26-611: Chitral District ( Khowar : ݯھیترارو ضلع ; Urdu : ضلع چترال ) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km, before splitting into Upper and Lower Chitral Districts in 2018. It was the northernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It shared
52-414: A border with Gilgit-Baltistan to the east and with Swat and Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south. It also shared an international border with Afghanistan to the north and west. Afghanistan's narrow strip of Wakhan Corridor separated Chitral from Tajikistan in the north. Chitral shares much of its history and culture with the neighbouring Hindu Kush territories of Gilgit-Baltistan,
78-444: A nearly Sanskritic form". Khowar has a variety of dialects, which may vary phonemically. The following tables lay out the basic phonology of Khowar. Khowar may also have nasalized vowels and a series of long vowels /ɑː/ , /ɛː/ , /iː/ , /ɔː/ , and /uː/ . Sources are inconsistent on whether length is phonemic, with one author stating "vowel-length is observed mainly as a substitute one. The vowel-length of phonological value
104-567: A population of about 414,000. The general population is mainly made up of Kho people , who speak Khowar , which is also spoken in parts of Yasin , Gilgit , Dir, and Swat . Chitral is also home to the Kalash tribe, who live in Bumburet and two other remote valleys southwest of Chitral town. A few thousand Nuristani people are also known to live in Chitral. The main language of the region
130-792: A region sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies ( peri ) inhabiting the high mountains. The entire region that now forms the Chitral District was an independent monarchical state until 1895, when the British negotiated a treaty with its hereditary ruler, the Mehtar, under which Chitral became a semi-autonomous princely state within the Indian Empire. Chitral retained this status even after its accession to Pakistan in 1947, finally being made an administrative district of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, disestablishing
156-499: A standard Khowar script continued for decades into the 1970s. This process was not without controversy either. Some literaturists were advocating for keeping the number of letters to a minimum, or in other words removing Arabic letters that do not represent distinct sounds in Khowar and are homophone with other letters (for example ث، ذ، ص , being homophone with س، ز، س respectively). In total, 6 new letters were added to
182-539: A very early location of proto-Khowar in its original abode in Upper Chitral, although from its links with the Gandhari language , it likely came from further south in the first millennium BC, possibly through Swat and Dir . Georg Morgenstierne noted, "Khowar, in many respects [is] the most archaic of all modern Indian languages , retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in
208-540: Is Khowar . There are also smaller communities of speakers of Arabic , Dameli , Gawar-Bati , Gujari(Gojri) , Kalasha , Kyrgyz , Kataviri / Kamviri , Madaklashti , Palula , Sariquli , Wakhi , and Yidgha . Urdu has official status. The city of Chitral is the main city in the district and serves as its capital. It is situated on the west bank of the Chitral River (also known as the Kunar River) at
234-403: Is NA-1 . The district is represented by two elected MPAs in the provincial assembly , who represent the following constituencies: 36°15′N 72°15′E / 36.250°N 72.250°E / 36.250; 72.250 Khowar language Khowar ( Khowar : کھوار زبان , romanized: khowār , IPA: [kʰɔːwaːr] ), or Chitrali , is a Dardic language of
260-551: Is also spoken as a second language by the Kalash people . The native name of the language is Khō-wār , meaning "language" ( wār ) of the Kho people . The word Khō-wār is a cognate with the Serbian and Bulgarian говор (pronounced "govor," meaning "speech"), with the unstable "г" subject to palatalization (as in other related languages, such as the Czech cognate hovor ). During
286-581: Is derived from Urdu alphabet , with additional letters created to represent sounds unique to Khowar. Similar to Urdu, Khowar is typically written in the calligraphic Nastaʿlīq script . From the end of the 19th century onwards, literaturists and rulers of Chitral princely state have put in much effort to popularize literacy, reading, and writing in Khowar. Initially, Mirza Muhammad Shakur and Prince Tajumal Shah Mohfi adopted Persian alphabet , used in neighbouring Afghanistan . However, Persian alphabet did not have letters for many unique sounds in Khowar. By
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#1732765946524312-664: Is mountains and glaciers. Chitral is connected to the rest of Pakistan by two major road routes, the Lowari Pass ( elevation. 10,23 ft.) from Dir and Shandur Top (elevation 12,200 ft.) from Gilgit. Both routes used to be closed in winter, but circa 2017 the highway Lowari Tunnel under the Lowari Pass opened to vehicular traffic for at least ten hours per day. A number of other high passes, including Darkot Pass , Thoi Pass , and Zagaran Pass , provide access on foot to Chitral from Gilgit-Baltistan . The district has
338-407: Is noted far more rarely." Unlike the neighboring and related Kalasha language , Khowar does not have retroflex vowels. Allophones of /x ɣ h ʋ ɾ/ are heard as sounds [χ ʁ ɦ w ɹ] . /q x ɣ f/ are restricted to Perso-Arabic loanwords in most IA languages but they occur natively in Khowar. Khowar, like many Dardic languages , has either phonemic tone or stress distinctions. Khowar orthography
364-558: Is the highest mountain in the province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. In fact, it’s the highest mountain of Pakistan outside the Gilgit-Baltistan region. The last village situated in Chitral District before the mountain begins is the village of Tirich. This valley begins at Soorwaht, where Tirich River meets Torkhow River from the west, up to Shagrom —the last permanent settlement of the valley. From that point onwards, there are summertime grazing pastures and shepherd huts leading up to
390-643: Is −5.25 °C (22.55 °F), which puts the station well inside the range of continuous permafrost. The average temperature in the coldest month of January is −17.5 °C (0.5 °F) and the two hottest months of July and August have mean temperatures of 6.5 °C (43.7 °F). Average low temperatures range from −23 °C (−9 °F) in January to 0 °C (32 °F) in July and August. The summit has an Ice cap climate (EF) where no month has an average temperature above 0 °C (32 °F). According to
416-834: The British Raj it was known to the English as Chitrālī (a derived adjective from the name of the Chitral region ) or Qāshqārī . Among the Pashtuns and Badakhshanis it is known as Kashkār . Another name, used by Leitner in 1880, is Arnyiá or Arniya , derived from the Shina language name for the part of the Yasin (a valley in Gilgit-Baltistan) where Khowar is spoken. The Khowar language expanded throughout Chitral from
442-673: The Indo-Aryan language family primarily spoken in Chitral and surrounding areas in Pakistan . Khowar is the lingua franca of Chitral , and it is also spoken in the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, as well in the Upper Swat district . Speakers of Khowar have also migrated heavily to Pakistan's major urban centres, with Peshawar , Islamabad , Lahore and Karachi having significant populations. It
468-704: The Wakhi language . In Wakhi, trich means shadow or darkness and mir means king, so Tirich Mir means king of darkness. It could have gotten this name as it creates long shadows on the Wakhan side of its face. The weather station 4,245 m (13,927 ft) above sea level lies in the Tundra climate/Alpine climate (ET) zone according to Köppen Climate Classification . On this specific altitude (4,245 m or 13,927 ft asl ) we find moderately cold winters and cool summers generally above freezing. Annual mean temperature
494-485: The 33rd highest peak in the world . The first recorded ascent of the mountain was on 21 July 1950 by a Norwegian expedition consisting of Arne Næss , P. Kvernberg, H. Berg, and Tony Streather , depicted in the documentary film Tirich Mir til topps . Tirich Mir overlooks the town of Chitral , and can be easily seen from the main bazaar. It is the closest mountain to Aconcagua which is higher than Aconcagua, and thus determines Aconcagua's topographic isolation . It
520-611: The 37-letter Urdu Alphabet, to create the 43-letter Khowar script. Tirich Mir Terich Mir (also spelled Terichmir , Tirich Mir and Turch Mir ) is the highest mountain of the Hindu Kush range, and the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas – Karakoram range, at 7,708 meters (25,289 ft) above sea level. It is located in the Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan . It’s
546-493: The Princely State. Chitral is counted amongst the highest regions of the world, sweeping from 1,094 metres at Arandu to 7,726 metres at Tirichmir and packing over 40 peaks more than 6,100 metres in height. The terrain of Chitral is very mountainous, and Tirich Mir (25,289 feet), the highest peak of the Hindu Kush , rises in the north of the district. Around 4.8 percent of the land is covered by forest, and 76 percent
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#1732765946524572-481: The early 20th century, as under British Colonial rule, Urdu education and literacy became ever more popular among Indian Muslims (see Hindi–Urdu controversy ), Chitrali literaturists, namely Sir Nasir ul-Mulk and Mirza Muhammad Ghafran saw Urdu script as a better fit for Khowar. Nonetheless, Urdu also lacked sounds that existed in Chitrali. Thus, new letters were proposed and created. But the process of settling on
598-560: The foot of Tirich Mir , which at 7,708 m (25,289 ft) is the highest peak of the Hindu Kush . Until 14 August 1947, it served as the capital of the princely state of Chitral . The district of Chitral is divided into twenty-four union councils and two tehsils : This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of the National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly . Its constituency
624-493: The northern part of the region, specifically from the Mulkhow and Torkhow Valley . According to Morgenstierne , the original abode of the Khowar language was northern Chitral in the valleys around Mastuj . The Khowar language started expanding into southern Chitral around the early 14th century. Khowar shares a great number of morphological characteristics with neighbouring Iranian languages of Badakhshan , pointing to
650-412: The polytheist Kalash people who live nearby, this mountain is the domain of the goddess Krumai. She appears in the form of a wild goat, and she is associated with childbirth. In one legend, she disturbed the other gods, and was chased by Imra, who threw her into a fast river. Krumai jumped up the river and ran up the cliff, causing the cliff's shape with her hooves. She revealed her true form and prepared
676-513: The snout of the lower Tirich glacier, which goes further up to Tirich Concordia, where glaciers from seven sub-valleys slide down and join at the Concordia glacial confluence. It is believed the origin of the name Tirich Mir is "King of Tirich" as Tirich is the name of a side valley of the Mulkhow valley of Chitral which leads up to Tirich Mir. An alternative etymology derives this name from
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