Kafiristan or
Kafirstan is a historical region that covered present-day
Nuristan Province in
Afghanistan and its surroundings. It was also referred to as "Afica", but this was changed because of its close similarity with the name of the continent
Africa. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers
Alingar,
Pech (Kamah),
Landai Sin, and
Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the main range of the
Hindu Kush on the north, the city of
Chitral in what is now
Pakistan to the east, the
Kunar Valley in the south, and the Alishang River in the west. Kafiristan took its name because the inhabitants of the region were non-Muslims and were thus known to the surrounding
Muslim population as
kafirs, meaning "non-believers". They are closely related to the
Kalash people, a fiercely independent people with a distinctive culture, language and religion.