Shopian was one of out of six Wazarat Headquarters in Kashmir from 1872-1892 A.D. Shopian town – the district headquarters – is situated at a distance of 51 Km from Srinagar and 20 Km from Pulwama.
It has decades old road connectivity with Islamabad as well as Kulgam. Mughal Road is now traversed only by Bakherwals and Gujjars during their seasonal migration. Currently under construction, Mughal road is now expected to link Shopian with Poonch and Rajouri. Most of the area in Shopian district is hilly. Coupled with conducive agroclimatic conditions, large areas of Shopian are covered by orchards especially apple and walnut.
Presence of pastures enhances the potential for development of livestock in the district.The total area of the district is 30,742 Hects, out of which 19,692.5 Hects are of cultivable nature. The grazing lands are of the order of 2,948 Hects and 260.5 Hects are forest land. Remaining 7,841 Hects of land are the lands of other nature.
Shopian, a populous town, is the urban centre of the district. Almost 90 percent of the population lives in the rural areas. The total population of the district is 2, 46,041 souls as per 2001 census. . District Shopian now comprises of 231 villages categorised in 47 patwar halqas in revenue records with an area of 30,741.6 hectares. As most of the area is hilly and merited special treatment, the government of Jammu and Kashmir has designated Shopian as a hilly District