According to the census of 1881 the population was 592,674, of whom 329,524 were males and 263,150 females. The people are mostly Afghans and almost entirely of the Moslem religion, no less than 546,117 being Mohammedans, while Hindus numbered only 39,321, Christians 4088, Sikhs 3103, and others 45. The largest tribe in the district is that of the Pathans, of whom in 1881 there were 276,656. The Moslem portion of the population is occupied chiefly in agriculture and the rearing of cattle, while the Hindus are engaged in trade as bankers, merchants, and shopkeepers. The prevailing languages are the Urdu and Pushtu.

Out of the total area of 2504 square miles 1414 are cultivated and 470 are returned as cultivable. The chief products are wheat, barley, maize, millet. Peshawar also produces some of the finest rice in the world, known as “Bara rice,” named after the river by which the ground yielding it is irrigated. Since the district came into British possession its trade has increased considerably. The principal foreign markets with which it deals are Cabul and Bokhara; the imports from the former are chiefly silk, nuts and fruits, skins, timber, dyes, and spices, and from the latter gold bullion and gold thread, which go principally to Bombay. The exports consist mainly of piece goods, tea, fancy wares, sugar, salt, and spices. The chief manufactures are Peshawar scarves, celebrated throughout India for their fine texture and tasteful colouring, leather goods, cutlery, the preparation of snuff, and a great deal of broadcloth. . The gross revenue of the district in 1882-83 was £95,931, of which the land revenue contributed £68,201.

Peshawar in 1881 had five towns with a population exceeding 5000, namely Peshawar (see below); Nowshera, 12,963; Tangi, 9037: Maira Parang, 8874; and Charsadda, 8363.

History. — The first authentic record of the tribes seated about Peshawar is in the time of Mahmud. What little is heard of them before then points to their being a bold and independent race. Buddhism was introduced into the district in the reign of Asoka, 263 B.C., and one of his rock edicts still exists. From the time of Sabuktagin, governor of Khorasan, in 978 a.d., who took possession of the country up to the Indus, Peshawar became the scene of fierce contests. Mahmud, his son, was the first Moslem conqueror of Hindustan, and succeeded in converting the Pathans to the Mohammedan faith; and this tribe remained true to him in all his subsequent engagements with the infidels. The last decisive battle of Mahmud with the Hindus was fought on the plains of Chach in Rawal Pindi, where he totally defeated Anang Pal, the last champion of the Hindu creed and nationality in the north. For a century and more after Mahmud’s death (1028) Peshawar continued to be a province of Ghazni; and under his numerous successors it acquired great importance, becoming the centre of their dominions, which were extended to Lahore. Timur’s invasion of India at the close of the 13th century did not disturb the district or the tribes about it, but a century later the Khakhai Pathans, a body of roaming adventurers, invaded the district in three main clans—the Yusafzai, Gigianis, and Muhammadzai—and obtained permission from the Dilazaks, who then held it, to settle on a portion of their waste lands. Quarrelling with the Dilazaks, they routed them and swept them into the neighbouring district of Hazara. The Gigianis then settled in the fertile strip of land about the confluence of the Swat and the Cabul; the Muhammadzai took Hashtnagar, and the Yusafzai the remainder of the country north of the Cabul river. For some time these tribes remained unmolested, but in 1519 Babar, fifteen years after his capture of Cabul, allied himself with the injured Dilazaks and subdued the Afghans of Peshawar. After his death in 1530 the country was the scene of constant feuds, which ended in the Dilazaks being completely ousted. The yeaι∙ 1553 marks the last immigration of Afghans into the district. In 1587 Akbar came to the throne. During the next three reigns the valley rendered an unwilling allegiance to the central authority, and in the reign of Aurangzeb the Pathans succeeded in freeing themselves from Mogul supremacy. In 1738 Nadir Shah held possession of the district, and under the succeeding Durani dynasty it was often the residence of the Cabul court. On the death of Timur Shah in 1793 the throne was left to be contended for by his sons, whose adventurous enterprises and varied fortunes form a romantic page in Oriental history. In 1818 the Sikhs advanced into the valley and overran the whole district to the foot of the hills; and the country continued to be ravaged by them until it at last fell into their hands, when they ruled it with their usual severity. In 1848 the district became an integral portion of British India, and, except for its connexion with the mutiny in 1857, there is little else of importance to notice.

PESHAWAR, chief town in the above district, situated in 34° 2' N. lat. and 71° 37' E. long., is about 14 miles east of the Khyber Pass, and distant from Lahore 276 miles and from Cabul 190 miles. Its population in 1881 was 79,982 (50,322 males, 29,660 females). It is built on a plain 1068 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by a mud wall 10 feet high. Among the chief buildings of the town are the Ghor Khatri, originally a Buddhist monastery, afterwards rebuilt as a Hindu temple, and now used as a serai. Peshawar is commanded by a mud-fort to the north-west, built on the ruins of Bala Hissar; and it is well watered, and said to be one of the best-drained cities in the Punjab.