The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a
Chief Commissioner's Province of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the
Punjab Province. Following the
referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and it acceded accordingly on 14th August, 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of
West Pakistan in 1955 upon creation of
One Unit Scheme and was re-established in
1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was redesignated as the province of
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 Pakhtunkhwa ...
following the passing of the
Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of Pakistan by erstwhile
President Asif Ali Zardari.
The province covered an area of , including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but excluding the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the former
princely states of
Amb
AMB may refer to:
* Active magnetic bearing
* Advanced Memory Buffer, used in Fully Buffered DIMM memory
* Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one of the armed sections of the Palestinian Fatah movement
* Ambergate railway station, abbreviation used in th ...
,
Chitral
Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...
,
Dir,
Phulra and
Swat. Its capital was the city of
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
, and the province was composed of six
divisions (
Bannu,
Dera Ismail Khan
Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakista ...
,
Hazara,
Kohat
Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...
,
Mardan, and
Peshawar Division;
Malakand was later added as the seventh division). Until 1947, the province was bordered by five princely states to the north, the minor states of the
Gilgit Agency to the northeast, the province of
West Punjab to the east and the province of
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
to the south. The
Kingdom of Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone between the two.
History
Formation
The northwestern frontier areas were annexed by the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
after the
Second Sikh War (1848–49). The territories thenceforth formed a part of Punjab until the province, then known as North-West Frontier Province, was created in 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province.
This region, along with the 'Frontier Tribal Areas', acted as a
buffer zone with Afghanistan.
Pope1880Panjab3.jpg, The Punjab in 1880 (included areas of the later North-West Frontier Province)
Map of the North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir from The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1907-1909).jpg, Map of the North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir from The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1907-1909)
File:North-Western India in 1946 map of India by National Geographic.jpg, Mao of the North-West Frontier Province and neighbouring regions (National Geographic, 1946)
Inside Pakistan
Before the
Partition of India, the
1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum was held in July 1947 to decide the future of NWFP, in which the people of the province decided in favor of joining Pakistan. However, the then
Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, along with his brother
Bacha Khan and the
Khudai Khidmatgars, boycotted the referendum, citing that it did not have the options of the NWFP becoming
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
or joining Afghanistan.
As a separate province, the NWFP lasted until 1955 when it was merged into the new province of
West Pakistan, under the
One Unit policy announced by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. It was recreated after the dissolution of the One Unit system and lasted under its old nomenclature until April 2010, when it was renamed as 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 Pakhtunkhwa ...
' province.
Government
The offices of Governor and Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province lasted until 14 October 1955.
Demographics
Historical population and religious counts in North-West Frontier Province were taken in all districts (
Hazara,
Mardan,
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
,
Kohat
Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...
,
Bannu, and
Dera Ismail Khan
Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakista ...
), and also included small Trans-Frontier Posts in the
Agencies and Tribal Areas.
At independence, there was a clear Muslim Pashtun majority in the North-West Frontier Province, although there were also Hindu and Sikh Pashtun,
Hindkowan and
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
minorities scattered across the province.
Language
The languages of the North-West Frontier Province included Pashto, Hindko, Kohistani and others, although most of the population spoke
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
. Prior to the arrival of the British, the ''
official language
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
'', for governmental uses and such, was Persian.
Religion
See also
*
Frontier Regions
*
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
*
Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
Notes
References
References
* ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (26 vol, 1908–31), a highly detailed description of all of India in 1901
online edition
External links
Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
{{DEFAULTSORT:North-West Frontier Province (1901-1955)
Provinces of British India
Former subdivisions of Pakistan
History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
1901 establishments in British India
2010 disestablishments in Pakistan