South Asia Physical Geography

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names Further reading

Nuristan

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

Nuristan [Persian,=land of light or the enlightened], region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, NE Afghanistan, bordered on the E by Pakistan. Formerly called Kafiristan [land of the infidels], it is inhabited by an ethnically distinctive people (numbering about 60,000), who practiced animism until their forcible conversion to Islam in 1895-96. Inhabiting relatively isolated villages in deep, narrow mountain valleys, they grow wheat, barley, millet, peas, wine grapes, and other fruit and raise livestock (chiefly goats). A special artisan caste specializes in woodcarving, pottery making, weaving, and metalwork. The Nuristanis, divided into several tribes, speak Dardic dialects (often mutually unintelligible) belonging to a distinct branch of the Indo-European language family. Nuristan was the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla fighting during the 1979-89 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces.

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Nūristan

Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names | 2005 | | Copyright

Nūristan, Afghanistan Kāfiristan A historic region and province in the north‐east known to Muslims as the ‘Land of the Kāfirs’, i.e. infidels or unbelievers from the Arabic kafara ‘conceal’ or ‘be ungrateful’ with kufr ‘unbelief’. In 1896 a jihād ‘holy war’ was launched to conquer this mountainous region inhabited by non‐Muslims. Once the population had been forcibly converted to Islam and most of the region incorporated into Afghanistan, the name was changed to mean the ‘Land of Light’, that is, ‘of the enlightened’ from the Dari nur ‘light’ and stan.

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JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nūristan." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nūristan." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Nristan.html

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nūristan." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Nristan.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Hunters' lore in Nuristan. Magazine article from: Asian Folklore Studies; 6/1/2001
	Insurgents block Kunar-Nuristan highway. News Wire article from: Times of Central Asia; 6/13/2011
	ARTICLE: Kunar and Nuristan. Newspaper article from: The Nation (Karachi, Pakistan); 6/29/2010