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 is a landmark in the history of the frontier. From his death to the rise of Ranjit Singh, the frontier districts remained an appendage of the Durani empire. Little control was exercised by the rulers of Kabul, and the country was administered by local chiefs or Afghan Sirdars very much as they pleased. The Sikh invasions began in 1818, and from that date to the annexation by the British government the Sikhs were steadily making themselves masters of the country. After the Second Sikh War, by the proclamation of the 29th of March 1849, the frontier districts were annexed by the British government. From that time until the creation of the North-West Frontier Province the settled districts formed part of the Punjab, while the independent tribes were controlled at different times by the Punjab government, and the government of India. Their turbulence still continued, and since 1849 they have been the object of over fifty punitive expeditions. The chief tribes, under the political control of the N.W. Frontier agency, besides Chitralis and Bajouris, are the Utman Khel, Yusafzais, Hassanzais, Mohmands, Afridis, Jowakis, Mullagoris, Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Chamkannis, Khattaks, Bangashes, Turis, Waziris, Battannis (Bhitanis) and Sheranis. These tribes are referred to under separate headings.

Creation of the Province.—The North-West Frontier Province differs from the older provinces of India in having been artificially built up out of part of a previous province together with new districts for a definite administrative purpose. The proposal to make the frontier districts into a separate province, administered by an officer of special experience, dates back to the viceroyalty of Lord Lytton, who, in a famous minute of the 22nd of April 1877, said:—

The result of this minute was that a frontier commissionership, including Sind, was sanctioned by the home government, and Sir Frederick (afterwards Lord) Roberts had been designated as the first Commissioner, when the outbreak of the Second Afghan War caused the project to be postponed. It was afterwards shelved by Lord Ripon. Twenty-three years elapsed before the idea was revived and successfully brought to completion by Lord Curzon, whose scheme was on a more modest scale than Lord Lytton’s. It omitted Sind altogether, and confined the new province to the Pathan trans-Indus districts north of the Gomal. The purpose of the change was to subject all the independent tribes from Chitral to the Gomal Pass to the control of a single hand, and to ensure a firm and continuous policy in their management. The administration of the province is conducted by a chief Commissioner and Agent to the Governor-General.

Population.—In the census of 1901 the operations were extended for the first time to the Kurram Valley and the Sherani country, trans-frontier territories containing a population of 66,628 souls, which had not been previously enumerated. The military cantonments and posts in Malakand, Dir, Swat and Chitral were also enumerated, as were those in the Tochi Valley (the Northern Waziristan Agency) and in the Gomal (the Southern Waziristan Agency), the former figures being included in the census returns of Bannu district, and those of the latter in the returns of Dera Ismail Khan. The total population of the province was 2,125,480; but this figure omits the great majority of the frontier tribes. The province is almost wholly agricultural. The urban population is only one-eighth of the total, and shows no tendency to increase. There are no large industries to attract the population to the towns; these, except Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan, are either expansions of large agricultural villages or bazaars which have grown up round the many cantonments of the province. The great majority of the population are Pathan by race and Mahommedan by religion. The predominant language is (q.v.). The conquered strata of the population speak servile Indian dialects, called Hindki in the north and Jatki in the south, while Gujari is spoken by the large Gujar population in the hills of Hazara and north of Peshawar.

 NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES. The North-West Territory was at first a general name given to all the districts of British North America lying N.W. of the St Lawrence basin. In the British North America Act of 1867 provision was made for the admission to Canada of “Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territory.” Manitoba was formed out of this district in 1870. The territory remaining was then called the “North-West Territories,” and until other arrangements were made was to be under the governor of Manitoba. In 1876 the district of Keewatin was established; in 1881 the limits of Manitoba were enlarged; and in 1882 four new districts—Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Athabasca—were organized. In 1905 the two first of these with some modification became the province of Saskatchewan, and the two last the province of Alberta. The territories of Canada outside of the eight provinces and Yukon district of the mainland are now organized as the North-West Territories, and are under an administrator or acting governor. They include the districts of Keewatin, Ungava, Mackenzie and Franklin. These territories have an Indian population of about 8500, the