Mardan is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, located in the Valley of Peshawar and is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Peshawar. It is a fast-growing city that experienced a population boom in the latter half of the 20th century.
Mardan district is located in the south-west of the district at 34°12'0N 72°1'60E and an altitude of 283 metres (928 ft). It is the headquarters of Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering with other districts, Swabi to the East, Charsadda to the west, Buner to the North, Nowshehra to the south and Malakand to the north-west.
Mardan is the de facto headquarters of the Yousafzai tribe of Pashtuns with a significant number of Mohmand, Utmankhel, Tareen, and Khalil tribe members have settled in the city over the years. According to the 2023 Census of Pakistan, the city of Mardan had 368,302 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These inhabitants were spread out among 51,429 households, making the average household size in Mardan 7.89. Mardan experienced explosive growth throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, as the population of Mardan grew fivefold in just 50 years. The city's growth has, though, over time, slowed down by quite a bit, and between the years of 1998 and 2017, its population only grew at about 2% every year.
Mardan is located in a region which is rich in archaeological sites. In 1962, the Sanghao Caves were discovered outside of it, which yielded artefacts from the Middle Paleolithic period, over 30,000 years ago. Other sites in the immediate area have yielded evidences of human activity from the Upper Paleolithic period. Further excavations in the area around Jamal Garhi near Mardan recovered artefacts from the Mesolithic period.
The area around Mardan then formed part of the homeland of the Gandhara grave culture around 1800 BCE. The Gandharan grave culture appears to have been a Central Asian group that may represent part of the Indo-Aryan migrations into the subcontinent. Mardan then formed part of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandhara. Rock edicts of Ashoka in nearby Shahbaz Garhi date from the Mauryan period in the mid-200s BCE, and are written in the ancient Kharosthi script.
The nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site of Takht-i-Bahi was established as a monastery around 46 CE. The Bakhshali manuscript, which contains the earliest record of the use of the number 0 in the Indian subcontinent, was found near Mardan in 1891, and dates from the third or fourth century CE. It is the oldest extant manuscript in Indian mathematics. The nearby Kashmir Smast caves served Buddhist hermit monks, and dates from the fourth to ninth century CE.
During the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, Mardan was not a scene of heavy fighting as many of the native troops had been disarmed by British forces. Mardan's famous Guides' Memorial was established in 1892 to honour fallen soldiers who fought during the 1879 Siege of the British Residency in Kabul. The city's Women's Hospital was established in 1906. In 1920, Mardan was visited by Sir Charles Monro, head of British armed forces in British India. Until 1937, Mardan District was a part of Peshawar District, when it was elevated to the status of its own independent district. During the Viceroy's visit in 1946, large numbers of Mardan residents travelled to Peshawar to participate in a Muslim League rally in favour of Pakistan's establishment. The Mardan Museum was established in 1991 to showcase the region's rich ancient history.
In July 2020, life size statues of the Buddha were found during construction activity in the Mardan area. The findings were part of the ancient Indian Buddhist past of the area and related to the Gandhara Mahajanapada.
Mardan is part of a growing industrial centre, and is home to textile and edible oil mills, as well as one of the largest sugar mills in South Asia. An economic zone is planned as a part of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) near Rashakai. Although Rashakai is part of Nowshera District, its proximity with Mardan is expected to directly benefit the city.
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