HAZARA, or HUZARA, a British district in the lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab, India, lying between 33° 45' and 35° 2' N. lat., and between 72° 35' 30" and 74° 9' E. long. It forms the north-eastern district of the PeshAwar Division, and is bounded on the N. by the Black Mountains, the Swathi country, Kohistan, and Childs ; on the E, by the native state of Kashmir ; on the S. by Rawal Pindi district ; and on the W. by the river Indus. The area is 2771 square miles.

The district forms a wedge of territory extending far into the heart of the outer Himalayan range, and consisting of a long narrow valley, shut in on both sides by lofty mountains, whose peaks rise to a height of 17,000 feet above sea level. Towards the centre of the district the vale of Khagan is hounded by mountain chains, which sweep southward still maintaining a general parallel direction, and send off spurs on every side which divide the country into numerous minor dales. The district is well watered by the tributaries of the Indus, the Kunhar, which flows through the Kluigim Valley into the Jhilain (Jhelum), and many rivulets. Throughout the scenery is picturesque. To the north rise the distant peaks of the snow-clad ranges ; midway, the central mountains stand clothed to their rounded summits with pines and other forest trees, while grass and brushwood spread a green cloak over the nearer hills, and cultivation covers every available slope.

The enumeration of 1868, which extended over an area of 3000 square miles (including the feudal territory of Tanawal), showed a population of 367,218 (males, 191,423 ; females, 175,795). The Mahometans numbered 346,112 ; Hindus, 18,563 ; Sikhs, 973 ; "others," 1570. The gross revenue in 1875-76 was £25,292. In the same year the police force numbered 510 men, besides 390 village watchmen ; and there were 24 schools with 1042 pupils. The principal crops consist of wheat, barley, oil-seeds, maize, rice, pulses, millets, and cotton. Out of a cultivated area of 393,918 acres, 36,380 are artificially irrigated by means of wells and embankments on the rivers and hill torrents. Hazitra has not suffered from any calamity since the famine of 1783, which affected it as well as the rest of Upper India. The chief imports are English cloth, salt, indigo ; and the exports ghi, mustard oil, barley, wheat, rice, and live stock. In 1875-76 there were 676 miles of unmetalled roads within the district. The average rainfall for the eight years ending 1873-74 amounted to 47 inches. The station of Abbottabad is the headquarters of the Punjab frontier force.

Ifistory. - The name Hazara probably belonged originally to a Trirki family which entered India with Timnr in the 14th century, and subsequently settled in this remote region. During the prosperous period of the Mughal dynasty, the population included a number of mixed tribes, which each began to assert its independence, so that the utmost anarchy prevailed until the time when Hazcira attracted the attention of the rising Sikh monarchy. Itanjit Sinh first obtained a footing in the district in 1818, and, after eight years of constant aggression, became master of the whole country. During the minority of the young Maharkia Dhulip Sink the Sikh capital fell in to a state of complete disorganization; the people seized the opportunity for recovering their independence, and rose in 1845 in rebellion. They stormed the Sikh forts, laid siege to Ilaripnr, and drove the governor across the borders. In the following year the greater part of the district was included in the territory ceded to RAP, Ghulab Sinh by the British, at the conclusion of the first Sikh war. On the outbreak of the second Sikh war the troops in garrison revolted, but the Mussulman inhabitants supported Lieutenant Abbott under the Lahore Government, and the insurrection was soon quelled. Since then Haziira has passed under direct British rule, and has enjoyed for more than quarter of a century uninterrupted peace.