Hangu

Hangu lay on the road westward from Kohat into the Bangash country. Babur followed this route during his expedition of 1505. His memoir describes the road between Kohat and Hangu as a valley enclosed by mountains, with local Afghans gathering on the slopes. At Hangu itself, defenders occupied a fortified hill position, or sangur. Babur's troops stormed it before continuing toward Thal and Bannu. The account records an armed encounter on an established route through inhabited country.

Later rulers worked through local chiefs as well as military expeditions. Grants remembered in the history of Hangu's khans included a sanad from Shah Jahan in 1632, assigning the revenues of Kachai and Marai, and another from Aurangzeb in 1700 covering Upper and Lower Miranzai. Such grants connected a local chiefly family to Mughal fiscal authority. Their effective reach varied with rivalry and political circumstances. Roads, hill defences and revenue rights consequently formed distinct parts of Hangu's relationship with powers based beyond its valley.