ABOUT DISTRICT
Shopian or Shupiyan in kashmir, is a hill district with its administrative division in shopian, located in the indian union territory of jammu and kashmir since it is situated on the historical road commonly known as Mughal Road, most of its area is occupied by forests. Shopian district comes under the Pir Panjal Range which makes it very cold in winter, it was earlier a tehsil of pulwama District. In March, 2007, the district status was granted by the Government Of India. The economy of the district depends on agriculture, particularly apple growing. Shopian is 22 km (14 mi) from aglar which connects it with pulwama district and is one of the border towns of the district.
Shopian or Shupiyan is , located in southern part of Kashmir Valley, bounded by Pulwama, Kulgam, Anantnag, and Peer Ki Gali where temperature often drops to as low as -7°c in winter, which is one of the extremely coldest towns of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The geologist Frederic Drew stated that Shopian derived its name from a distortion of word shah-payan, i.e. “royal stay”. However, the local people hold the view that Shopian was earlier named as “Shin-Van” meaning “snow forest”. The Shias have a different view, believing it was earlier inhabited by Shias so it is “Shin-Van” that is “The Forest of Shias”. Shopian is an ancient town of Kashmir and had an importance due to it being situated on the ancient imperial route, commonly known as Mughal Road, which connects Lahore and Srinagar.[4] Shopian was one out of six Wazarat Headquarters in Kashmir from 1872-1892 A.D. Shopian town is 51 kilometres (32 mi) from Srinagar and 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Pulwama at an elevation of 2,146 metres (7,041 ft) above sea level. It has decades-old road connectivity with Anantnag as well as Kulgam.More
