By his account, he visited a city named "Capherstam" in 1602, during the course of a journey from Lahore to China. The first European recorded as having visited Kafiristan was the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Bento de Góis, SJ.
In Nardain there was a temple, which the army of Ghazni destroyed and brought from thence a stone covered with certain inscriptions, which were according to the Hindus, of great antiquity. The country into which the army of Ghazni marched appears to have been the same as that now called Kafirstan, where the inhabitants were and still are, idolaters and are named the Siah-Posh, or black-vested, by the Muslims of later times. Ghaznavids era Īnother crusade against idolatry was at length resolved on and Mahmud led the seventh one against Nardain, the then boundary of India, or the eastern part of the Hindu Kush separating, as Ferishta says, the countries of Hindustan and Turkistan and remarkable for its excellent fruit. The Kalasha people of lower Chitral are the last surviving heirs of the area. The Islamization of the nearby Badakhshan began in the 8th century and Peristan was completely surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. The decline of Buddhism resulted in the region becoming heavily isolated. The journey to the region was perilous according to reports of Chinese pilgrims Fa-hsien and Sung Yun. Earlier, it was surrounded by Buddhist states and societies which temporarily extended literacy and state rule to the region. The area extending from modern Nooristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of "Kafir" cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over a long period. Objects of merchandise from all parts were found here. The people used woollen and fur clothes also gold, silver and copper coins. Further evidence from Xuanzang shows that Kai-pi-shi produced a variety of cereals, many kinds of fruits, and a scented root called yu-kin, probably of the grass khus, or vetiver. There is also a reference to Chinese emperor Taizong being presented with an excellent breed of horses in 637 AD by an envoy from Chi-pin (Kapisa). Xuanzang talks of Shen breed of horses from Kapiśa ( Kai-pi-shi). Kapiśa was known for goats and their skin. Until the 9th century AD, Kapiśi remained the second capital of the Shahi dynasty of Kabul. Xuanzang describes Kai-pi-shi as a flourishing kingdom ruled by a Buddhist kshatriya king holding sway over ten neighbouring states, including Lampaka, Nagarahara, Gandhara and Bannu. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who visited Kapisa in 644 AD calls it Kai-pi-shi(h) (迦畢試 standard Chinese: Jiābìshì < Middle Chinese ZS: * kɨɑ-piɪt̚-ɕɨ H). įurther information: History of AfghanistanĪncient Kapiśa janapada, located south-east of the Hindukush, included and is related to Kafiristan. It was completely surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. The region was earlier surrounded by Buddhist states that temporarily brought literacy and state rule to the mountains the decline of Buddhism heavily isolated the region. The area extending from modern Nooristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of "Kafir" cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over a long period of time, which eventually led them to become Muslim on the orders of Abdul Rahman Khan who conquered the territory in 1895–96. They are closely related to the Kalash people, a fiercely independent people with a distinctive culture, language and religion.
Kafiristan took its name from the enduring kafir (non-Muslim) Nuristani inhabitants who once followed a distinct form of ancient Hinduism mixed with locally developed accretions they were thus known to the surrounding predominantly Sunni Muslim population as Kafirs, meaning "disbelievers" or "infidels". 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. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech (Kamah), Landai Sin river and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān ( Dari: کافرستان), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. Map of Kafiristan prior to its conversion to Islam in 1890s