Tourism

Tourism is a growing industry in Pakistan, based on its diverse cultures, peoples and landscapes. The variety of attractions range from the ruins of ancient civilizations such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations, which attract those interested in field and winter sports. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7000m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2[1]. The northern parts of Pakistan have many old fortresses, towers and other architecture as well as the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home to the small pre-Islamic Animist Kalasha community who claim descent from the army of Alexander the Great. In the Punjab is the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital with many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort. To promote Pakistan's unique and various cultural heritage, the prime minister launched "Visit Pakistan 2007".

Mohenjo-daro

Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party
Pakistan
Type
Cultural
Criteria
ii, iii
Reference
138
Region†
Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Inscription
1980 (4th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.† Region as classified by UNESCO.
Mohenjo-daro (Urdu: موئن جودڑو, Sindhi: موئن جو دڙو, English: Mound of the dead) was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization built around 2600 BC and is located in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. This ancient five thousand year old city is the largest of Indus Valley and is widely recognized as one of the most important early cities of South Asia and the Indus Valley Civilization. Mohenjo Daro was one of the world’s first cities and contemporaneous with ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. It is sometimes referred to as "An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis".
Contents

History
2 Civilization
2.1 Artifacts
3 Current UNESCO Status
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
//

History
Mohenjo-daro was built around 2600 BC, and was abandoned around 1700 BC. It was rediscovered in the 1920s by Sir John Marshall's archaeologists. His car is still in the Mohenjo-daro museum, showing his presence, struggle, and dedication for Mohenjo-daro. Further excavations were carried out in 1945 by Ahmad Hasan Dani and Mortimer Wheeler. Mohenjo-daro in ancient times was most likely the administrative center of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. It was the most developed and advanced city in South Asia during its peak. The planning and engineering showed the importance of the city to the people of the Indus valley.[1]

Location of Indus Valley.
The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BC, flowered 2600–1900 BCE), abbreviated IVC, was an ancient riverine civilization that flourished in the Indus river valley in Pakistan and north-west India. Another name for this civilization is the "Harappan Civilisation".
The Indus Valley civilization was one of the most ancient civilizations, on the banks of Indus River. The Indus culture blossomed over the centuries and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The civilization spanned much of Pakistan, but suddenly went into decline around 1800 BCE. Indus Civilization settlements spread as far south as the Arabian Sea coast of India, as far west as the Iranian border, and as far north as the Himalayas. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal.
The Mohenjo-daro ruins were once the center of this ancient society. At its peak, some archaeologists opine that the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million.
To date, over a thousand cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the Indus River valley in Pakistan and north western India.
The language of the Indus Civilization has yet to be deciphered, and the real name of the city as of other excavated cities in Sindh, Punjab and Gujarat, is unknown. "Mohenjo-daro" is Sindhi for "Mound of the Dead." (The name is also seen with slight variants such as Moenjodaro.)

Mohenjo-Daro, 25 km southwest of Larkana, was center of the Indus Valley Civilization 2600 BC-1700 BC
Mohenjo-daro is a remarkable construction, considering its antiquity. It has a planned layout based on a grid of streets, which were laid out in perfect patterns. At its height the city probably had around 35,000 residents. The buildings of the city were particularly advanced, with structures constructed of same-sized sun dried bricks of baked mud and burned wood.
The public buildings of these cities also suggest a high degree of social organization. The great granary at Mohenjo-daro is designed with bays to receive carts delivering crops from the countryside, and there are ducts for air to circulate beneath the stored grain to dry it.
Close to the granary, there is a building similarly civic in nature - a great public bath house, with steps down to a brick-lined pool in a colonnaded courtyard The elaborate bath area was very well built, with a layer of natural tar to keep it from leaking, and in the center was the swimming pool.
The houses were protected from noise, odours, and thieves. This urban plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems.
Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. Some of the houses included rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. A variety of buildings were up to two storeys high.
Being an agricultural city, it also featured a large well, and central marketplace. It also had a building with an underground furnace (hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing.
Defensively Mohenjo-daro was a well fortified city. Lacking city walls, it did have towers to the west of the main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these fortifications and the structure of other major Indus valley cities like Harappa, lead to the question of whether Mohenjo-daro was an administrative center. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout, and were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, however the extent and functioning of an administrative center remains unclear. .
Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities were built directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus is thought to have been the cause of destruction.
The city was divided into two parts, the Citadel and the Lower City. Most of the Lower City is yet uncovered, but the Citadel is known to have the public bath, a large residential structure designed to house 5,000 citizens and two large assembly halls.
Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and their civilization, vanished without trace from history until discovered in the 1920s. It was extensively excavated in the 1920s, but no in-depth excavations have been carried out since the 1960s.

Civilization

Artifacts

"The Dancing girl" artifact found in Mohenjo Daro
The Dancing girl found in Mohenjo Daro is an interesting artifact that is some 4500-year old. The 10.8 cm long bronze statue of the dancing girl was found in 1926 from a house in Mohenjo Daro. She was British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler's favorite statuette, as he said in this quote from a 1973 television program:
"There is her little Baluchi-style face with pouting lips and insolent look in the eye. She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world."
John Marshall, one of the excavators at Mohenjo-Daro, described her as a vivid impression of the young ... girl, her hand on her hip in a half-impudent posture, and legs slightly forward as she beats time to the music with her legs and feet.[2]
The artistry of this statuette is recognizable today and tells of a strange, but at least fleetingly recognizable past. As author Gregory Possehl says, "We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it". The statue could well be of some queen or other important woman of the Indus Valley Civilization judging from the authority the figure commands.

"The Priest King" Wearing Sindhi Ajruk, ca. 2500 BC. National Museum, Karachi, Pakistan
Seated male sculpture, or "Priest King" (even though there is no evidence that either priests or kings ruled the city). This 17.5 cm tall statue is another artifact which has become a symbol for the Indus valley civilization. Archaeologists discovered the sculpture in Lower town at Mohenjo-Daro in 1927. It was found in an unusual house with ornamental brickwork and a wall niche and was lying between brick foundation walls which once held up a floor.
This bearded sculpture wears a fillet around the head, an armband, and a cloak decorated with trefoil patterns that were originally filled with red pigment.
The two ends of the fillet fall along the back and though the hair is carefully combed towards the back of the head, no bun is present. The flat back of the head may have held a separately carved bun as is traditional on the other seated figures, or it could have held a more elaborate horn and plumed headdress.
Two holes beneath the highly stylized ears suggest that a necklace or other head ornament was attached to the sculpture. The left shoulder is covered with a cloak decorated with trefoil, double circle and single circle designs that were originally filled with red pigment. Drill holes in the center of each circle indicate they were made with a specialized drill and then touched up with a chisel. Eyes are deeply incised and may have held inlay. The upper lip is shaved and a short combed beard frames the face. The large crack in the face is the result of weathering or it may be due to original firing of this object.

Current UNESCO Status
Mohenjo-daro is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most extensive recent work at the site has focused on attempts at conservation of the standing structures, undertaken by UNESCO in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, as well as various foreign consultants.
In December 1996, preservation work at the 500-acre site suspended after funding from the government and international organisations ran out, according to a resident archaeologist.
However in April 1997, the UN Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) funded $10 million to a project to be conducted over two decades in order to protect the Mohenjo-daro ruins from flooding. This project has been a success so far.
UNESCO's efforts to save Mohenjo-daro was one of the key events that led the organization to establish World Heritage Sites.

Harappa

(Urdu: ہڑپہ) is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about 35km (22 miles) southwest of Sahiwal.
The modern town is located near the former course of the Ravi River and also beside the ruins of an ancient fortifed city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization. The ancient city existed from about 3300 BCE until 1600 BCE and is believed to have had as many as 40,000 residents—considered large for its time. Although the Harappa Culture extended well beyond the bounds of present day Pakistan, its centres were in Sindh and the Punjab.[1]
In 2005 a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaelogical artifacts during the early stages of construction work. A plea from the prominent Pakistani archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a restoration of the site.[2]
Contents

1 History
2 Culture and economy
3 Archaeology
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also
7 External links
//

History
The Indus Valley civilization (also known as Harappan culture) has its earliest roots in approximately 6000 BCE in Mehrgarh. The two greatest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, emerged circa 2600 BCE along the Indus River valley in Punjab and Sindh. The civilization, with a writing system, urban centers, and diversified social and economic system, was rediscovered in the 1920s after excavations at Mohenjo-daro (which means "mound of the dead") in Sindh near Sukkur, and Harappa, in west Punjab south of Lahore. A number of other sites stretching from the Himalayan foothills in east Punjab, India in the north, to Gujarat in the south and east, and to Balochistan in the west have also been discovered and studied. Although the archaelogical site at Harrappa was partially damaged in 1857 when engineers constructing the Lahore-Multan railroad used brick from the Harrappa ruins for track ballast, an abundance of artifacts have nevertheless been found.[3]

Culture and economy
Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were built according to similar plans of well-laid-out streets, "differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, and fortified administrative or religious centers"[4] Weights and measures were standardized throughout the area and distinctive seals were used for identification of property and shipment of goods. Although copper and bronze were in use, iron was unknown. "Cotton was woven and dyed for clothing; wheat, rice, and a variety of vegetables and fruits were cultivated; and a number of animals, including the humped bull, were domesticated." [4] Wheel-made pottery—some of it adorned with animal and geometric motifs—has been found in profusion at all the major Indus sites. A centralized administration has been inferred from the revealed cultural uniformity; however, it remains uncertain whether authority lay with a priestly or a commercial oligarchy.

Archaeology
By far the most exquisite but most obscure artifacts unearthed to date are the small, square steatite seals engraved with human or animal motifs . Large numbers of the seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro, many bearing pictographic inscriptions generally thought to be a kind of script. Despite the efforts of philologists from all parts of the world, however, and despite the use of computers, the script remains undeciphered, and it is unknown if it is proto-Dravidian or proto-Sanskrit. Nevertheless, extensive research on the Indus Valley sites, which has led to speculations on both the archaeological and the linguistic contributions of the pre-Aryan population to Hinduism's subsequent development, has offered new insights into the cultural heritage of the Dravidian population still dominant in southern India. Artifacts with motifs relating to asceticism and fertility rites suggest that these concepts entered Hinduism from the earlier civilization. Although historians agree that the civilization ceased abruptly, at least in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa there is disagreement on the possible causes for its end. Invaders from central and western Asia are considered by some historians to have been "destroyers" of Indus Valley civilization, but this view is open to reinterpretation. More plausible explanations are recurrent floods caused by tectonic earth movement, soil salinity, and desertification.

Taxila

(Urdu: ٹیکسلا, Sanskrit: तक्षशिला Takṣaśilā, Pali:Takkasilā) is an important archaeological site in Pakistan containing the ruins of the Gandhāran city of Takshashila (also Takkasila or Taxila) an important Vedic/Hindu[1] and Buddhist[2] centre of learning from the 6th century BCE[3] to the 5th century CE.[4] [5] In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations.[6]
Historically, Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from Pāṭaliputra; the north-western route through Bactria, Kāpiśa, and Puṣkalāvatī (Peshawar); and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Śrinigar, Mānsehrā, and the Haripur valley[7] across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.
Today, Taxila is situated at the western region of the Islamabad Capital Territory—to the northwest of Rawalpindi and on the border of the Punjab and North West Frontier Provinces—about 30 kilometres west-northwest of Islamabad, just off the Grand Trunk Road.
Contents

History
2 Ancient centre of learning
3 Taxila today
4 References
5 See also
6 External links
//

History
See also: Taxila (Achaemenid)

Taxila is in western Punjab, and was an important city during Alexander's campaign in India.

A coin from 2nd century BCE Taxila.

The Indo-Greek king Antialcidas ruled in Taxila around 100 BCE, according to the Heliodorus pillar inscription.

Jaulian, a World Heritage Site at Taxila.

Jaulian silver Buddhist reliquary, with content. British Museum.
Legend has it that Taksha, an ancient Indian king who ruled in a kingdom called Taksha Khanda (Tashkent) founded the city of Takshashila.[citation needed] The word Takshashila, in Sanskrit means "belonging to the King Taksha". Taksha was the son of Bharata and Mandavi, historical characters who appear in the Indian epic Ramayana.
In the Indian epic Mahābhārata, the Kuru heir Parikṣit was enthroned at Taxila.[8]
Ahmad Hasan Dani and Saifur Rahman Dar trace the etymology of Taxila to a tribe called the Takka.[9] According to Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, "Taxila" is related to "Takṣaka," which means "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the Nāga.[10]
c. 518 BCE[11] – Darius the Great annexes the North-West of the Indian-Subcontinent (modern day Pakistan), including Taxila, to the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[12]
c. 450 BCE, Herodotus makes reference to Greek influences in this area. The language used in the area is bilingual for the better part of a 1000 years, with Greek being the second language. See coins that reflect this bilingual function.
326 BCE[13] – Alexander the Great receives submission of Āmbhi,[14] king of Taxila, and afterwards defeats Porus at the Jhelum River.[15]
c. 317 BCE – In quick succession, Alexander's general Eudemus and then the satrap Peithon withdraw from India.[16] Candragupta, founder of the Mauryan empire, then makes himself master of the Punjab. Chandragupta Maurya's advisor Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) was a teacher at Taxila.
During the reign of Chandragupta's grandson Aśoka, Taxila became a great Buddhist centre of learning. Nonetheless, Taxila was briefly the center of a minor local rebellion, subdued only a few years after its onset.[17]
185 BCE[18] – The last Maurya emperor, Bṛhadratha, is assassinated by his general, Puṣyamitra Śunga, during a parade of his troops.[19]
183 BCE[20] – Demetrios conquers Gandhāra, the Punjab and the Indus valley.[21] He builds his new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila.[22] During this new period of Bactrian Greek rule, several dynasties (like Antialcidas) likely ruled from the city as their capital. During lulls in Greek rule, the city managed profitably on its own, managed independently and controlled by several local trade guilds, who also minted most of the city's autonomous coinage.
c. 90 BCE[23] – The Indo-Scythian chief Maues overthrows the last Greek king of Taxila.[24]
c. 25 CE[25] – Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquers Taxila and makes it his capital.[26].
76[27] – The date of and inscription found at Taxila of 'Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, the Kushana' (maharaja rajatiraja devaputra Kushana).[28]
c. 460–470[29] – The Ephthalites sweep over Gandhāra and the Punjab; wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stūpas at Taxila, which never again recovers.[30]
Before the fall of these invader-kings, Taxila had been variously a capital for many dynasties, and a centre of Vedic and Buddhist learning, with a population of Buddhists, Classical Hindus, and possibly Greeks that may have endured for centuries.[31]
The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.[32]

Ancient centre of learning

The Dharmarajika stupa, Taxila.
Takshashila was an early center of learning dating back to at least the 5th century BCE.[33] There is some disagreement about whether Takshashila can be considered a university. While some consider Taxila to be an early university [34] [5] [35] [36] or centre of higher education, [37] others do not consider it a university in the modern sense, [38] [39] [40] in contrast to the later Nalanda University.[40][4][41] Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century CE.[42]

Stupa base at Sirkap, decorated with Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek temple fronts.
Takshashila is considered a place of religious and historical sanctity by Hindus and Buddhists. The former do so not only because, in its time, Takshashila was the seat of Vedic learning, but also because the strategist, Chanakya, who later helped consolidate the empire of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, was a senior teacher there. The institution is very significant in Buddhist tradition since it is believed[citation needed] that the Mahāyāna sect of Buddhism took shape there.
Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the 6th century BCE[3] or 7th century BCE.[43] It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries before Christ, and continued to attract students from around the old world until the destruction of the city in the 5th century CE. Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association with Chanakya. The famous treatise Arthashastra (Sanskrit for The knowledge of Economics) by Chanakya, is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself. Chanakya (or Kautilya),[44] the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta[45] and the Ayurvedic healer Charaka studied at Taxila.[46]
Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The Vedas and the Eighteen Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant lore, were taught, in addition to its law school, medical school, and school of military science.[46]

Taxila today

Archaeological artifacts from the Indo-Greek strata at Taxila (John Marshall "Taxila, Archeological excavations"). From top, left:* Fluted cup (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) * Cup with rosace and decoratice scroll (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) * Stone palette with individual on a couch being crowned by standing woman, and served (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Handle with double depiction of a philosopher (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Woman with smile (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Man with moustache (Sirkap, stratum 5)
Present day Taxila is one of the seven Tehsils (sub-district) of Rawalpindi District. It is spread over an undulating land in the periphery of the Pothohar Plateau of the Punjab. Situated just outside the capital Islamabad's territory and communicating with it through Tarnol pass of Margalla Hills, Taxila is a mix of posh urban and rustic rural environs. Urban residential areas are in the form of small neat and clean colonies populated by the workers of heavy industries, educational institutes and hospitals that are located in the area.
The industries include heavy machine factories and industrial complex, ordnance factories of Wah Cantt and cement factory. Heavy Industries Taxila is also based here. Small, cottage and house hold industries include stone ware, pottery and foot wear. People try to relate the present day stone ware craft to the tradition of sculpture making that existed here before the advent of Islam.
In addition to the ruins of Gandhara civilization and ancient Buddhist/Hindu culture, relics of Mughal gardens and vestiges of historical Grand Trunk Road, which was built by Emperor Sher Shah Suri in 15th-16th centuries, are also found in Taxila region.
Taxila Museum, dedicated mainly to the remains of Gandhara civilization, is also worth visiting. A hotel of the tourism department offers reasonably good services and hospitality to the tourists.
Taxila has many educational institutes including University of Engineering and Technology (UET). Thomas is still honored in Taxila in an annual festival in early July, attended by thousands, celebrating the passage of his bones through Taxila on their way to Edessa.
Some notable and famous people of Taxila are Khan Mohammad Younas Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan (minister for labour & Overseas Pakistanis) and Siddique Khan (town nazim).

Mountain ranges of Pakistan

Highest peaks of Pakistan as seen from space

Highest Karakoram peaks as seen from International Space Station
Pakistan is home to more than sixty peaks above 7,000m (22,960 feet). Five of the fourteen eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000m) are in Pakistan, four of which are in Karakoram near Concordia.
Most of the high peaks in Pakistan are in Karakoram range, the highest of which is K2 (8,611m), the second highest peak on earth. The highest peak of Himalayan range in Pakistan is Nanga Parbat (8,126m), which is the ninth highest peak of the world.
Following are the mountain ranges that are fully or partially included in Pakistan:
Karakoram range, highest peak is K2 (8,611m or 28,244 feet).
Himalaya range, highest peak in Pakistan is Nanga Parbat (8,126m or 26,653 feet).
Hindu Kush range, highest peak is Tirich Mir (7,690 metres or 25,230 feet).
Sulaiman Mountains range, highest peak is Takht-e-Sulaiman (3,487 m or 11,437 feet).
Safed Koh range, highest peak is Mount Sikaram (4,761 m or 15,620 feet)
Pamir Mountains, junction of the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges.
Salt Range, a hill system in the Punjab Province, abundant in salt
Toba Kakar Range, southern offshoot of the Himalayas in the Balochistan

Hunza Valley

For the article about the former princely state, see State of Hunza
Hunza Valley (Urdu: ہنزہ) is a mountainous valley near Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The Hunza valley is situated at an elevation of 2,438 metres (7,999 feet). The territory of Hunza is about 7,900 km² [3,050 sq, miles]. Karimabad is the main town which is a popular tourist attraction in Pakistan because of the spectacular scenery of the surrounding mountains like Rakaposhi 7,788 m (25,551 ft), Ultar Sar (7,388 m), Bojahagur Duanasir II (7,329 m), Ghenta Peak (7,090 m), Hunza Peak (6,270 m), Darmyani Peak (6,090 m) and Bublimating (Ladyfinger Peak) (6,000 A Hunza Rajah and Tribesmen, 1891. E. F. Knightm).
Contents

1 History
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 Transport
5 Spectacular scenery
6 People of Hunza
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
//

History
Main article: State of Hunza

A Hunza Rajah and Tribesmen, 1891. E. F. Knight
Hunza was formerly a princely state in the northernmost part of the Northern Areas of Pakistan, which existed until 1974. The state bordered the Gilgit Agency to the south, the former princely state of Nagar to the east, China to the north and Afghanistan to the northwest. The state capital was the town of Baltit (also known as Karimabad). The area of Hunza now forms the Aliabad tehsil of Gilgit District.
Hunza was an independent principality for 900 years. The British gained control of Hunza and the neighboring valley of Nagar between 1889 and 1892 followed by a military engagement of severe intensity. The then Tham (Chief)Mir Safdar Ali Khan of Hunza fled to Kashgahar in China and sought what can be called political asylum.
Although never ruled directly by neighboring Kashmir, Hunza was a vassal of Kashmir from the time of Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. The Mirs of Hunza sent an annual tribute to the Kashmir Durbar until 1947, and along with the ruler of Nagar, was considered to be among the most loyal vassals of the Maharaja of Ka

Geography
Baltit Fort, the former residence of the Mirs of Hunza
The Hunza valley is situated at an elevation of 2,438 metres (7,999 feet). For many centuries, Hunza has provided the quickest access to Swat and Gandhara for a person traveling on foot. The route was impassable to baggage animals; only human porters could get through, and then only with permission from the locals.
Hunza was easily defended as the paths were often less than half a metre (about 18") wide. The high mountain paths often crossed bare cliff faces on logs wedged into cracks in the cliff, with stones balanced on top. They were also constantly exposed to regular damage from weather and falling rocks. These were the much feared "hanging passageways" of the early Chinese histories that terrified all, including several famous Chinese Buddhist monks.

Climate
The temperature in May is maximum 27 C (81 F) and minimum 14 C (57 F) and October maximum is 10 C (50 F) and 0 C (32 F). Hunza's tourist season is from May to October, because in winter the Karakoram Highway is often blocked by the snow.

Transport
Today, the famous Karakoram Highway crosses Hunza, connecting Pakistan to China via the Khunjerab Pass. Travelling up the valley from the south, Hunza is the land to the left, and the former state of Nagar to the right of the Hunza River. Regular bus and van services operate between Gilgit and Karimabad. PTDC Office at Gilgit and Islamabad arranges tours and transport for visitors.

Spectacular scenery

Rakaposhi (7,788 m)
Hunza is one of the most exotic places in Pakistan. Several high peaks rise above 6,000 m in the surroundings of Hunza valley. The valley provides spectacular views of some of the most beautiful and magnificent mountains of the world which include Rakaposhi 7,788 m (25,551 ft), Ultar Sar (7,388 m), Ghenta Peak (7,090 m), Hunza Peak (6,270 m), Darmyani Peak (6,090 m) and Bublimating (Ladyfinger Peak) (6,000 m). Hunza Valley is also host to the ancient Baltit Fort and Altit Fort. Baltit Fort stands on top of Karimabad whereas Altit Fort lies at the bottom of the valley.
The valley is popularly believed to be the inspiration for the mythical valley of Shangri-la in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon.

People of Hunza
As much as the valley is famous for its beauty, the people of Hunza are noted for their friendliness and hospitality. The local language is Brushuski but most people understand Urdu and English. The literacy rate of the Hunza valley is believed to be above 90%, virtually every child of the new generation studies up to at least high school. Many pursue higher studies from prestigious colleges and Universities of Pakistan and abroad.
Most of the people of Hunza are Ismaili Muslims, followers of His Highness the Aga Khan. The Hunza region is home to people of three ethnicities:
The Gojal area is mainly populated by Wakhi speakers;
The Shinaki area is mainly inhabited by Shina speakers;
The Karimabad area is mainly inhabited by Burushaski speakers.
The Burushaski language is understood throughout Hunza. It is a language isolate. In addition to Burushaski, there also speakers of Wakhi, Shina and Domaaki.
The people of Hunza are collectively termed Hunzakuts, while Burusho refers only to the speakers of Burushaski. The majority of the people are Ismaili Shia Muslims who are followers of the Aga Khan. The present Aga Khan has provided a lot of funding for the area to help with agriculture and the local economy.

Tourism

Tourism is a growing industry in Pakistan, based on its diverse cultures, peoples and landscapes. The variety of attractions range from the ruins of ancient civilizations such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations, which attract those interested in field and winter sports. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7000m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2[1]. The northern parts of Pakistan have many old fortresses, towers and other architecture as well as the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home to the small pre-Islamic Animist Kalasha community who claim descent from the army of Alexander the Great. In the Punjab is the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital with many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort. To promote Pakistan's unique and various cultural heritage, the prime minister launched "Visit Pakistan 2007".