The
Nuristanis are an
ethnic group native to the
Nuristan region of eastern
Afghanistan, who speak
Indo-Iranian languages, including
Nuristani. In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the
Durand Line when Afghanistan ceded various frontier areas to the
British Empire,
Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign in Nuristan (then known as
Kafiristan) and followed up his conquest with conversion of the Nuristanis to Islam; the region thenceforth being known as
Nuristan, the "Land of Light". Before their conversion, the Nuristanis (then known as "Kafiristanis") practiced an
Indo-Iranian polytheistic
Rigvedic religion. Non-Muslim religious practices endure in Nuristan today to some degree as folk customs. In their native rural areas, they are often farmers, herders, and dairymen.