General
History of Pathans or Pushtoons date back to ancient times. One cant find anything worth written by Pathans about their history themselves. So taking help from other histories or those armies or nations which invaded their areas like Alexander the Great, their account of battles or their passage through Pathan inhibited areas gives a good inside into Pathan's history.
The Pre Historic Era
Remains of ancient items found around Bunnu, Dera Ismail Khan and Mardan Districts, early stone age items like tools, blades, hammers, flakes etc have been discovered which is a clear evidence that some culture thrived between 3500 to 3000 BC in these areas of Pakistan which are now enhabited by Pathans.
The Harrapan Era>
Harrapans were more developed civilization between 2700 to 2000 BC. Their remains were discovered in the form of pottery decorated with fish images and horizontal bars, human and animal shapes and figures in Dera Ismail Khan. Their linkage can be traced to a more developed and well explored in Harrapa and Moenjo Daro areas. In Maru Dera Ismail Khan remains found indicate a more developed Harrapan Period and the remains include jewellery, bangles gems and stuff like that.
The Aryans
The main occupation of Aryans was cattle raising and thats the reason why they came to South Asia between 800 to 200 BC and settled along the Indus. Pathans have been mentioned in "The Rg Veda", a sacred book of Aryans as Pukhtu. In another book "Mahabharta", again this region and people are mentioned.
The Alaxander Era
Alaxander entered the Pushtoon belt in 317 BC from Nawagai Pass of Bajour Agency and divided his army into two sections, one went through Swat and the other went towards Charsadda. He captured bulk of the area but in the process faced very stiff resistance from the local population who just didn't know how to surrender even to the might of Alaxander. Although Alaxander stayed in the frontier region for a short time of an year or so but his impact is ever lasting
Sutan Mehmood of Ghazni
He brought Islam to Pathans and people started embracing the religion in masses. Pathans got impressed with the sufis and scholars like Firdausi and became a strong component of the Sultans army.The Mughals
The Mughal Era commenced when Babur took over and recaptured the lost territories and his entire campaign records can be found in Babar- Namah. He skillfully used the Pathan power to enhance his enfluence in the region. The most prominent were the KHATTAKS who under Khushal Khan Khattak the famous leader and poet of Pathans history played a vital role in ensuring Mughal control in the region. Although the Yousafzais were against the Mughal rule in the area but they were successfully supressed for more than a century. The Mughal grip loosened with the defeats in Gandab in 1673 and in Khapak Pass in 1674. After the death of Emperor Aurangzed the Mughals lost control of Peshawar.
Ahmad Shah Abdali's Conquests
Taking advantage of weak Mughal Empire, Ahmad Shah Abdali launched eight campaigns in 1773 and established his 26 years of reign. He used Peshawar as his base for launching invasions into Punjab and extended his empire uptill Lahore, western Punjab and Kashmir.
The Ascendency of Sikhs
After the defeat of Shah Shuja in 1809, Mahraja Ranjeet Singh siezed the initiative and with victory at Nowshehra,he advanced on Peshawar and killed and plundered mercilessly. He destroyed all historic places and established his rule on the basis of terror. He continously used to launch campaigns against the tribes and matched their bravery with harsh cruelty. To save the Muslims Pathans from this terror the famous leader Sayed Ahmad launched a religious and political as well as military struggle against the Sikhs. The Mahraja considered that as a challenge and despite suffering initial set backs defeated Sayed Ahmad in Balakot and in utter hatred threw that in the river. This was a major set back for the Pathans but Sayed Ahmad left a permanent mark on the history of the sub continent and especially Pathans
