Peshawar

Peshawar , city (1998 pop. 988,005), capital of the North-West Frontier Province, NW Pakistan. A road and rail center near the famed Khyber Pass, Peshawar is an important military and communications center, the historical terminus of the Grand Trunk Road of India, and the major depot for trade with Afghanistan. Local handicrafts and farm produce from the surrounding fertile agricultural valley are sold in the many bazaars of the city. Industries include food processing and the manufacture of steel, cigarettes, firearms, textiles, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and paper.

The city, once called Purushapura, was the capital of the ancient Greco-Buddhist center of Gandhara . The Kushan leader Kanishka (2d cent. AD) made it his capital. For centuries, it was the target of successive Afghan, Persian, and Mongol invaders. It was named Peshawar [frontier town] by the Mughal emperor Akbar . A favorite residence (18th cent.) of the Afghan Durrani rulers, it was taken by the Sikhs (early 19th cent.), from whom the British captured it in 1848. It became an important outpost of British India and was a base for British military operations against Pathan tribes. During the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) it was the center of relief operations for Afghan refugees and the command center of the coalition of guerrilla groups intent on expelling the Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

Peshawar has a museum containing Buddhist relics and Gandhara sculpture, a 2d-century Buddhist stupa bearing an inscription by Kanishka, and a university (1950) with several affiliated colleges. The Bala Hisar fort, still used as military headquarters in the early 21st cent., dates to at least the 15th cent.

Peshawar City in nw Pakistan, 16km (9mi) e of the Khyber Pass. An ancient settlement, it has always had great strategic importance. Brought under Muslim rule in the 10th century, it fell to the Afghans in the 16th century. Conquered by the Sikhs in 1834, it was annexed by Britain in 1849. In 1948, it became part of Pakistan. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was a base for rebel groups operating in Afghanistan. The city is famous for its handicrafts, carpets, and leather goods. Pop. (1998) 988,055.