Shangla District ( ps, شانګله ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

Malakand Division Malakand Division is an administrative division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. It contains the following districts: Districts * Bajaur District * Buner District * Upper Chitral District * Lower Chitral District * Lower Dir Distric ...

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 ...

, Pakistan. The district's headquarter is located at Alpuri, while the largest city and commercial center is

Besham Besham (Urdu, ps, بشام; also known as Besham Qila) is a city in the Shangla District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located on the right bank of the Indus River (locally known as ''Abasin''), Besham serves as a major junction on the Karak ...

. The district was established in 1995, having previously been a subdivision of

Swat District Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pro ...

. The total area of the district is 1,586 square kilometers. Shangla comprises three subdivisions, Alpuri, Puran and

tehsils.

Location

The district is bounded in the north by Kohistan District, in the east by

Battagram District Battagram ( ps, بټګرام ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Abaseen Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The headquarter is Battagram, which is about 75-km from Mansehra. Overview and history The district of Battagra ...

and

Torghar District Torghar District ( ps, تور غر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) formerly also known as Kala Dhaka ( hnd, ) is the smallest district in Pakistan of Abaseen Division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It was officially separated from Mansehra District in 2 ...

, in the west by

, and in the south by

Buner District Buner District ( ps, بونیر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Before becoming a district in 1991, it was a tehsil within Swat District. History The Buner Valley lies ...

History

There are relics of the ancient Greek period at Pirsar,

Chakesar Chakesar (PASHTO: "chakesar") is a town / Tehsil of the Shangla District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is situated about 6 km in the north-west on the right bank of the Indus River. Chakesar was given the status of Tehsil ...

and Daut. it is believed that

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

camped at Pirsar for a few days. There are also relics of the Hindu Shahi in Olandar-Ajmair. A number of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

sculptures also are also found in district Shangla which indicate that Shangla was also the previous part of Buddhist civilization.

Geography

Shangla district consists of small valleys and is situated between the hillocks and surrounded by high mountains full of forests comprising Pindrow Fir, Morinda Spruce,

Blue Pine ''Pinus wallichiana'' is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east across northern Pakistan and north west India to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows in mountain valle ...

(Kail),

Chir Pine ''Pinus roxburghii'', commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh. Description ''Pinus roxburghii'' is a large tree reaching with a trunk diameter ...

and

Deodar Cedar ''Cedrus deodara'', the deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar, is a species of cedar native to the Himalayas. Description It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching tall, exceptionally with a trunk up to in diameter. It has a conic c ...

trees. The average elevation of the district is 2000 to 3000 meters above sea level. The highest point (3,440 m) is near Kuz Ganrshal in the north of the district.

Demographics

At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 759,609, of which 386,082 were males and 373,508 females. The entire population was rural. The literacy rate was 33.13% - the male literacy rate was 51.67% while the female literacy rate was 14.50%. 230 people in the district were from religious minorities.

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 ...

was the predominant language, spoken by 96.76% of the population. The district was hit by the 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake in which more than 18 people killed. The main tribe of Shangla is

Yusufzai The Yusufzai or Yousafzai ( ps, یوسفزی, ), also referred to as the Esapzai (, ) are one of the largest tribes of ethnic Pashtuns. They are natively based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, to which they migrated to from Suliman mountains dur ...

that contribute more than half of the district population, the dense and well populated area of Shangla is Alpuri tehsil(gwarband) that contribute more than 253000+ of district population, Shangla is one of the unique districts of Pakistan that contains more than 80% of forest land. The youngest noble laurate

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...

's father,

Ziauddin Yousafzai Ziauddin Yousafzai ( ur, ضیاء الدین یوسفزئی; ps, ضیاالدین یوسفزی; born 20 April 1969) is a Pakistani education activist best known as the father of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who protested against the Tehrik- ...

, was born in Shangla, however, she herself was born in Mingora, Swat.

Education

In November 2022, the Chief Minister of

Mahmood Khan Mahmood Khan (Urdu, Pashto: ; born 30 October 1972) is a Pakistani politician and a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is currently serving as the 27th Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in office since 17 August 2018. He has been ...

, inaugurated University of Shangla. The university was earlier a campus of University of Swat.

National and provincial assembly

This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in

Pakistan National Assembly The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower legislative house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which also comprises the Senate of Pakistan (upp ...

. Its constituency is NA-31.

Since 2002: NA-10 (Shangla)

Provincial Assembly

References

Bibliography

* {{Coord missing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa History of Pakistan