Burusho
Encyclopedia
The Burusho or Brusho people live in the Hunza
, Nagar
, and Yasin
valleys of Gilgit Baltistan. They are predominantly Muslims. Their language, Burushaski, has not been shown to be related to any other.
The Hunza people, or Hunzakuts, descend from the principality of Hunza
. They live alongside the Wakhi
and the Shina
. The Wakhi reside in the upper part of Hunza locally called Gojal. Wakhis also inhabit the bordering regions of China, Tajikstan and Afghanistan and also live in Gizar and Chitral district of Pakistan. The Shina-speaking people live in the southern part of Hunza
. They have come from Chilas
, Gilgit
, and other Shina language
-speaking areas of Pakistan
. The Hunzas are Shia Ismaili
Muslims. DNA research groups the male ancestry of the Hunza with speakers of Pamir languages
(Afghans) and the Sinte Romani (Gypsies). However, they have also an East Asia
n genetic contribution, suggesting that at least some of their ancestry originates north of the Himalayas.
The Hunzakuts and the region of Hunza has one of the highest literacy rates as compared to other similar districts in Pakistan. Hunza is a major tourist attraction in Pakistan, and many Pakistani as well as foreign tourists travel to the region to enjoy the picturesque landscape and stunning mountains of the area. The district has many modern amenities and is quite advanced by Asian standards. Local legend states that Hunza may have been associated with the lost kingdom of Shangri La. The people of Hunza are by some noted for their exceptionally long life expectancy, others describe this as a longevity narrative
and cite a life expectancy of 53 years for men and 52 for women, although with a high standard deviation. The Tajiks of Xinjiang sometimes enslaved the Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza. Many Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza were also enslaved in China
. After being freed, many slaves such as Gilgitis in Xinjiang cities like Tashkurgan, Yarkand, and Karghallik, stayed rather than return Hunza
in Gilgit
. Most of these slaves were women who married local slave and non slave men and had children with them. Sometimes the women were married to their masters, other slaves, or free men who were not their masters. There were ten slave men to slave women married couples, and 15 master slave women couples, with several other non master free men married to slave women. Both slave and free Turki
and Chinese
men fathered children with Hunza slave women. A freeman, Khas Muhammad, was married with 2 children to a woman slave named Daulat, aged 24. A Gilgiti slave woman aged 26, Makhmal, was married to a Chinese slave man, Allah Vardi and had 3 children with him.
ethnic group of Pakistan
and Afghanistan
, not the Burusho.
Institute for Strategic Researches "16.9" organized a visit by Hunza Prince Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Princess Rani Atiqa as descendants of the Alexandran army. The Hunza delegation was welcomed at the Skopje Airport
by the country's prime minister
Nikola Gruevski
, the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church
Archbishop Stephen
and the then-mayor of Skopje
Trifun Kostovski
. Academics dismiss the idea as pseudoscience
and doubts exist that party leaders actually believe the claims either. Moreover DNA research group Hunza people and Sinte Romani (Gypsies) in the same group.
s, were long-lived because of their consumption of healthy organic foods such as dried apricot
s and almond
s, as well as them getting plenty of fresh air and exercise. He often mentioned them in his Prevention
magazine as exemplary of the benefits of leading a healthy live style.
John Clark stayed among the Hunza people for 20 months and reported in his book, "Hunza - Lost Kingdom of the Himalayas" that Hunza do not measure their age solely by calendar (metaphorically speaking, as he also said there were no calendars), but also by personal estimation of wisdom, leading to notions of typical lifespans of 120 or greater. He also reported at one stage having as many as forty patients, and that he was very successful in treating malaria and staphylococcus with medical drugs, but had trouble with dysentery.
Renée Taylor
wrote several books in the 1960's, treating the Hunza as a long-lived and peaceful people.
Hunza Valley
The Hunza Valley is a mountainous valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. The Hunza valley is situated to the north of the Hunza River, at an elevation of around . The territory of Hunza is about...
, Nagar
Nagar Valley
The Nagar Valley is a valley near Gilgit Valley in the Gilgit Baltistan of Pakistan. The valley is part of Hunza Nagar District and is administratively subdivided into two tehsils namely Nagar-1 and Nagar-2. The valley is situated at an elevation of 2,438m . Nagar Khas is the main town and the...
, and Yasin
Yasin Valley
The Yasin Valley, Tehsil Yasin or Babaye-i-Yasen or Worshigum is a high mountain valley in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the northwest region of Gilgit in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Yasin is separated from the Ishkoman Valley by a high mountain pass...
valleys of Gilgit Baltistan. They are predominantly Muslims. Their language, Burushaski, has not been shown to be related to any other.
Hunza
Hunza (princely state)
Hunza was a princely state in the northernmost part of the Northern Areas of Pakistan until 1974. The state was also known as Kanjut. The state bordered the Gilgit Agency to the south, the former princely state of Nagar to the east, China, to the north and Afghanistan to the northwest. The state...
. They live alongside the Wakhi
Wakhi
Wakhi may be:* The Wakhi language, the language of the majority of the people of Wakhan* Wakhi, an ethnic group in Wakhan, Afghanistan* An adjective; of or relating to Wakhan, the extreme northeastern region of Afghanistan that borders China, Tajikistan, and Pakistan...
and the Shina
Shin of Hindukush
Shin is a pre-Islamic tribe from the Hindu Kush.Shin is a tribe spread throughout the Indus Valley in Kohistan, extending as far North as Baltistan. The part of the Indus Valley below Gor to the Afghan border near Ghorband is called Shinkari and its Southernmost part is home to the purest Shin...
. The Wakhi reside in the upper part of Hunza locally called Gojal. Wakhis also inhabit the bordering regions of China, Tajikstan and Afghanistan and also live in Gizar and Chitral district of Pakistan. The Shina-speaking people live in the southern part of Hunza
Hunza (princely state)
Hunza was a princely state in the northernmost part of the Northern Areas of Pakistan until 1974. The state was also known as Kanjut. The state bordered the Gilgit Agency to the south, the former princely state of Nagar to the east, China, to the north and Afghanistan to the northwest. The state...
. They have come from Chilas
Chilas
Chilas is a small town located in the Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan on the left side of river Indus. It is part of the Silk Road connected by the Karakoram Highway which links it to Islamabad in the south via Dassu, Besham, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur...
, Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
, and other Shina language
Shina language
Shina is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and Dras in Ladakh of Indian-Administered Kashmir. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit, Ghizer, and a few parts of Baltistan and Kohistan. It is also spoken in...
-speaking areas of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The Hunzas are Shia Ismaili
Ismaili
' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...
Muslims. DNA research groups the male ancestry of the Hunza with speakers of Pamir languages
Pamir languages
The Pamir languages are a group of the Eastern Iranian languages, spoken by numerous people in the Pamir Mountains, primarily along the Panj River and its tributaries. This includes the Badakhshan Province of northeastern Afghanistan and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province of eastern Tajikistan...
(Afghans) and the Sinte Romani (Gypsies). However, they have also an East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n genetic contribution, suggesting that at least some of their ancestry originates north of the Himalayas.
The Hunzakuts and the region of Hunza has one of the highest literacy rates as compared to other similar districts in Pakistan. Hunza is a major tourist attraction in Pakistan, and many Pakistani as well as foreign tourists travel to the region to enjoy the picturesque landscape and stunning mountains of the area. The district has many modern amenities and is quite advanced by Asian standards. Local legend states that Hunza may have been associated with the lost kingdom of Shangri La. The people of Hunza are by some noted for their exceptionally long life expectancy, others describe this as a longevity narrative
Longevity myths
Longevity myths are traditions about long-lived people , either as individuals or groups of people, and practices that have been believed to confer longevity, but for which scientific evidence does not support the ages claimed or the reasons for the claims.The phrase "longevity tradition" may...
and cite a life expectancy of 53 years for men and 52 for women, although with a high standard deviation. The Tajiks of Xinjiang sometimes enslaved the Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza. Many Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza were also enslaved in China
Slavery in China
Slavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Never as absolute as its Muslim or European models, Chinese slavery still often viewed its objects as "half-man, half-thing"...
. After being freed, many slaves such as Gilgitis in Xinjiang cities like Tashkurgan, Yarkand, and Karghallik, stayed rather than return Hunza
Hunza
Hunza may refer to*Hunza Valley*Former State of Hunza*Hunza River*Hunza Peak*Hunza people*Hunza is the Muisca name of the city of Tunja, Colombia...
in Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
. Most of these slaves were women who married local slave and non slave men and had children with them. Sometimes the women were married to their masters, other slaves, or free men who were not their masters. There were ten slave men to slave women married couples, and 15 master slave women couples, with several other non master free men married to slave women. Both slave and free Turki
Turki
The Turki language is a Türkic literary language active from the 13th to the 19th centuries, used by different Türkic peoples...
and Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
men fathered children with Hunza slave women. A freeman, Khas Muhammad, was married with 2 children to a woman slave named Daulat, aged 24. A Gilgiti slave woman aged 26, Makhmal, was married to a Chinese slave man, Allah Vardi and had 3 children with him.
The Hunza and Alexander the Great
Burusho legend maintains that they descend from the village of Baltir, which had been founded by a soldier left behind from the army of Alexander the Great—a legend common to much of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. However, genetic evidence supports only a very small, 2% Greek genetic component and that also among the PashtunPashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
ethnic group of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, not the Burusho.
The Hunza and the Republic of Macedonia
In 2008 the MacedonianRepublic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
Institute for Strategic Researches "16.9" organized a visit by Hunza Prince Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Princess Rani Atiqa as descendants of the Alexandran army. The Hunza delegation was welcomed at the Skopje Airport
Skopje Airport
Skopje Airport , or Skopje "Alexander the Great" Airport is the larger and busier of the two international airports in the Republic of Macedonia...
by the country's prime minister
Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia is the head of government of the Republic of Macedonia. He or she is the leader of a political coalition in the Macedonian parliament and the leader of the cabinet...
Nikola Gruevski
Nikola Gruevski
Nikola Gruevski has been Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia since 27 August 2006. He has led VMRO-DPMNE since May 2003. He was Minister of Finance in the VMRO-DPMNE government led by Ljubčo Georgievski until September 2002.- Personal life :...
, the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church
Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric or just Macedonian Orthodox Church is the body of Christians who are united under the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, exercising jurisdiction over Macedonian Orthodox Christians in the Republic of Macedonia and in exarchates in the Macedonian...
Archbishop Stephen
Archbishop Stephen
Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia Mr. Mr. Stephen is the fifth Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, metropolitan of Skopje, primate and spiritual leader of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.- Biograpny :...
and the then-mayor of Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
Trifun Kostovski
Trifun Kostovski
Trifun Kostovski is a Macedonian politician, businessman and singer, and the ex-mayor of Skopje....
. Academics dismiss the idea as pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
and doubts exist that party leaders actually believe the claims either. Moreover DNA research group Hunza people and Sinte Romani (Gypsies) in the same group.
Influence in the Western world
Healthy living advocate J.I. Rodale wrote a book called The Healthy Hunzas in 1955 that asserted that the Hunzas, noted for their longevity and many centenarianCentenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
s, were long-lived because of their consumption of healthy organic foods such as dried apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
s and almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s, as well as them getting plenty of fresh air and exercise. He often mentioned them in his Prevention
Prevention (magazine)
Prevention is an American healthy lifestyle magazine, started in 1950, and published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The range of subjects includes food, nutrition, workouts, beauty, and cooking. It was founded by J. I. Rodale...
magazine as exemplary of the benefits of leading a healthy live style.
John Clark stayed among the Hunza people for 20 months and reported in his book, "Hunza - Lost Kingdom of the Himalayas" that Hunza do not measure their age solely by calendar (metaphorically speaking, as he also said there were no calendars), but also by personal estimation of wisdom, leading to notions of typical lifespans of 120 or greater. He also reported at one stage having as many as forty patients, and that he was very successful in treating malaria and staphylococcus with medical drugs, but had trouble with dysentery.
Renée Taylor
Renee Taylor
Renée Taylor is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best-known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny.- Career :...
wrote several books in the 1960's, treating the Hunza as a long-lived and peaceful people.