Nuristanis in the context of "Nuristan"

Pakistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Hindkowans/Hazarewals, Brahuis, and Kohistanis as well as Shina, Baltis, Kashmiris, Paharis, Chitralis, Torwalis, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Pamiris and various other smaller minorities.

Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān (Pashto: کاپیرستان; Dari: کافرستان; lit. 'Land of Infidels'), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech (Kamah), Landai Sin and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the main range of the Hindu Kush on the north, Pakistan's Chitral District to the east, the Kunar Valley in the south and the Alishang River in the west.

Kafiristan took its name from the enduring kafir (non-Muslim) Nuristani inhabitants who once practised what authors consider as a form of animism and ancestor worship with elements of Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion; they were thus known to the surrounding predominantly Sunni Muslim population as Kafirs, meaning "disbelievers" or "infidels". They are closely related to the Kalash people, an independent people with a distinctive culture, language and religion, who reside in the Chitral District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Nuristan (Pashto; Dari: نورستان, lit. 'Land of Light'), also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan, known as Nuriston (Katë: نورستان), and historically known as Kafiristan (Pashto, Dari: کافرستان lit. 'Land of Infidels') until 1896, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a population of around 167,000. Parun serves as the provincial capital. Nuristan is bordered on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the north by Badakhshan province, on the west by Panjshir province, and on the east by Pakistan.

The origin of the local Nuristani people has been disputed, ranging from being the indigenous inhabitants forced to flee to this region after refusing to surrender to invaders, to being linked to various ancient groups of people and the Turk Shahi kings. Some Nuristanis claim being descendants of the Greek occupying forces of Alexander the Great. It was formerly called Kafiristan (Pashto: كافرستان) ("Land of the Infidels") until the inhabitants were forcibly converted from an animist religion with elements from Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion infused with local variations, to Islam in 1895, and thence the region has become known as Nuristan ("Land of Light"). The region was located in an area surrounded by Buddhist and Hindu civilizations which were later taken over by Muslims.

The Nuristani languages, known earlier as Kafiri languages, are one of the three groups within the Indo-Iranian language family, alongside the Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages. They have approximately 214,000 speakers primarily in Nuristan and Kunar provinces in northeastern Afghanistan and a few adjacent valleys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral District, Pakistan. The region inhabited by the Nuristanis is located in the southern Hindu Kush mountains, and is drained by the Alingar River in the west, the Pech River in the center, and the Landai Sin and Kunar rivers in the east. More broadly, the Nuristan region is located at the northern intersection of the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau.

The Nuristani languages were not described in literature until the 19th century. The older name for the region was Kafiristan due to the pre-Islamic religious practices of its residents, but this term has been abandoned in favor of Nuristan ("land of light") after the region's people were converted to Islam.