Dardistan

Dardistan, region inhabited by the Dard peoples in the north of Pakistan and northern Kashmir. It includes Chitral, the upper reaches of the Panjkora River, the Kohistan (“Highlands”) of Swat, and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Dards are known to history since ancient times, mentioned by classical historians such as Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Herodotus under the demonyms Daradae, Daradrae, or Derdae. They speak a set of Indo-Aryan languages known collectively as Dardic languages. They converted to Islam in the 14th century and use a Perso-Arabic script (see nastaʿlīq script) to write these languages, which include Khowari and Shina. The diverse region also includes a number of non-Dardic peoples and languages.