History of Peshawar: One of Asia's Oldest Cities

Peshawar's history runs from at least the 5th century BCE, as a settlement near ancient Pushkalavati, through more than two thousand years as a capital, a battleground and a trading city at the mouth of the Khyber Pass. It has been the winter capital of the Kushan empire, a Mughal frontier town, a Sikh outpost and a British cantonment, and it is one of a small number of South Asian cities that have been continuously inhabited for that long.

This guide takes the city's history period by period, and points to what survives of each in Peshawar today.

Gandhara, Purushapura and the Kushan capital

The area around Peshawar was part of ancient Gandhara, and the city grew from a settlement near Pushkalavati, the older capital a short distance away at what is now Charsadda. By the 1st century CE, the Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises had made the city, then called Purushapura, his winter capital, and under Kanishka the Great in the 2nd century CE it was one of the major cities of Central and South Asia, with a population historians estimate at over 100,000. Kanishka built a great Buddhist stupa here that drew pilgrims and travellers for centuries, and Gandhara's distinctive Greek-influenced Buddhist art was made and traded through the city. The Peshawar Museum holds much of what survives of this period; our guide to the Peshawar Museum covers its Gandharan collection.

The city declined after a series of invasions: the Sasanian empire attacked it in the 3rd century, the Kidarites took it in the early 5th century, and the White Huns devastated it in the 5th century. When the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang passed through around 630 CE, he recorded a city reduced to a fraction of its former size.

Ghaznavid, Ghorid and early Muslim rule

Peshawar came under Muslim rule from the 11th century, after Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the Hindu Shahi ruler Jayapala near the city in 1001. The Ghorids took it in the 1170s, and the Mongols destroyed much of it in the early 13th century. For long stretches of the medieval period the city was a garrison and trading post rather than a major capital, valued chiefly for its position on the routes through the Khyber Pass.

The Mughal city and the Mahabat Khan Mosque

The Mughal emperor Babur captured Peshawar in 1526, and it was renamed from Begram to Peshawar under Akbar's rule, from a Persian word usually read as meaning frontier town. The city's best-known Mughal building, the Mahabat Khan Mosque in the old city, was built in 1630 by the governor of Peshawar under Shah Jahan, and it remains in daily use; see our guide to the Mahabat Khan Mosque. Peshawar later served as the winter capital of the Durrani empire from 1776 into the early 19th century, under Ahmad Shah Durrani and his successors.

Sikh rule and the British period

The Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh took Peshawar in stages, with the decisive battle near Nowshera in 1823 and formal annexation in 1834. Sikh rule was harsh on the old city's institutions but left some buildings still visible today, before the British East India Company took the wider region in the Anglo-Sikh Wars of the 1840s.

Under British rule, Peshawar became a garrison city, with the cantonment established from 1868 onward, wide roads laid out around Saddar, and the old walled city left largely as it was. In 1901 the North-West Frontier Province was separated from Punjab, and Peshawar became its capital, a role that continued after independence as the capital of what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Qissa Khwani bazaar, in the old city, was the site of a well-known episode in the independence movement in 1930, when British troops fired on an unarmed crowd during a protest led by followers of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan; see our guide to Qissa Khwani bazaar for more.

Peshawar since 1947

After partition in 1947, Peshawar became part of Pakistan, and the University of Peshawar was established in 1950. Through the 1980s the city absorbed large numbers of Afghan refugees during the Soviet-Afghan war, a movement that shaped its markets, its population and its politics for decades afterwards, including the Afghan traders still associated with Kabuli pulao and the old city's bazaars today.

What to see of each period today

• Gandhara and Kushan: the Peshawar Museum's sculpture collection, and day trips to Gandharan sites such as Takht-i-Bahi outside the city.
• Mughal: the Mahabat Khan Mosque and the general layout of the old walled city's lanes.
• British: the Cunningham Clock Tower, built in 1900, and the wide cantonment roads of Saddar; see our guide to the Cunningham Clock Tower and Chowk Yadgar.
• The old city as a whole: our old Peshawar walking tour links the Mughal, Sikh and British-era sites in a single route, and our guide to places to visit in Peshawar sets out a full day.

Is a history-focused visit worth it?

Yes, and Peshawar rewards this kind of visit more than most Pakistani cities, since so much of its layered history is still visible on foot in a single old quarter. It is a city trip rather than a scenic one: expect bazaars, mosques and museums rather than views, and plan for a full day or two to take it in properly.

As of September 2026, the UK government advises against all travel to Peshawar, and the security picture has been more serious through 2026 than for several years. Most Pakistani visitors see the old city and its museums without incident, keeping to daylight hours and the central areas; our guide to is Peshawar safe sets out the current picture and what to check before you go.

Frequently asked questions