Capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
About Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the eighth-most populous Pakistani city, with a population of over 1.9 million. It is located in the north-west of the country, lying in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the Khyber Pass.
Etymology
The modern name of the city "Peshawar" is possibly derived from the reconstructed Sanskrit word "Purushapura" (Sanskrit: पुरुषपुर, romanized: Puruṣapura, lit. 'City of Men' or 'City of Purusha'). It was named so by Mughal Emperor Akbar from its old name Parashawar, the meaning of which Akbar did not understand. The ruler of the city during its founding may have been a Hindu raja named Purush; the word pur means "city" in Sanskrit. Sanskrit, written in the Kharosthi script, was the literary language (along with Gandhari Prakrit) employed by the Buddhist kingdoms which ruled over the area during its earliest recorded period. The city's name may also be derived from the Sanskrit name for "City of Flowers", Poshapura, a name found in an ancient Kharosthi inscription that may refer to Peshawar. …
History
Peshawar was established as the city of Puruṣapura, on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar, after the 100 CE. It may have been named after a Hindu raja, who ruled the city, who was known as Purush. The city likely first existed as a small village in the fifth century BCE, near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, near present-day Charsadda. In the winter of 327–26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of the Indus Valley, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexander's conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under the suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. A locally made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles' play Antigone. Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE. …
Geography
Peshawar is located in the broad Valley of Peshawar, which is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides, with the fourth opening to the Punjab plains. The city is located in the generally level base of the valley, known as the Gandhara Plains. Peshawar features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), with very hot, prolonged summers and brief, mild to cool winters. Winter in Peshawar starts in November and ends in late March, though it sometimes extends into mid-April, while the summer months are from mid-May to mid-September. The mean maximum summer temperature surpasses 40 °C (104 °F) during the hottest month, and the mean minimum temperature is 25 °C (77 °F). The mean minimum temperature during the coolest month is 4 °C (39.2 °F), while the maximum is 18.3 °C (64.9 °F). …
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