page_title: Dir District
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dir District / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Lajbouk (Lajbook) area in Lower Dir District, KPK, Pakistan.
context_page_description: Dir is a region in northwestern Pakistan, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. Before Pakistan was created, Dir was a princely state, and it remained so until 1969 when it was abolished by a presidential declaration, with the Dir District being created the following year. Dir District was 5,280 square kilometres in area and lay along the disputed border controlled by the Afghan nationalists. The region is situated between Chitral and Peshawar. In 1996 the district was split into Lower Dir and Upper Dir.
  It is bordered by Chitral to the northwest and north, Swat to the east, Malakand to the south, Bajaur to the southwest, and Afghanistan to the west.
context_section_description: There are excavations of numerous burials of Aryans at Timargarha and other places, dating from 18th to 6th century BC. The Aryans were followed by the Achaemenians, who were ousted by the invasion of Alexander in 327 BC, though he faced great difficulties in subjugating the local population. After the Greeks, the area witnessed the Gandharan Civilization, which achieved great fame. This period is signified by the presence of the monumental remains of the Buddhist stupas and monasteries, a few of which has already filled the museum at Chakdara.
  The Yousafzai Pathans, who established themselves here in the 15th century AD, are responsible for the tribal, social, political and economic life of the region. Akhund lIyas Painda Khel of the Malizai tribe (1640) enjoyed popular support among locals and was recognized as a spiritual leader. His descendants built upon this support and ultimately increased their power over the people and laid the foundation of a distinct political state, then called the state of Nawabs. The British annexed Dir in 1897 and demarcated its boundaries. After independence of Pakistan, it still enjoyed the status of a separate state, but was amalgamated with Pakistan in 1960 as a tribal agency. It was finally merged as a district with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1969. In 1996 the decision was made to divide Dir District into two districts, Lower Dir and Upper Dir, with Timargarha and Dir as their respective headquarters, but, due to lack of funds, until 2000 they continued to be administered by a single district commissioner operating out of Timergara.
  Dir occupied an important position as a centre of Gandhara Art. Pilgrims and historians have defined Gandhara, (the land of fragrance and beauty), as "the area to the west of Indus and north of Kabul rivers which included the valleys of Peshawar, Swat, Dir and Bajaur, extending westwards to Hadda and Bamiyan in Afghanistan and Taxila Valley in Punjab in the east". The region of Dir is therefore littered with the remains of the Gandharan Civilization and the Dir Museum, Chakdara, offers a fine and unique collection of Gandharan Art.
caption: Lajbouk village
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