1.
Sanskrit literature
–
There are contemporary efforts towards revival, with events like the All-India Sanskrit Festival holding composition contests. Some Sanskrit literature such as the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads were translated into Arabic and Persian, the Panchatantra was also translated into Persian. Composed between approximately 1500 BCE and 600 BCE in pre-classical Sanskrit, Vedic oral literature forms the basis for the development of Hinduism. There are four Vedas - Rig, Yajur, Sāma and Atharva, each with a main Samhita, the main period of Vedic literary activity falls into c. the 9th to 7th centuries when the various shakhas compiled and memorized their respective corpora. The oldest surviving manuscript of a composed in Sanskrit is the Devi Māhātmya on Palm-leaf dating from the 11th century CE. The older Upanishads belong to the Vedic period, but the part of the Muktika canon is post-Vedic. The Aranyakas form part of both the Brahmana and Upanishad corpus, in the Vedanga disciplines of grammar and phonetics, no author had greater influence than Pāṇini with his Aṣṭādhyāyī. Being prescriptive for all later works, such as Patanjalis Mahābhāṣya. The Backus–Naur form or BNF grammars used to describe modern programming languages have significant similarities with Paninis grammar rules and they are known as itihasa, or history. While not as long as the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is still twice as long as the Iliad, traditionally, the authorship is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, who is referred to as Adikavi, or first poet. In the Ramayana, the meter was introduced for the first time. Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana was also handed down orally and it includes tales that form the basis for modern Hindu festivals and even contains a description of the same marriage practice still observed in contemporary times by people of Hindu persuasion. The story deals with Prince Rama, his exile and the abduction of his wife by the Rakshasa king Ravana, similar to the Mahabharata, the Ramayana also has several full-fledged stories appearing as sub-plots. The Ramayana has also played a similar and equally important role in the development of Indian, the Ramayana is also extant in Southeast Asian versions. The Mahabharata is one of the longest poetic works in the world, while it is clearly a poetic epic, it contains large tracts of Hindu mythology, philosophy and religious tracts. Traditionally, authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to the sage Vyasa, the broad sweep of the story of the Mahabharata chronicles the story of the conflict between two families for control of Hastinapur, a city in ancient India. The impact of the Mahabharata on India and Hinduism can hardly be overstated, having been molded by Indian culture, it has in turn molded the development of Indian culture. Thousands of later writers would draw freely from the story and sub-stories of the Mahabharata, Sanskrit also became a major language for Indian religions such as Buddhism and Jainism
Sanskrit literature
–
The oldest surviving manuscript of a text composed in Sanskrit, in an early
Bhujimol script. The
Devi Māhātmya on Palm-leaf,
Bihar or
Nepal, 11th century.
Sanskrit literature
–
The battle of Kurukshetra, folio from the Mahabharata.
Sanskrit literature
–
Sanskrit Buddhist manuscript.
Sanskrit literature
–
Shakuntala stops to look back at
Dushyanta,
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), scene from Abhijñānaśākuntalam.
2.
Vedic period
–
The Vedic period was the period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. During the early part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, scholars consider Vedic civilisation to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of large, around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the so-called Hindu synthesis. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended c.1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita, which was composed between c and they brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. These migrations may have been accompanied with violent clashes with the people who inhabited this region. The Rig Veda contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus, the Rig Veda describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices or obey the commandments of gods. Their speech is described as mridhra which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. Internecine military conflicts between the tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the Rig Veda. Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni. The battle was fought between the tribe Bharatas, led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes— Puru, Yadu, Turvasha, Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Siva, Vishanin. Bharatas lived around the regions of the river Saraswati, while Purus, their western neighbours. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab, division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war
Vedic period
–
Aryans settling in India
Vedic period
–
Vedic period
Vedic period
–
Modern replica of utensils and
falcon shaped altar used for
Agnicayana, an elaborate
srauta ritual originating from the
Kuru Kingdom, around 1000 BCE.
Vedic period
–
Ceramic goblet from Navdatoli,
Malwa, 1300 BCE.
3.
Indo-Iranians
–
Some scholars now use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, while the term Aryan is used to mean Indo-Iranian by other scholars such as Josef Wiesehofer and Jaakko Häkkinen. Population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, in his 1994 book The History and Geography of Human Genes, historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC, if not earlier, preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures. The earliest recorded forms of languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups is complex, two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by and Parpola. The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the Proto-Indo-European invention of the chariot and it is assumed that this expansion spread from the Proto-Indo-European homeland north of the Caspian sea south to the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and Northern India. They also expanded into Mesopotamia and Syria and introduced the horse, sumerian texts from EDIIIb Girsu already mention the chariot and Ur III texts mention the horse. Linguistic remains can be found in a Hittite horse-training manual written by one Kikkuli the Mitannian, other evidence is found in references to the names of Mitanni rulers and the gods they swore by in treaties, these remains are found in the archives of the Mitannis neighbors. The time period for this is about 1500 BC, in a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya are invoked. Kikkulis horse training text includes technical terms such as aika, tera, panza, satta, the numeral aika one is of particular importance because it places the superstrate in the vicinity of Indo-Aryan proper as opposed to Indo-Iranian or early Iranian in general. The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into South Asia is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus, the earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1500 BC. From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread from c.1500 BC to c.500 BC, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Indo-Aryans in these areas established several kingdoms and principalities in the region. The latter lasted until the 4th century BC, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya, in eastern Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan, whatever Indo-Aryan languages were spoken there were eventually pushed out by the Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the Indian subcontinent, today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji and the Maldives. The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave, the first Iranians to reach the Black Sea may have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a branch of the Central Asian Sakas. The populous Sarmatian tribe of the Massagetae, dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the rulers of Persia in the Achaemenid Period. In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, the Medes, Parthians and Persians begin to appear on the Iranian plateau from c.800 BC, and the Achaemenids replaced Elamite rule from 559 BC
Indo-Iranians
–
Map of the
Sintashta-Petrovka culture (
red), its expansion into the
Andronovo culture (
orange) during the
2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the
BMAC (
chartreuse green) in the south. The location of the earliest
chariots is shown in
magenta.
4.
Common Era
–
Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
Common Era
–
Key concepts
5.
Manusmriti
–
The Manusmṛti, also spelled as Manusmriti, is an ancient legal text among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts translated during the British rule of India in 1794, by Sir William Jones, the texts fame spread outside India, long before the colonial era. The medieval era Buddhistic law of Myanmar and Thailand are also ascribed to Manu, Manusmriti is also called the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu. The title Manusmriti is a modern term and a late innovation. The over fifty manuscripts discovered of the text, never use this title, in modern scholarship, these two titles refer to the same text. Later scholarship, shifted the chronology of the text to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, Olivelle adds that numismatics evidence, and the mention of gold coins as a fine, suggest that text may date to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Most scholars consider the text a composite produced by many authors put together over a long period, Olivelle states that the various ancient and medieval Indian texts claim revisions and editions were derived from the original text with 100,000 verses and 1,080 chapters. However, the version in modern use, according to Olivelle, is likely the work of a single author or a chairman with research assistants. Manusmriti, Olivelle states, was not a new document, it drew on other texts, the root of theoretical models within Manusmriti rely on at least two shastras that pre-date it, artha, and dharma. Its contents can be traced to Kalpasutras of the Vedic era, the foundational texts of Manusmriti include many of these sutras, all from an era preceding the common era. Most of these ancient texts are now lost, and only four of have survived, the modern version of the text has been subdivided into twelve Adhyayas, but the original text had no such division. The text covers different topics, and is unique among ancient Indian texts in using “transitional verses” to mark the end of one subject, the text can be broadly divided into four, each of different length. The first 58 verses are attributed by the text to Manu, the Dharmasya Yonih has twenty-four verses, and one transition verse. Translation 2, The root of the religion is the entire Veda, and the tradition and customs of those who know, and the conduct of virtuous people, and what is satisfactory to oneself. Translation 2, The Veda, tradition, the conduct of good people and this section of Manusmriti, like other Hindu law texts, includes fourfold sources of Dharma, states Levinson, which include Atmana santushti, Sadachara, Smriti and Sruti. Olivelle notes instances of likely interpolation and insertions in the notes to this section, the verses 12.1,12.2 and 12.82 are transitional verses. This section is in a different style than the rest of the text, while there is evidence that this chapter was extensively redacted over time, however it is unclear whether the entire chapter is of a later era. The text dedicates 1,034 verses, the largest portion, on laws for and expected virtues of Brahmins, the statement of rules for the Vaishyas and the Shudras in the text is extraordinarily brief
Manusmriti
–
Views on Manusmriti have varied among Indian leaders. Ambedkar (left) burnt it in 1927, while Gandhi (right) found it a mix of lofty as well as contradictory teachings. Gandhi suggested a critical reading, and rejection of parts that were contrary to
ahimsa.
Manusmriti
6.
Gandhara
–
Gandhara is also an ancient name for Kandahar, Afghanistan. Gandhāra was an ancient Indic kingdom situated in the region of Pakistan. It encompassed the Peshawar valley and later extended to both Jalalabad district of modern-day Afghanistan as well as Taxila, in Pakistan. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its city was Charsadda. It is mentioned in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth and it was known as the crown jewel of Bactria and also held sway over Takṣaśilā. Gandhara existed since the time of the Rigveda and formed part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, after it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 AD, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period, the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul, during Mughal times, it was an independent district which included the Kabul province. The name Gāndhāra occurs later in the classical Sanskrit of the epics and it is recorded in Avestan as Vaēkərəta. The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, one proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandha, meaning perfume and referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they traded and with which they anointed themselves. Some authors have connected the modern name Kandahar to Gandhara, Herodotus records that those Iranic tribes, which were adjacent to the city of Caspatyrus and the district of Pactyïce, had customs similar to the Bactrians, and are the most warlike amongst them. These are also the people who obtain gold from the ant-hills of the adjoining desert, on the identity of Caspatyrus, there have been two opinions, one equating it with Kabul, the other with the name of Kashmir. The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history, sometimes the Peshawar Valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara, sometimes the Swat Valley was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always the Peshawar Valley, the kingdom was ruled from capitals at Kapisa, Pushkalavati, Taxila, Puruṣapura and in its final days from Udabhandapura on the River Indus. Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools, the artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present, the region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture, and the nucleus of Vedic civilisation. This culture flourished from 1500 to 500 BC and its evidence has been discovered in the hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila. The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenid Persia, the Behistun inscription listing the 23 territories of King Darius I includes Gandāra along with Bactria and Sattagydia. In the book Histories by Herodotus, Gandhara is named as a source of tax collections for King Darius, the Gandhāris, along with the Balhika, Mūjavants, Angas, and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in the Atharvaveda, as distant people
Gandhara
–
Female spouted figure, terracotta, Charsadda, Gandhara, 3rd to 1st century BC
Victoria and Albert Museum
Gandhara
Gandhara
–
Mother Goddess (fertility divinity), possibly derived from the
Indus Valley Civilization,
terracotta, Sar Dheri, Gandhara, 1st century BC,
Victoria and Albert Museum
Gandhara
–
Genealogy and family tree of Malak Afghana, grandson of King Saul.
7.
Afghanistan
–
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
Afghanistan
–
History of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
–
Flag
Afghanistan
–
Bilingual (
Greek and
Aramaic)
edict by Emperor
Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE discovered in the southern city of
Kandahar
Afghanistan
–
One of the
Buddhas of Bamiyan.
Buddhism was widespread in the region before the
Islamic conquest of Afghanistan.
8.
Tajikistan
–
Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a mountainous, landlocked country in Central Asia with an estimated 8 million people in 2013, and an area of 143,100 km2. It is bordered by Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the south, the Republic of Uzbekistan to the west, the Kyrgyz Republic to the north, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan lies to the south, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Traditional homelands of Tajik people included present-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, a civil war was fought almost immediately after independence, lasting from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability, Tajikistan is a presidential republic consisting of four provinces. Most of Tajikistans 8 million people belong to the Tajik ethnic group, many Tajiks also speak Russian as their second language. Mountains cover more than 90% of the country and it has a transition economy that is highly dependent on remittances, aluminium and cotton production. Tajikistan means the Land of the Tajiks, the suffix -stan is Persian for place of or country and Tajik is, most likely, the name of a pre-Islamic tribe. Tajikistan appeared as Tadjikistan or Tadzhikistan in English prior to 1991 and this is due to a transliteration from the Russian, Таджикистан. In Russian, there is no single letter j to represent the phoneme /ʤ/ and дж, Tadzhikistan is the most common alternate spelling and is widely used in English literature derived from Russian sources. Tadjikistan is the spelling in French and can occasionally be found in English language texts, the way of writing Tajikistan in the Perso-Arabic script is. The earliest recorded history of the dates back to about 500 BCE when much, if not all. After the regions conquest by Alexander the Great it became part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, northern Tajikistan was part of Sogdia, a collection of city-states which was overrun by Scythians and Yuezhi nomadic tribes around 150 BCE. The Silk Road passed through the region and following the expedition of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi commercial relations between Han China and Sogdiana flourished. Sogdians played a role in facilitating trade and also worked in other capacities, as farmers, carpetweavers, glassmakers. Later the Hephthalite Empire, a collection of tribes, moved into the region. Central Asia continued in its role as a crossroads, linking China, the steppes to the north. It was temporarily under the control of the Tibetan empire and Chinese from 650–680, the Samanid Empire,819 to 999, restored Persian control of the region and enlarged the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara which became the cultural centres of Iran and the region was known as Khorasan. The Kara-Khanid Khanate conquered Transoxania and ruled between 999–1211, during Genghis Khans invasion of Khwarezmia in the early 13th century the Mongol Empire took control over nearly all of Central Asia
Tajikistan
–
The
Samanid ruler
Mansur I (961 – 976).
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
–
Tajik men and boys, 1905-1915
Tajikistan
–
Soviet negotiations with
basmachi, 1921
9.
Uzbekistan
–
Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Located in Central Asia, it is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries, Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Once part of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the region that includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population, however, Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and others. A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims, Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, UN, and the SCO. While officially a republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Uzbekistans economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic import substitution. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometres and it is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the 4th largest by area, Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres from west to east and 930 kilometres from north to south, Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country and it is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world, the other being Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert and mountains, the climate in the Republic of Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually. The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C, while the winter low temperature is around −23 °C. Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than 50% of its former area, reliable, or even approximate data, have not been collected, stored or provided by any organization or official agency
Uzbekistan
–
Comparison of the
Aral Sea between 1989 and 2014.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
–
Female statuette wearing the
kaunakes. Chlorite and limestone,
Bactria, beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.
Uzbekistan
–
Alexander the Great at the
Battle of Issus.
10.
Kyrgyzstan
–
Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Kyrgyzstans recorded history spans over 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires, ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the countrys 5.7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Kyrgyz is closely related to other Turkic languages, although Russian remains widely spoken and is the official language, the majority of the population are non-denominational Muslims. In addition to its Turkic origins, Kyrgyz culture bears elements of Persian, Mongolian and Russian influence. Kyrgyz is believed to have derived from the Turkic word for forty, in reference to the forty clans of Manas. Literally, Kyrgyz means We are forty, at the time, in the early 9th century AD, the Uyghurs dominated much of Central Asia, Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China. King, Scythians were early settlers in present-day Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 A. D. From the 10th century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range, in the twelfth century the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the Altay Range and Sayan Mountains as a result of the Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, the Kyrgyz peacefully became a part of the Mongol Empire in 1207. The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed on the hand by the recent genetic studies. Issyk Kul Lake was a stopover on the Silk Road, a route for traders, merchants. Kyrgyz tribes were overrun in the 17th century by the Mongols, in the century by the Manchurian Qing Dynasty. In the late century, the majority part of what is today Kyrgyzstan was ceded to Russia through two treaties between China and Russia. The territory, then known in Russian as Kirghizia, was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover was met with numerous revolts against Tsarist authority, in addition, the suppression of the 1916 rebellion against Russian rule in Central Asia caused many Kyrgyz later to migrate to China. Soviet power was established in the region in 1919. On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a republic of the Soviet Union
Kyrgyzstan
–
Silk road caravansary utilized during the
Islamic Golden Age
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
–
Kyrgyz nomads, 1869–1870, by Vasily Vereshchagin
Kyrgyzstan
–
Kyrgyz yurt, 1869–1870, by
Vasily Vereshchagin
11.
Edicts of Ashoka
–
These inscriptions were dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan and represent the first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail the Ashokas view about dhamma, an earnest attempt to solve some of problems that a complex society faced, according to the edicts, the extent of Buddhist proselytism during this period reached as far as the Mediterranean, and many Buddhist monuments were created. These inscriptions proclaim Ashokas adherence to the Buddhist philosophy which, as in Hinduism is called dharma, the inscriptions show his efforts to develop the Buddhist dharma throughout his kingdom. In these inscriptions, Ashoka refers to himself as Beloved servant of the Gods The identification of Devanampiyadasi with Ashoka was confirmed by an inscription discovered in 1915 by C, beadon, a British gold-mining engineer, at Maski, a village in Raichur district of Karnataka. Another minor rock edict is found at the village Gujarra in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh and this also shows the name Ashoka in addition to usual Devanampiyadasi. The inscriptions found in the part of India were written in Magadhi Prakrit using the Brahmi script. These edicts were deciphered by British archaeologist and historian James Prinsep. The edicts were based on Ashokas ideas on administration and behaviour of people towards one another, now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-Servant-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. Rock Edict Nb13 The distance of 600 yojanas corresponds to the distance between the center of India and Greece, roughly 4,000 miles. Amtiyoko refers to Antiochus II Theos of Syria, who controlled the Seleucid Empire from Syria to Bactria in the east from 305 to 250 BCE, and was therefore a direct neighbor of Ashoka. Turamaye refers to Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt, king of the dynasty founded by Ptolemy I, amtikini refers to Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedon. Maka refers to Magas of Cyrene, alikasudaro refers to Alexander II of Epirus. Some scholars, however, point to the presence of Buddhist communities in the Hellenistic world from that time, the pre-Christian monastic order of the Therapeutae may have drawn inspiration for its ascetic lifestyle from contact with Buddhist monasticism, although the foundation and Scriptures were Jewish. A possible Buddhist gravestone from the Ptolemaic period has been found by Flinders Petrie, decorated with a depiction of what may be Wheel of the Law and Trishula. Commenting on the presence of Buddhists in Alexandria, Robert Linssen pointed out that It was later in this place that one of the most active centres of Christianity was established. These communities therefore seem to have been significant during the reign of Ashoka. A notable mention references aspects of Greek society, there is no country, except among the Greeks, where these two groups, Brahmans and ascetics, are not found, and there is no country where people are not devoted to one or another religion. Rock Edict Nb13 Two edicts in Afghanistan have been found with Greek inscriptions, one of these being a bilingual edict in Greek language, and the king abstains from living beings, and other men and those who huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. Kambojas are a people of Central Asian origin who had settled first in Arachosia and Drangiana, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas are other people under Ashoka’s rule
Edicts of Ashoka
–
Distribution of the Edicts of Ashoka
Edicts of Ashoka
–
Edicts of Ashoka I-XI in
Shahbazgarhi,
Peshawar, along the
Karakoram Route, now the
Karakoram Highway
Edicts of Ashoka
–
Bilingual inscription (
Greek and
Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from
Kandahar.
Kabul Museum.
Edicts of Ashoka
–
Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edicts of Ashoka (238 BCE), in
Brahmi, sandstones.
British Museum.
12.
Mauryan empire
–
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated ancient India between c. 322 and 187 BCE. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic Plain in the side of the Indian subcontinent. The empire was the largest to have existed in the Indian subcontinent. By 316 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander, Chandragupta then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Macedonian general from Alexanders army, gaining additional territory west of the Indus River. The Maurya Empire was one of the largest empires of the world in its time and it declined for about 50 years after Ashokas rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha. After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace, Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, the population of the empire has been estimated to be about 50–60 million, making the Mauryan Empire one of the most populous empires of Antiquity. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware, the Arthashastra and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath has been made the national emblem of India, the Maurya Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, with help from Chanakya, at Takshashila. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire, meanwhile, the conquering armies of Alexander the Great refused to cross the Beas River and advance further eastward, deterred by the prospect of battling Magadha. Alexander returned to Babylon and re-deployed most of his troops west of the Indus River, soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented, and local kings declared their independence, leaving several smaller disunited satraps. Chandragupta Mauryas rise to power is shrouded in mystery and controversy, on one hand, a number of ancient Indian accounts, such as the drama Mudrarakshasa by Vishakhadatta, describe his royal ancestry and even link him with the Nanda family. A kshatriya clan known as the Mauryas are referred to in the earliest Buddhist texts, however, any conclusions are hard to make without further historical evidence. Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as Sandrokottos, as a young man he is said to have met Alexander. He is also said to have met the Nanda king, angered him, Chanakyas original intentions were to train a guerilla army under Chandraguptas command. The Mudrarakshasa of Vishakhadatta as well as the Jaina work Parishishtaparvan talk of Chandraguptas alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, Chanakya encouraged Chandragupta Maurya and his army to take over the throne of Magadha. These men included the general of Taxila, accomplished students of Chanakya, the representative of King Porus of Kakayee, his son Malayketu. The Macedonians may then have participated, together with other groups, the Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandraguptas alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, often identified with Porus
Mauryan empire
–
Aśoka pillar at Sarnath. ca. 250 BCE.
Mauryan empire
–
Maurya Empire at its maximum extent
Mauryan empire
–
Ashoka pillar at
Vaishali
Mauryan empire
–
Bas relief at
Sanchi Stupa, 3rd century BCE.
13.
Hindu Kush
–
It forms the western section of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region. It divides the valley of the Amu Darya to the north from the Indus River valley to the south, the eastern end of the Hindu Kush in the north merges with the Karakoram Range. Towards its southern end, it connects with the Spin Ghar Range near the Kabul River, the Hindu Kush range were a historically significant center of Buddhism with sites such as the Bamiyan Buddhas. The range and communities settled in it hosted ancient monasteries, important trade networks, Buddhism declined, then vanished, after Islam arrived in the region. The Hindu Kush range has also been the passageway during the invasions of the Indian subcontinent and this collision created the Himalayas, including the Hindu Kush. The Hindu Kush range remains geologically active and are still rising, the origins of the name Hindu Kush are uncertain, with multiple theories being propounded by different scholars and writers. The Persian-English dictionary indicates that the word koš is derived from the verb, the word and suffix -kush means kill, slay, death. In his travel memoirs about India, the 14th century Moroccan traveller Muhammad Ibn Battuta mentioned crossing into India via the passes of the Hindu Kush. In his Rihla, he mentions these mountains and the history of the range in slave trading, to Arab geographers, states Allan, Hindu Kush was the frontier boundary where Hindustan started. According to McColl, yet another possibility is that the name may be from the ancient Avestan language, the mountain range was also called Paropamisadae by Hellenic Greeks in the late first millennium BC. Some scholars remove the space, and refer to Hindu Kush as Hindukush, the mountains have historical significance in the Indian subcontinent and China. The Hindu Kush range was a center of Buddhism with sites such as the Bamiyan Buddhas. It has also been the passageway during the invasions of the Indian subcontinent, a region where the Taliban and Al Qaeda grew, Buddhism was widespread in the ancient Hindu Kush region. Ancient artwork of Buddhism include the giant rock carved statues called the Bamiyan Buddha and these statues were blown up by the Taliban Islamists. One of the early Buddhist schools, the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda, was prominent in the area of Bamiyan, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a Lokottaravāda monastery in the 7th century CE, at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Some manuscripts are in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, while others are in Sanskrit, after the Islamic conquest of the region and Islam becoming the state religion, Buddhism vanished and locals became Muslims. The significance of the Hindu Kush mountain range has been recorded since the time of Darius I of Persia, alexander the Great entered the Indian subcontinent through the Hindu Kush as his army moved past Bactria into the Afghan valley in the spring of 329 BCE. He moved towards the Indus valley river region in 327 BCE, the region became a part of the Kushan Empire in centuries around the start of the common era
Hindu Kush
–
Hindu Kush range
Hindu Kush
–
Landscape of Afghanistan with a
T-62 in the foreground.
Hindu Kush
–
The Hindu Kush occupies the lower left centre of this satellite image.
Hindu Kush
14.
Paropamisadae
–
The Paropamisadae, also known by other names, were a people who lived in the area of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan during classical antiquity. The name was used to refer to the lands these people inhabited. Paropamisadae is the form of the Greek name Paropamisádai, used to refer to the inhabitants of the land of Paropamisus in the Hindu Kush. They also appeared frequently as Parapamisadae and Parapamīsus, Paropamīsii. The name was applied to a nearby river, probably the Obi. In the ancient Buddhist texts, the Mahajanapada kingdom of Kamboja compassed the territories of Paropamisus, the region came under Achaemenid Persian control in the late 6th century BC, either during the reign of Cyrus the Great or Darius I. In the 320s BC, Alexander the Great conquered the entire Persian Empire, after Alexanders death in 323 BC, the area came under control of the Seleucid Empire, which gave the region to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. The Eucratidians seized the area soon after the death of Menander I, Paropamisus was located north of Arachosia and Drangiana, east of Aria, south of Bactria, and west of Kashmir. There were two rivers flowing through the land, the Coas or Cophen and the Dorgamanes or Orgomanes farther north. The major cities of the land were the city of Ortospana or Carura, probably identifiable with Kabul, Gauzaca, probably modern Ghazni, Capissa in the northeast, and Parsia, indo-Greek kingdom Greco-Bactrian kingdom The Greeks in Bactria and India by W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press Ptolemys section on the Paropanisadae in English translation John Watson McCrindles Ancient India as Described in Ptolemy
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
–
The area of Paropamisadae is located to the east of
Bactria, and to the north of
Arachosia.
Paropamisadae
–
A 15th century reconstruction (by
Nicolaus Germanus) of a 2nd-century map (by
Ptolemy)
15.
Rajauri
–
Rajauri or Rajouri is a town and a municipal council in Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. Rajauri is about 155 kilometres from Jammu city on the Poonch Highway, Rajauri is known as the Vale of Lakes as there are many lakes around the city. Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University is based in the town, Rajouri is a district in the Jammu & Kashmir state of India. The total area of Rajouri is 2,630 km² including 2,608.11 km² rural area and 21.89 km² urban area, Rajouri has a population of 642,415. There are 130,401 houses in the district, Rajouri district is further divided into the following Blocks/Tehsils for administrative purposes,1. Manjakote Rajouri district was a region of immense significance in ancient times, the Mahabharata has references to a kingdom known as Panchalya Desha, whose king was Panchal Naresh, and whose daughter Draupadi was married to the Pandavas. Historians identify Panchalya Desha as the area in the Panchal range of mountains, Rajouri was also a part of this kingdom of Panchal Naresh. The region was known as Rajapuri - the land of Kings. It finds its mention in the account of Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang who visited the town in 632 B. C. E. In those days Laharkote in Poonch district and Rajouri had emerged as two states of the area. Several villages, towns, and cities are located in Rajauri, Rajouri witnessed some of the toughest fighting during Pakistani intervention in Kashmir during Operation Gibraltar. Rajauri is located at 33. 38°N74. 3°E /33.38,74.3 and it has an average elevation of 915 metres. The climate of Rajauri is somewhat cooler than the areas of Duggardesh plains. The summer temperature generally does not exceed 41 degrees, winters are cool and chilly characterized with rainfall due to western disturbances. Snowfall is scanty but may occur in cool months like that of December 2012, average rainfall is 769 millimetres in the wettest months. At the 2011 census, Rajouri itself had a population of 37,552 while the population within the limits was 41,552. Males constituted 57% of the population and females 43%, Rajouri had an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 75. 5%, male literacy was 83% and female literacy was 68%. 12% of the population was under 6 years of age, the people are mostly Gujjars and Paharis
Rajauri
–
View of old Jhula Bridge at Medina Colony,Rajouri.
Rajauri
–
New Rajauri Bridge
16.
Ferghana
–
Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, and about 75 km west of Andijan. It used to be called ferghana, during the Kushan empire, the ancient kingdom referred to as Dayuan in the Chinese chronicles is now generally accepted as being in the Ferghana Valley. It is sometimes, though less commonly, written as Dawan and it has been suggested that the name Yuan was simply a transliteration of the words “Yona”, or “Yavana”, used throughout antiquity in Asia to designate Greeks. The earliest Chinese visitor was the ambassador Zhang Qian, who passed through on his way to secure an alliance with the Da Yuezhi or Great Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. 123 says, Dayuan lies southwest of the territory of the Xiongnu, the people are also settled on the land, plowing the fields and growing rice and wheat. They also make out of grapes. The region has many fine horses which sweat blood, their forebears are supposed to have been foaled from heavenly horses, the people live in houses in fortified cities, there being some seventy or more cities of various sizes in the region. The population numbers several hundred thousand, the people fight with bows and spears and can shoot from horseback. Dayuan is bordered on the north by Kangju, on the west by the kingdom of the Great Yuezhi, on the southwest by Daxia, on the northeast by the land of the Wusun, Da Yuan appears as a powerful state in both the Shiji and the Hanshu. However, after Xian, king of Yarkand, conquered it about the middle of the 1st century CE, the Hou Hanshu adds that Da Yuan sent tribute and offerings to the Chinese court in 130 CE along with Kashgar and Yarkand. After that, it is referred to as Liyi 栗弋, and is stated to be a dependency of Kangju. By the time of the Weilüe, the old capital, Alexandria Eschate, had become a kingdom called Northern Wuyi. Zoroastrian literature identifies the area as the Zoroastrian homeland and it was known as Özkent during Karakhanid rule. At Mirzas death in 1498, Babur became chief, although he was still a minor, during the expansion of Russia in the nineteenth century the Russians invaded Turkistan, gradually taking it over between 1855 and 1884. They took the capital of the Kokand Khanate in 1873 and included it within what was named the Fergana Province of the Russian empire, modern Fergana city was founded in 1876 as a garrison town and colonial appendage to Margelan by the Russians. It was initially named New Margelan, then renamed Skobelev in 1907 after the first Russian military governor of Fergana Valley. In 1924, after the Bolshevik reconquest of the region from basmachi rebels, the Fergana canal was constructed in the 1930s. Annual precipitation is less than 200mm, and is higher in winter, the population of Fergana is approximately 187,100
Ferghana
–
Al-Fargʻoniy -Park in Fargʻona
Ferghana
–
Soviet negotiations with
basmachi, Fergana, 1921
Ferghana
–
Fergana Airport.
17.
Kunar River
–
The Kunar River, also called the Chitral River or the Kama River, is about 480 km long, located in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and eastern Afghanistan. The river system is fed by melting glaciers and snow of the Hindu Kush mountains and it is also part of the Indus watershed basin. The river rises in the far north glaciated Hindu Kush mountains of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, downstream as far as Mastuj it is known as the Mastuj River from there to its confluence with the Lotkoh River just north of the important regional centre of Chitral. It is then called the Chitral River, before flowing south into the upper Kunar Valley of Afghanistan. At the confluence in Asadabad, historically Chaga Sarai, it meets with Pech River, the combined rivers then flow eastwards into Pakistan again, roughly following the Grand Trunk Road through the Khyber Pass, and joining the Indus River at the city of Attock. At about six miles from Jellalabad, we quitted the valley of the Cabul river, I have not seen so fine a valley as this anywhere. The Kama is a rapid stream, with about a mile of rich soil on either side. The villages are large and well peopled, - Major - General Augustus Abbott, mid 19th century The river has great untapped hydropower potential which could be harnessed for cheap hydro electricity generation. Currently, under construction Golen Gol power project is located on this river
Kunar River
–
Kunar (کونړ سيند)
Kunar River
–
Kunar river in the Kunar valley
18.
Balkh
–
Balkh was an ancient city and centre of Buddhism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif. It was one of the cities of Khorasan, since the latters earliest history. Marco Polo described Balkh as a noble and great city, the ancient city of Balkh was known to the Ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria. It was mostly known as the centre and capital of Bactria or Tokharistan, Balkh is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated some 12 km from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about 365 m. Outside the town was a large Buddhist monastery later known as Naubahar, french Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel associated Shambhala with Balkh, also offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala, elevated candle as an etymology of its name. In a similar vein, the Gurdjieffian J. G. Bennett published speculation that Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, the name of the province or country appears in Old Persian inscriptions as Bāxtri, i. e. Bakhtri. It is written in the Avesta as Bāxδi, from this came the intermediate form Bāxli, Sanskrit Bahlīka for Bactrian, and by transposition the modern Persian Balx, i. e. Balkh, and Armenian Bahl. Balkh is considered to be the first city to which the Indo-Iranian tribes moved from the North of Amu Darya, the Arabs called it Umm Al-Belaad or Mother of Cities due to its antiquity. The city was traditionally a center of Zoroastrianism, the name Zariaspa, which is either an alternate name for Balkh or a term for part of the city, may derive from the important Zoroastrian fire temple Azar-i-Asp. Balkh was regarded as the place where Zoroaster first preached his religion, the changing climate has led to desertification since antiquity, when the region was very fertile. For a long time the city and country was the seat of the dualistic Zoroastrian religion. Armenian sources state that the Arsacid Dynasty of the Parthian Empire established its capital in Balkh, there is a long-standing tradition that an ancient shrine of Anahita was to be found here, a temple so rich it invited plunder. Alexander the Great married Roxana of Bactria after killing the king of Balkh, the city was the capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and was besieged for three years by the Seleucid Empire. Balkh town is well-known to Buddhist countries because of two great Buddhist monks of Afghanistan – Trapusa and Bahalika, there are two stupas over their relics. According to a legend, Buddhism was introduced in Balkh by Bhallika, disciple of Buddha. He was a merchant of the region and had come from Bodhgaya, in literature, Balkh has been described as Balhika, Valhika or Bahlika. First Vihara at Balkh was built for Bhallika when he returned home after becoming a Buddhist monk, Xuanzang visited Balkh in 630 when it was a flourishing centre of Hinayana Buddhism
Balkh
–
Ruins of the Masjid Sabz (the "
Green Mosque "), named for its tiled
dome (in July 2001)
Balkh
–
Map showing Balkh (here indicated as Bactres), the capital of
Bactria
Balkh
–
History of Afghanistan
Balkh
–
Remains of a Hellenistic capital found in Balkh.
19.
Kafiristan
–
Kāfiristān or Kāfirstān is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. It was also referred to as Afica and this historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech, Landai Sin, and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the range of the Hindu Kush on the north, the city of Chitral in what is now Pakistan to the east, the Kunar Valley in the south. They are closely related to the Kalash people, an independent people with a distinctive culture, language. Kafiristan was inhabited by people who followed a form of ancient Hinduism, the word kafir has also been suggested to be linked to Kapiś, the ancient Sanskrit name of the region that included historic Kafiristan. According to the theory, the name may have mutated at some point into the word Kapir. Ancient Kapiśa janapada, located south-east of the Hindukush, included and is related to Kafiristan, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who visited Kapisa in 644 AD calls it Kai-pi-shi. Xuanzang describes Kai-pi-shi as a kingdom ruled by a Buddhist kshatriya king holding sway over ten neighbouring states, including Lampaka, Nagarahara, Gandhara. Until the 9th century AD, Kapiśi remained the capital of the Shahi dynasty of Kabul. Kapiśa was known for goats and their skin, Xuanzang talks of Shen breed of horses from Kapiśa. There is also a reference to Chinese emperor Taizong being presented with excellent breed of horses in 637 AD by an envoy from Chi-pin. Further evidence from Xuanzang shows that Kai-pi-shi produced all kind of cereals, many kinds of fruits, the people used woollen and fur clothes and gold, silver and copper coins. Objects of merchandise from all parts were found here, in Nardain there was a temple, which the army of Ghazni destroyed, and brought from thence a stone covered with certain inscriptions, which were according to the Hindus, of great antiquity. The first European recorded as having visited Kafiristan was the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Benedictus Gomes, by his account, he visited a city named Capherstam in 1602, during the course of a journey from Lahore to China. The British adventurer Colonel Alexander Gardner claimed to have visited Kafiristan twice, on the first occasion, Dost Mohammad, the amir of Kabul, killed members of Gardners delegation in Afghanistan and forced him to flee from Kabul to Yarkand through west Kafiristan. On his second visit, Gardner briefly sojourned in northern Kafiristan and he was the last outsider to visit the area and observe these peoples polytheistic culture before their conversion to Islam. Robertsons 1896 account was entitled The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush and he had similarly subjugated the Hazara people in 1892-3. In 1896 Abdur Rahman Khan, who had conquered the region for Islam, renamed the people the Nuristani
Kafiristan
–
History of Afghanistan
Kafiristan
–
Map showing present-day
Nuristan Province of
Afghanistan
Kafiristan
–
Film poster The Journey to Kafiristan (de)
20.
Zeravshan
–
Zarafshan is a city of over 68,000 inhabitants in the center of Uzbekistans Navoiy Region. Located in the Kyzylkum desert, it water from the Amudarya by a 220-km pipeline. Zarafshan is called the capital of Uzbekistan. It is home of the Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Combinats Central Mining Administration, between 1995 and 2006 the Muruntau gold mining and processing operation was run by the Zarafshan-Newmont Joint Venture, a foreign direct investment by Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Colorado. Uzbekistan expropriated the assets in 2006 and by 2007 had taken full ownership of the mine. Astrelin Victoria epitomizes the beauty of the city, zarafshan Airport is served by Uzbekistan Airlines with direct daily flights to and from Tashkent
Zeravshan
–
Zarafshan
21.
Scythia
–
The Ancient Greeks gave the name Scythia to all the lands north-east of Europe and the northern coast of the Black Sea. The Scythians – the Greeks name for this nomadic people – inhabited Scythia from at least the 11th century BC to the 2nd century AD. Its location and extent varied over time but usually extended farther to the west than is indicated on the map opposite, Scythia was a loose state that originated as early as 8th century BC. Little is known of them and their rulers, the most detailed western description is by Herodotus, though it is uncertain he ever went to Scythia. He says the Scythians own name for themselves was Scoloti, the Scythians became increasingly settled and wealthy on their western frontier with Greco-Roman civilization. It is possible that the dynasty ruled in Scythia during most of its history. The name of Koloksai, a founder of a royal dynasty, is mentioned by Alcman in the 7th century BC. Prototi and Madis, Scythian kings in the Near Eastern period of their history, Herodotus lists five generations of a royal clan that probably reigned at the end of the 7th to 6th centuries BC, prince Anacharsis, Saulius, Idanthyrsus, Gnurus, Lycus, and Spargapithes. After being defeated and driven from the Near East, in the first half of the 6th century BCE, in the second half of that century, Scythians succeeded in dominating the agricultural tribes of the forest-steppe and placed them under tribute. As a result, their state was reconstructed with the appearance of the Second Scythian Kingdom which reached its zenith in the 4th century BC, aggressive external policy intensified exploitation of dependent populations and progressed the stratification among the nomadic rulers. Trading with Greeks also stimulated sedentarization processes, accordingly, the trade became a stimulus for capture of slaves as war spoils in numerous wars. The Scythian state reached its greatest extent in the 4th century BC during the reign of Ateas, isocrates believed that Scythians, and also Thracians and Persians, are the most able to power, and are the peoples with the greatest might. In the 4th century BC, under king Ateas, the structure of the state was eliminated. The later sources do not mention three basileuses any more, strabo tells that Ateas ruled over the majority of the North Pontic barbarians. Written sources tell that expansion of the Scythian state before the 4th century BC was mainly to the west, in this respect Ateas continued the policy of his predecessors in the 5th century BC. During western expansion, Ateas fought the Triballi, an area of Thrace was subjugated and levied with severe duties. During the 90 year life of Ateas, the Scythians settled firmly in Thrace, at the same time, both the nomadic and agricultural Scythian populations increased along the Dniester river. A war with the Bosporian Kingdom increased Scythian pressure on the Greek cities along the North Pontic littoral, materials from the site near Kamianka-Dniprovska, purportedly the capital of the Ateas’ state, show that metallurgists were free members of the society, even if burdened with imposed obligations
Scythia
–
Scythia et Serica, 18th century map.
Scythia
–
Approximate extent of Scythia within the area of distribution of
Eastern Iranian languages (shown in orange) in the 1st century BC. [
citation needed]
Scythia
–
Scythian king
Skilurus, relief from
Scythian Neapolis, Crimea, 2nd century BC
22.
Oxus
–
The Amu Darya, also called the Amu River and historically known by its Latin name, Oxus, is a major river in Central Asia. It is formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, at Qaleh-ye Panjeh in Afghanistan, in ancient times, the river was regarded as the boundary between Greater Iran and Turan. In classical antiquity, the river was known as the Ōxus in Latin and Ὦξος Ôxos in Greek—a clear derivative of Vakhsh, in Vedic Sanskrit, the river is also referred to as Vakṣu. The Avestan texts too refer to the River as Yakhsha/Vakhsha, in Middle Persian sources of the Sassanid period the river is known as Wehrōd. The name Amu is said to have come from the city of Āmul, in modern Turkmenistan. Medieval Arabic and Muslim sources call the river Jayhoun which is derived from Gihon, however, this name is no longer used. Hara and to the river of Gozan (that is to say, the Amu. the Gozan River is the River Balkh, i. e. the Oxus or the Amu Darya. and were brought into Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan. The rivers total length is 2,400 kilometres and its drainage basin totals 534,739 square kilometres in area, the river is navigable for over 1,450 kilometres. All of the water comes from the mountains in the south where annual precipitation can be over 1,000 mm. An ice cave at the end of the Wakhjir valley, in the Wakhan Corridor, in the Pamir Mountains, a glacier turns into the Wakhan River and joins the Pamir River about 50 kilometres downstream. Therefore, the Chelab stream may be considered the true source or parent stream of the Oxus. The Panj River forms the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan and it flows west to Ishkashim where it turns north and then north-west through the Pamirs passing the Tajikistan–Afghanistan Friendship Bridge. It subsequently forms the border of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan for about 200 kilometres, passing Termez and it delineates the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan for another 100 kilometres before it flows into Turkmenistan at Atamurat. As the Amudarya, it flows across Turkmenistan south to north, passing Türkmenabat, use of water from the Amu Darya for irrigation has been a major contributing factor to the shrinking of the Aral Sea since the late 1950s. Historical records state that in different periods, the river flowed into the Aral Sea, into the Caspian Sea, about 1,385,045 square kilometres of land is drained by the Amu Darya into the Aral Sea endorheic basin. This includes most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of Kyrgyzstan, the northeast corner of Afghanistan, part of the Amu Daryas drainage divide in Tajikistan forms that countrys border with China and Pakistan. About 61% of the lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Of the area drained by the Amu Darya, only about 200,000 square kilometres actively contribute water to the river and this is because many of the rivers major tributaries have been diverted, and much of the rivers drainage is dominated by outlying desert and steppe
Oxus
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Looking at the Amu Darya from
Turkmenistan
Oxus
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Map of the Amu Darya watershed
Oxus
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Amu Darya Delta from space
Oxus
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Afghanistan-Tajikistan bridge over the Amu Darya.
23.
Jaxartes
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The Syr Darya /ˌsɪərˈdɑːrjə/ is a river in Central Asia. It is the northern and eastern of the two rivers in the endorrheic basin of the Aral Sea, the other being the Amu Darya. The second part of the name river in Persian. The current name only from the 18th century. The earliest recorded name comes down to us as Jaxartes /ˌdʒæɡˈzɑːrtiːz/ or Iaxartes /ˌaɪ. əɡˈzɑːrtiːz/ in Ancient Greek and this name is recorded by several sources, including those relating to Alexander the Great kage the great. The Greek preserves the Old Persian name Yakhsha Arta, perhaps a reference to the color of its glacially-fed water, more evidence for the Persian etymology comes from its Turkic name up to the time of the Arab conquest, the Yinchu, or Pearl river. Following the Muslim conquest, the river appears in the sources uniformly as the Seyhun, the current local name of the river, Syr, does not appear before the 16th century. In the 17th century, Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Khan, historian and ruler of Khiva, calls the Aral Sea the Sea of Sïr and its annual flow is a very modest 37 cubic kilometres per year—half that of its sister river, the Amu Darya. Along its course, the Syr Darya irrigates the most productive cotton-growing region in the whole of Central Asia, together with the towns of Kokand, Khujand, Kyzylorda, various local governments throughout history have built and maintained an extensive system of canals. These canals are of importance in this arid region. Many fell into disuse in the 17th and early 18th century, massive expansion of irrigation canals in Middle and Lower Syr Darya during the Soviet period to water cotton and rice fields caused ecological damage to the area. The amount of water taken from the river was such that in some periods of the year, no water at all reaches the Aral Sea, similar to the Amu Darya situation in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. During the era of Alexander the Great, the Syr Darya marked the northernmost limit of Hellenic conquests and also the site of a famous battle, the Battle of Jaxartes. It was on the shores of the Syr Darya that Alexander placed a garrison in the City of Cyrus, for most of its history since at least the Muslim Conquest of Central Asia, the name of this city has been Khujand. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, after the fall of the Soviet Union this system disintegrated and the Central Asian nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue. Britannica. com Livius. org, Jaxartes BBC News, Syn Darya in pictures
Jaxartes
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Syr Darya at
Kyzylorda,
Kazakhstan
Jaxartes
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Astronaut photograph of the Syr Darya River floodplain
Jaxartes
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Syr Darya River at Khujand
24.
Ammianus Marcellinus
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Ammianus Marcellinus was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity. Ammianus was born between 325 and 330 in the Greek-speaking East, possibly in Syria or Phoenicia and his native language was most likely Greek, he learned Latin as a second language, and was probably familiar with Syriac as well. The surviving books of his cover the years 353 to 378. Ammianus served as a soldier in the army of Constantius II and Julian in Gaul and he professes to have been a former soldier and a Greek, and his enrollment among the elite protectores domestici shows that he was of middle class or higher birth. Consensus is that Ammianus probably came from a family. He entered the army at an age, when Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis in Mesopotamia. He returned with Ursicinus to Italy when Ursicinus was recalled by Constantius to begin an expedition against Claudius Silvanus, Silvanus had been forced by the allegedly false accusations of his enemies into proclaiming himself emperor in Gaul. Ammianus campaigned in the East twice under Ursicinus, on one occasion he was separated from the officers entourage and took refuge in Amida during the siege of the city by the Sassanids of shah Shapur II, he reportedly barely escaped with his life. He accompanied Julian, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, in his campaigns against the Alamanni, after Julians death, Ammianus accompanied retreat of the new emperor Jovian as far as Antioch. He was residing in Antioch in 372 when a certain Theodorus was thought to have identified the successor to the emperor Valens by divination. Speaking as an eyewitness, Marcellinus recounts how Theodorus and several others were made to confess their deceit through the use of torture. He eventually settled in Rome and began the Res Gestae, the precise year of his death is unknown, but scholarly consensus places it somewhere between 392 and 400 at the latest. Modern scholarship generally describes Ammianus as a pagan who was tolerant of Christianity and he was not blind to the faults of Christians or of pagans, he observed in his Res Gestae that no wild beasts are so deadly to humans as most Christians are to each other. And he condemns his hero Julian for excessive attachment to sacrifice and he presumably completed the work before 391, as at 22.16. The Res Gestae was originally composed of books, but the first thirteen have been lost. The surviving eighteen books cover the period from 353 to 378, as a whole it is extremely valuable, constituting the foundation of modern understanding of the history of the fourth century Roman Empire. Although criticised as lacking literary merit by his biographers, he was in fact quite skilled in rhetoric. His work has suffered terribly from manuscript transmission, aside from the loss of the first thirteen books, the remaining eighteen are in many places corrupt and lacunose
Ammianus Marcellinus
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A bust of Emperor
Constantius II from Syria.
Ammianus Marcellinus
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The walls of Amida, built by
Constantius II before the
Siege of Amida of 359
Ammianus Marcellinus
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A copy of the Res Gestae from 1533
