Hunza-History
Tuesday, 27. October 2009, 09:47:42
Human’s 30,000 inhabitants have been ruled by the same family for 1960 years. They long believed themselves the equals of the great powers, years. Probably because of their impregnability. A legend states that the Hunzakuts, as the people of Hunza are known, are descended from five wandering soldiers from Alexander’s army. It is true that some of the people are fair- haired with blue or green eyes. In central Hunza the people speak Burushaski, Wakhi and aboriginal language.
Hunza retained its isolated independence until the British conquered it; on the fruits of caravan raids slave trading and attacking it’s neighbors. It did not become par of Pakistan until 1974, and even now the Mir of Hunza retains much of his traditional importance. The society is co-operative rather than competitive; there is remarkably little difference in the people’s weather, each family growing enough corn, apricots and walnuts for its own use. The economy used to be entirely self-sufficient, but this is rapidly changing as the Karakoram Highway opens up the valley.
Hunza was the likely model for the Shangri-La of James Hilton’s novel ‘Lost Horizon’ where he describes it as a country of peace and contentment where the people do not ago. The myth of the longevity of the Hunzakuts probably stems from the fact that it was selected by the National Geographic magazine as the kingdom where people loved longest, free from social stress and succored by their high intake of apricots and low intake of animal fat. Fruit was, and is, the staple diet. During the summer the people used to eat nothing else; in order to conserve fuel and precious cereals cooking in the summer months was forbidden. In winter the people ate flour made from apricot kernels and drank brandy distilled from mulberries, and wines from the grapes that used to grow everywhere, smothering the poplars and roofs.
You see in Hunza a large number of old people, most of them apparently in good health, but few, if any, live to be 120. Life is as hard in Hunza as it is elsewhere in the northern areas, particularly in the early spring when the supplies of stored food are running low.
http://www.hunza.20m.com/History.htm
Hunza retained its isolated independence until the British conquered it; on the fruits of caravan raids slave trading and attacking it’s neighbors. It did not become par of Pakistan until 1974, and even now the Mir of Hunza retains much of his traditional importance. The society is co-operative rather than competitive; there is remarkably little difference in the people’s weather, each family growing enough corn, apricots and walnuts for its own use. The economy used to be entirely self-sufficient, but this is rapidly changing as the Karakoram Highway opens up the valley.
Hunza was the likely model for the Shangri-La of James Hilton’s novel ‘Lost Horizon’ where he describes it as a country of peace and contentment where the people do not ago. The myth of the longevity of the Hunzakuts probably stems from the fact that it was selected by the National Geographic magazine as the kingdom where people loved longest, free from social stress and succored by their high intake of apricots and low intake of animal fat. Fruit was, and is, the staple diet. During the summer the people used to eat nothing else; in order to conserve fuel and precious cereals cooking in the summer months was forbidden. In winter the people ate flour made from apricot kernels and drank brandy distilled from mulberries, and wines from the grapes that used to grow everywhere, smothering the poplars and roofs.
You see in Hunza a large number of old people, most of them apparently in good health, but few, if any, live to be 120. Life is as hard in Hunza as it is elsewhere in the northern areas, particularly in the early spring when the supplies of stored food are running low.
http://www.hunza.20m.com/History.htm
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