Why is it called Abbottabad?

The Pakistani town where the world’s number one terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was found and killed by U.S. Special Forces has itself become globally famous: Abbottabad.

Some may wonder how it got such an odd name.

Abbottabad was named after a British army officer named Major James Abbott who founded the city (and the outlying district) in 1853 when British India annexed the vast Punjab region.

In the Urdu language, “Abbottabad” essentially means “abode of Abbott” or “home of Abbott.” Similarly, the name of the capital Islamabad means “abode of Islam.”

Major Abbott was the first Deputy Commissioner of what was then called the “Hazara” district. He was also a poet who wrote a melancholy poem called Abbottabad, before he returned to England.

He has quite a distinguished military career, eventually becoming a general, and having belonged to the Bengal Artillery Unit and seeing combat during both Anglo-Sikh wars.

Three of his brothers also became high-ranked British military officers.

Abbott died in England in 1896 at the ripe old age of 89.