Ishkoman Valley in the context of "Ghizer District (2019–)"

Burushaski (/ˌbʊrʊˈʃæski/; Burushaski: بُرُݸشَسْکِݵ, romanized: burúśaski, IPA: [bʊ˧ˈrʊ˧ɕa˧ski˧]) is a language isolate, spoken by the Burusho people, who predominantly reside in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. There are also a few hundred speakers of this language in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India.

In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by the people of the Hunza District, the Nagar District, the northern Gilgit District, the Yasin Valley in the Gupis-Yasin District, and the Ishkoman Valley of the northern Ghizer District. Their native region is in northern Gilgit–Baltistan. It also borders the Pamir corridor to the north. In India, Burushaski is spoken in Botraj Mohalla of the Hari Parbat region in Srinagar. It is generally believed that the language was spoken in a much wider area in the past, due to the two disconnected regions in which it is spoken currently, which are separated by more easily traversible regions of the Hunza Valley where the Indo-Aryan Shina language is spoken. It is also known as Werchikwar and Miśa:ski.

The Gilgit Agency (Urdu: گلگت ایجنسی) was an agency within the British Indian Empire. It encompassed the Gilgit tehsil of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the states of Hunza and Nagar, the governorships of Yasin, Koh-i-Ghizer, Ishkoman, Punial and the tribal areas of Gor, Darel, Tangir and the district of Chilas. The agency headquarters was based in the town of Gilgit, within the Gilgit tehsil of Jammu and Kashmir.

Gilgit Agency was bounded in the west by the Chitral State, in the northwest by Afghanistan's Wakhan corridor, in the east by Chinese Turkestan, in the south by the Kashmir province, and in the southeast by the Ladakh wazarat of Jammu and Kashmir (which included Baltistan).