Kafiristan

E804183

Kafiristan was a historical region in the Hindu Kush (in present-day northeastern Afghanistan) known for its indigenous non-Islamic “Kafir” communities before their conversion and the area’s renaming as Nuristan in the late 19th century.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf historical region
associatedWith Nuristani languages NERFINISHED
Nuristani peoples NERFINISHED
borderedBy Badakhshan NERFINISHED
Chitral NERFINISHED
Kunar NERFINISHED
Laghman NERFINISHED
conversionCentury 19th century
conversionPeriod late 19th century
convertedUnderRuler Abdur Rahman Khan NERFINISHED
country Afghanistan
culturalPractices clan-based social organization
distinctive wooden architecture
ritual wine consumption
describedBy George Scott Robertson NERFINISHED
ethnonym Kafir NERFINISHED
followedBy Nuristan NERFINISHED
historicalStatus non-Islamic enclave in a predominantly Muslim area
remote frontier region
inhabitantsCollectiveName Kafirs of the Hindu Kush NERFINISHED
knownFor distinct Indo-Iranian cultures
indigenous non-Islamic communities
polytheistic religious traditions
resistance to early Islamic expansion
languageFamilyOfInhabitants Indo-Iranian NERFINISHED
locatedIn Hindu Kush NERFINISHED
northeastern Afghanistan
mentionedIn The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush NERFINISHED
mountainRange Hindu Kush NERFINISHED
nameMeaning Land of the infidels
partOf Afghanistan NERFINISHED
politicalEvent forcible conversion campaigns of 1895–1896
politicalIncorporationInto Emirate of Afghanistan NERFINISHED
precededBy pre-Islamic Nuristan region
presentDayCountry Afghanistan NERFINISHED
presentDayRegion Nuristan Province NERFINISHED
religionAfterConversion Islam NERFINISHED
religionBeforeConversion animism
polytheism
religiousPractices sacred groves and shrines
sacrifice to local deities
renamedAs Nuristan NERFINISHED
renamingCentury 19th century
renamingReason Islamization of the population
political integration into Afghan state
terrain forested valleys
mountainous
timePeriod antiquity to late 19th century

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Kafirs of Kafiristan country Kafiristan
Kamviri people historicalRegion Kafiristan
Prasun people historicalRegion Kafiristan