Yusufzai

"Yousafzai" redirects here. For the Pakistani Education and women's rights activist, see Malala Yousafzai.

The Yūsufzai (Pashto: يوسفزیYūsufzay, plur. يوسفزي Yūsufzī; Urdu/Persian: یوسف زئی), also called Yousafzai, Esapzay or Yūsufī is one of the Sarbani Pashtun tribes. They are found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, and in some eastern parts of Afghanistan. Pashtun tribal confederacies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are shown in the picture.

File:Pashtun Confederacies.jpg

Pashtun Confederacies

History

Yusufzai tribe is the largest Pashtun tribe. According to Akhund Darweza, the Yusufzai originated in Kandahar of present-day Afghanistan. In their migration eastward, they arrived in the Kabul area when it was ruled by the Turkic governor Ulugh Beg, who had succeeded his father Shahrukh Mirza in 1447. Mirza Ulagh baig Killed all the prominent Yousafzai Elders in Kabul, and Yousafzais migrated to Peshawar, where they were given asylum by dilzaks

When the Yusufzai spread into the area as far as Swat, their relationship with the local Dilazaks deteriorated and a long war ensued. After 20 years, under their leader Malik Ahmed Khan, the Yusufzai and allied clans(jadoon and uthmankhale) were able to push the Dilazaks eastwards towards the Hazara mountains east of the Indus River, at the battle of Katlang.

The tribe is mentioned as "Isapzais" by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. They are later mentioned by Babur in the 16th century. It is claimed that by the 1580s the Yusufzai numbered about 100,000 households. In general, they were uncooperative with the rule of Akbar who sent military forces under Zain Khan Koka and Raja Bir Bar to subdue them. In 1585 Raja Bir Bar was killed in fighting with the Yusufzai. It was not until about 1690 that they were fully brought within the realm of the Mughal Empire. Pir Baba, as the first emir. After Akbar Shah's death in 1857, Akhund Ghaffur assumed control of the state himself. The state lasted until the early 20th century under its religious leaders known as Akhunds of Swat, and later passed on to the last dynasty ofsayyid or Safi, who ruled over the area now encompassing the present day Swat, District Buner, (right side of Indus River) district Kohistan Shangla till 1969.

Settlements

The Yusufzai are the predominant population in the districts of Swat, Swabi, Buner, Shangla, Mardan, Malakand, Tor Ghar, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swabi in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They are also living in Battagram and the Rasheeda , Maloga village of the Oghi Tehsil of Mansehra. In Balochistan, there is also a Yusufzai clan of the Dehwar tribe in the Mastung District which speak both Brahui, and Persian with some mixture of Brahui words.

In Afghanistan, they inhabit parts of the Kunar and Nangarhar and Herat provinces as well as Kabul.

Most Yusufzai speak the northern variant of Pashto (Pukhto) with the hard "kh" replacing the softer "sh" of the southern Pashto dialects.

It is believed that some Pashtuns of possible Yusufzai lineages migrated a few hundred years prior and settled in parts of India, especially in Andhra Pradesh's capital Hyderabad city, in the Rohilkhand region of northwestern Uttar Pradesh, in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, in Gaya,gopalgang vaishali and the nearby Bihar, in Channapatna, Kadi, Ahmedabad, Baroda and the nearby Gujarat, in Maharashtra's Pune, Akola and Mumbai, and in Karnataka's Mysore and Bangalore. This is because certain Indians from these areas, especially from India's Rohilla community, sometimes claim Pashtun descent, though their claims have never been substantiated with genealogical studies.

List of People belonging to Yousefzai

Malala Yousafzai

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Yusufzai at Khyber.org
• History of Swat at Swatian.com