SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In recent years tribes of the North-West Frontier region in Pakistan have adopted a more settled way of life. This has had a significant effect on the resource base and existing settlement patterns of the area, and on the Bannu Lowlands in particular. settlement in Bannu since the British period, and to examine the changing relationship between the growth of settlements and tribal distribution. The changing socio-economic problems associated with settlement are then considered. settlement since the British period in the Bannu area has reflected pre-British patterns of tribal life and organisation, as found in the original tribal groups. Secondly, that contrasting response to economic opportunities presented by settlements reflect different tribal choices, such choices themselves having been influenced since the British period by both internal and external factors. Thirdly, that increasing commercialisation of the economy in recent years has begun to change the character of permanent settlement. The Bannu Lowlands cover a total of over 4000 square kilometres, with nearly 400 settlements of tribal origin, comprising mainly Bannuchi, Marwat and Wazir - the south-western Pathan tribes.