Nuristan

 

Nuristan (also spelled Nooristan, Nurestan, or Noorestan) (Persian/Nuristani: نورستان) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It was formed in 2001 from the northern parts of Laghman Province and Kunar Province. The ethnic Nuristanis make up the majority of the population of this province.

Located on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern part of the country, Nuristan spans the basins of the Alingâr, Pech, Landai Sin, and Kunar rivers. Its capital is Nuristan. It is bordered on the north by Badakhshan Province, on the west by Panjshir Province, on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, and on the east by Pakistan.

Until the 1890s, the region was known as Kafiristan (Persian: Land of the unbelievers) because of its inhabitants: the Nuristani, an ethnically distinctive people (numbering about 60,000) who practiced animism. The region was conquered by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in 1895-96 and the Nuristani were  converted to Islam. The region was renamed Nuristan, meaning Land of the Enlightened.

Nouristan is one of the country's most unusual regions. Set in striking mountains near the Pakistani border, this dramatic, forested area features wooden hillside homes. (The Greek god Dionysus figures prominently in Nouristani legend.) 125 mi/200 km northeast of Kabul.