ''Hunza - Lost Kingdom of the Himalayas'' writes: "I wish also to express my regrets to those travelers whose impressions have been contradicted by my experience. On my first trip through Hunza, I acquired almost all the misconceptions they did: The Healthy Hunzas, the Democratic Court, The Land Where There Are No Poor, and the rest—and only long-continued living in Hunza revealed the actual situations". Regarding the misconception about Hunza people's health, Clark also writes that most of his patients had malaria, dysentery, worms, trachoma, and other health conditions easily diagnosed and quickly treated. In his first two trips he treated 5,684 patients. The October 1953 issue of '' National Geographic'' had an article on the Hunza River Valley that inspired
Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuc ...
' story
Tralla La "Tralla La" is a Scrooge McDuck comic book story by Carl Barks. The story was first published in ''Uncle Scrooge'' #6 (June, 1954). In the story, Scrooge searches for a utopia in which money plays no role. Plot "Tralla La" begins with Uncle Scroo ...
.The Carl Barks Library Volume 12, page 229


See also

* Hunza Valley *
Burushaski language Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...
* Kalash people * Brokpa people


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Humans of Hunza

Hunza People
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burusho People Social groups of Gilgit Baltistan Ethnic groups in Pakistan Longevity Social groups of Pakistan Social groups of Jammu and Kashmir Hunza Hindu Kush Karakoram Scheduled Tribes of Jammu and Kashmir