Population Historical population, language, and religious counts in North-West Frontier Province were enumerated in all districts (
Hazara,
Mardan,
Peshawar,
Kohat,
Bannu, and
Dera Ismail Khan), detailed in the population, language, and religious tables above and below. Separate population counts were taken in the
Agencies and Tribal Areas, as detailed on the respective article page. At independence, there was a clear Muslim
Pashtun,
Hindkowan, and
Punjabi majority in the North-West Frontier Province, although there were also significant Hindu and Sikh
Pashtun,
Hindkowan, and
Punjabi minorities scattered across the province.
Language The languages of the North-West Frontier Province included Pashto, Punjabi, Kohistani and others, although most of the population spoke either
Pashto or
Western Punjabi (primarily
Hindko and
Saraiki). Prior to the arrival of the British, the
official language, for governmental uses and such, was
Persian.
Districts Religion Religious counts below is for the entirety of NWFP (
Hazara,
Mardan,
Peshawar,
Kohat,
Bannu, and
Dera Ismail Khan). The
Agencies and Tribal Areas constituted a separate
administrative division where religious composition was not enumerated, except at small Trans-Frontier Posts in the region. Adherents of Islam who were indigenous to frontier regions that continued to have relatively large Hindu populations, and who were also relatively recent
converts, were influenced by some traditions of Hinduism; in contrast, Muslims in frontier regions that had been further influenced by
orthodox Islam and converted at a much earlier date were noted in their relatively different cultural habits. {{blockquote| Similarly, adherents of Hinduism who belonged to the various
castes and
tribes who were
indigenous to the frontier regions had considerable Islamic influence, owing to their status as a
religious minority in the region for centuries, and thus formed
religious syncretism that incorporated aspects from both faiths into their cultures and traditions. {{blockquote| Lastly, decadal census reports throughout the colonial era frequently detailed the difficulty of differentiating adherents of
Hinduism with adherents of
Sikhism, owing to the traditional ability of the former in
assimilating and integrating followers of varied thought into Hinduism. {{blockquote|
Districts With rapid population growth occurring across all districts in the province,
Mardan District was added to the North–West Frontier Province in 1941.
Tehsils Cities Castes and tribes ==See also==