Burusho

The Burusho, or Hunzakut, are the people of the Hunza and Nagar valleys in the high Karakoram, around fortresses such as Baltit. Their Burushaski tongue is a language isolate, unrelated to the Indo-Aryan languages around it, and they are thought to descend from an older population driven into the mountains by incoming Indo-Aryans.

Around 1200 their valleys formed the independent principality of Hunza, whose rulers were first called Thum and later Mir and claimed descent from the soldiers of Alexander the Great; neighbouring Nagar grew into a sister Burusho kingdom. The Burusho took to Islam, most following its Ismaili branch.

From about 1761 the Mir of Hunza recognized the suzerainty of the Qing emperor, sending an annual tribute of gold dust in exchange for silk, tea and porcelain, while his raiders also ranged across the Karakoram into the Kunlun.