The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of
British India from 1901 to 1947, of the
Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the
British Punjab, during the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
. Following the
referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
and it acceded accordingly on 14 August 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of
West Pakistan in 1955 upon promulgation of
One Unit Scheme and was reestablished in
1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was dissolved and redesignated as the province of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the enactment of the
Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of Pakistan.
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,
Chitral,
Dir,
Phulra and
Swat. Its capital was the city of
Peshawar, and the province was composed of six
divisions (
Bannu,
Dera Ismail Khan,
Hazara,
Kohat,
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
Punjab to the east and the province of
Balochistan 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 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.
File:Pope1880Panjab3.jpg, The Punjab in 1880 (included areas of the later North-West Frontier Province)
File: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:Map of the North-West Frontier Province, British India, published in 'The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir' (1916).jpg, Map of the North-West Frontier Province, British India, published in 'The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir' (1916)
File:North-Western India in 1946 map of India by National Geographic.jpg, Map 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.
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
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 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 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 the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Government
The offices of Governor and Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province lasted until 14 October 1955.
Demographics
Population
Historical population, language, and religious counts in North-West Frontier Province were enumerated in all districts (
Hazara,
Mardan,
Peshawar,
Kohat,
Bannu, and
Dera Ismail Khan), detailed in the population, language, and religious tables above and below. Separate population counts were taken in the
Agencies and Tribal Areas, as detailed on the respective article page.
At independence, there was a clear Muslim
Pashtun,
Hindkowan, and
Punjabi majority in the North-West Frontier Province, although there were also significant Hindu and Sikh
Pashtun,
Hindkowan, and
Punjabi 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 either
Pashto or
Lahnda/Western Punjabi (primarily
Hindko and
Saraiki). Prior to the arrival of the British, the ''
official language
An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
'', for governmental uses and such, was
Persian.
Districts
Religion
Religious counts below is for the entirety of NWFP (
Hazara,
Mardan,
Peshawar,
Kohat,
Bannu, and
Dera Ismail Khan). The
Agencies and Tribal Areas constituted a separate
administrative division
Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...
where religious composition was not enumerated, except at small Trans-Frontier Posts in the region.
Adherents of Islam who were indigenous to frontier regions that continued to have relatively large Hindu populations, and who were also relatively recent
converts, were influenced by some traditions of Hinduism; in contrast, Muslims in frontier regions that had been further influenced by
orthodox Islam and converted at a much earlier date were noted in their relatively different cultural habits.
Similarly, adherents of Hinduism who belonged to the various
castes and
tribes who were
indigenous to the frontier regions had considerable Islamic influence, owing to their status as a
religious minority in the region for centuries, and thus formed
religious syncretism that incorporated aspects from both faiths into their cultures and traditions.
Lastly, decadal census reports throughout the colonial era frequently detailed the difficulty of differentiating adherents of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
with adherents of
Sikhism
Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
, owing to the traditional ability of the former in
assimilating and integrating followers of varied thought into Hinduism.
Districts
With rapid population growth occurring across all districts in the province,
Mardan District was added to the North–West Frontier Province in 1941.
Tehsils
Cities
Castes and tribes
See also
*
Frontier Regions
*
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
*
Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
Notes
References
Bibliography
* ''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 provinces of Pakistan
History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
1901 establishments in British India
2010 disestablishments in Pakistan