The mountain valley of Swat, covering 10,360 sq.km, is about 170 km north-east of the NWFP capital, Peshawar, and about 160 km north-west of Islamabad. With its clean rivers, open fields and forests, tourism has traditionally been the main source of revenue for many of its 1.8 million people, most of whom are ethnic Pashtuns.

In 327 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the area. Around the second century BC, the valley was occupied by Buddhists. From the eighth century onwards, Islamic Arab leaders started to exert pressure from the west and in 1001, the Afghan ruler, Mahmud of Ghazni, launched several invasions of the Indian sub-continent, conquering Swat.

The British, colonial rulers of the Indian sub-continent from 1858 to 1947, recognised the state as one of many princely regions in India in 1926.

At Partition in 1947, when Pakistan broke away from India and independence was gained from Britain, the ruler of Swat ceded the state to Pakistan while retaining considerable autonomy. The princely state was abolished in 1969 by the Pakistan government.

Swat is an administrative district of NWFP; it does not lie within Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and does not border on Afghanistan. The capital is Saidu Sharif but the main city is Mingora, adjacent to Saidu.