Buddhism, and to a lesser extent, Bön, were the main religions in the area. The region has a number of surviving Buddhist archaeological sites, such as the Sacred Rock of Hunza. Nearby are former sites of Buddhist shelters. Hunza valley was central as a trading route from Central Asia to the subcontinent. It also provided shelter to Buddhist missionaries and monks who were visiting the subcontinent, and the region played a major role in the transmission of Buddhism throughout Asia.[3]
The region was Buddhist majority till the 15th century, before the arrival of Islam in this region. Since then, most of the population have converted to Islam. Thus, the presence of Buddhism in this region has now been limited to archeological sites, as the remaining Buddhists of this region moved east to Leh where Buddhism is the majority religion.[citation needed] The region has many works of graffiti in the ancient Brahmi script written on rocks, produced by Buddhist monks as a form of worship and culture.[4] With the majority of locals converting to Islam, they had been left largely ignored, destroyed or forgotten, but are now being restored.[5]
Hunza was formerly a princely state bordering Xinjiang (autonomous region of China) to the northeast and Pamir to the northwest, which survived until 1974, when it was finally dissolved by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The state bordered the Gilgit Agency to the south and the former princely state of Nagar to the east. The state capital was the town of Baltit (also known as Karimabad); another old settlement is Ganish Village which means "ancient gold" village. Hunza was an independent principality for more than 900 years until the British gained control of it and the neighboring valley of Nagar between 1889 and 1891 through military conquest. The then Tham (ruler), branch of Katur Dynasty, Safdar Khan of Hunza fled to Kashghar in China and sought what would now be called political asylum.[6]
Mir/Tham