1.
Zaranj
–
Zaranj or Zarang is a city in southwestern Afghanistan, near the border with Iran, which has a population of 160,902 people as of 2015. It is the capital of Nimruz province and is linked by highways with Lashkar Gah to the east, Farah to the north and the Iranian city of Zabol to the west. Zaranj serves as the crossing between Afghanistan and Iran, which is of significant importance to the trade-route between Central Asia and South Asia with the Middle East. Zaranj is a Trading and Transit Hub in western Afghanistan, on the border with Iran, there are 17,878 residential dwellings in Zarat and 1,759 hectares of agricultural land. Commercial land use is clustered on the road to Iran. Modern Zaranj bears the name of an ancient city whose name is attested in Old Persian as Zranka. In Greek, this word became Drangiana, other historical names for Zaranj include Zirra, Zarangia, Zarani etc. Ultimately the word Zaranj is derived from the ancient Old Persian word zaranka, the region of Drangiana where the Helmand or the Hindmand meets Hamun-e-helmand and creates a fertile inland delta was known in Sassanid times as kuchak hind or little India. Achaemenid Zranka, the capital of Drangiana, was almost certainly located at Dahan-e Gholaman, medieval Zaranj is located at Nād-i Alī,4.4 km north of the modern city of Zaranj. According to the Arab geographers, prior to medieval Zaranj, the capital of Sistan was located at Ram Shahristan. Ram Shahristan had been supplied water by a canal from the Helmand River, but its dam broke, the area was deprived of water. This Zaranj appears on the Peutinger Map of late Antiquity, the area came under Muslim rule in 652, when Zaranj surrendered to the governor of Khurāsān, it subsequently became a base for further caliphal expansion in the region. In 661, a small Arab garrison reestablished its authority in the region after having temporarily lost control due to skirmishes, a Nestorian Christian community is recorded in Zaranj in the sixth century, and by the end of the eighth century there was a Jacobite diocese of Zaranj. In the 9th century Zaranj was the capital of the Saffarid dynasty, whose founder was the local coppersmith turned warlord and it became part of the Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Trimurids, Safavids and others. Defeated by the Samanids in 900, the Saffarids sank to a position of regional importance, subsequently, Zaranj served as the capital of the Nasrid and Mihrabānid maliks of Nīmrūz. In the early 18th century, the city part of the Afghan Hotaki dynasty until they were removed from power in 1738 by Nader Shah of Khorasan. By 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani made it part of modern Afghanistan after he united all the different tribes, under the modern Afghan governments, the area was known as Farah-Chakansur Province until 1968, when it was separated to form the provinces of Nimruz and Farah. The city of Zaranj became the capital of Nimroz province, on the occasion, Karzai said, the completion of the project is a message to those who want to stop cooperation between India and Afghanistan
Zaranj
–
Afghan and US officials walking on one of the main streets of Zaranj
Zaranj
–
Nimruz Governor's official guesthouse serving official guests visiting Nimruz.
Zaranj
–
Nearly 300 young men and women between the ages of 14 and 30 gathered at the provincial governor's compound in Zaranj to be part of a youth shura in January 2011. The shura was a chance to interact with the local men and women and describe to them how the future of Afghanistan rests in their hands.
2.
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.
3.
Persian languages
–
Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
Persian languages
–
Old Persian
Persian languages
–
"Farsi" written in Persian (
Nasta'liq script)
Persian languages
–
Ferdowsi 's
Shahnameh
Persian languages
–
Kalilah va Dimna, an influential work in Persian literature.
4.
Sunni Islam
–
Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
–
Malaysian Sunni Muslims in a
Mawlid procession in capital
Putrajaya, 2013.
Sunni Islam
–
The
Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) was, in particular during the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, an important center of Islamic learning with an emphasis on the
Maliki Madh'hab. It is located in the city of
Kairouan in
Tunisia
5.
Monarchy
–
The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
Monarchy
–
Richard I of England being anointed during his coronation in
Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle.
Monarchy
–
Thutmose I, the third
Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.
Monarchy
–
King George III of the United Kingdom, Portrait by
Allan Ramsay, 1762
Monarchy
–
King
Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
6.
Saffarid dynasty
–
The Saffarid dynasty was a Muslim Persianate dynasty from Sistan that ruled over parts of eastern Iran, with its capital at Zaranj. Khorasan, Afghanistan and Sistan from 861 to 1003 and he seized control of the Sistan region and began conquering most of Iran and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Pakistan, Tajikestan and Uzbekistan. The Saffarids used their capital Zaranj as a base for an aggressive expansion eastward and westward and they first invaded the areas south of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and then overthrew the Persian Tahirid dynasty, annexing Khorasan in 873. By the time of Yaqubs death, he had conquered the Kabul Valley, Sindh, Tocharistan, Makran, Kerman, Fars, Khorasan, the Saffarid empire did not last long after Yaqubs death. His brother and successor, Amr bin Laith, was defeated at the Battle of Balkh against Ismail Samani in 900, Amr bin Laith was forced to surrender most of his territories to the new rulers. The Saffarids were subsequently confined to their heartland of Sistan, with their role reduced to that of vassals of the Samanids, the dynasty began with Yaqub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar, a coppersmith who moved to the city of Zaranj. He left work to become an Ayyar and eventually got the power to act as an independent ruler, from his capital Zaranj he moved east into al-Rukhkhadj and Zamindawar followed by Zunbil and Kabul by 865. He then invaded Bamyan, Balkh, Badghis, and Ghor, in the name of Islam, he conquered these territories which were ruled mostly by Buddhist tribal chiefs. He took vast amounts of plunder and slaves from this campaign, the harshness and avariciousness of Arab rule produced such unrest, however, that once the waning power of the Caliphate became apparent, native rulers once again established themselves independent. Among these Saffarids of Sistan shone briefly in the Afghan area, the Tahirid city of Herat was captured in 870 and his campaign in the Badghis region led to the capture of Kharidjites which later formed the Djash al-Shurat contingent in his army. Yaqub then turned his focus to the west and began attacks on Khorasan, Khuzestan, Kerman and Fars. The Saffarids then seized Khuzestan and parts of southern Iraq, and in 876 came close to overthrowing the Abbasids and these incursions, however, forced the Abbasid caliphate to recognize Yaqub as governor of Sistan, Fars and Kerman, and Saffarids were even offered key posts in Baghdad. In 901, Amr Saffari was defeated at the battle of Balkh by the Persian Samanids, in 1002, Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Sistan, dethroned Khalaf I and finally ended the Saffarid dynasty. The Saffarids gave great care to the Persian culture, under their rule, the eastern Islamic world witnessed the emergence of prominent Persian poets such as Fayrouz Mashriqi, Abu Salik al-Jirjani, and Muhammad bin Wasif al-Sistani, who was a court poet. In the later 9th century, the Saffarids gave impetus to a renaissance of New Persian literature and culture. Following Yaqubs conquest of Herat, some chose to celebrate his victory in Arabic, whereupon Yaqub requested his secretary, Muhammad bin Wasif al-Sistani. From silver mines in the Panjshir Valley, the Saffarids were able to mint silver coins, iranian Intermezzo Nasrid dynasty Mihrabanids Samanids Ghaznavids List of kings of Persia List of Sunni Muslim dynasties Encyclopædia Iranica Saffarids
Saffarid dynasty
–
History of Afghanistan
Saffarid dynasty
–
Saffarid dynasty at its greatest extent under
Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
Saffarid dynasty
–
The Saffarid dynasty and its neighbors at its peak in 900 CE
7.
Khalaf I
–
Abu Ahmad Wali l-Dawla Khalaf ibn Ahmad was the Saffarid amir of Sistan from 963 until 1002. Although he was renowned in the eastern Islamic world as a scholar, his reign was characterized by violence and instability, Khalaf was born in the middle of November 937 to Abu Jafar Ahmad and Banu, a granddaughter of the second Saffarid amir, Amr ibn al-Layth. Little is known about the first twenty-six years of his life, from 957 or 958 at the latest he was recognized as heir to the throne and his name was included on his fathers coins. At the end of March 963 Abu Jafar Ahmad was murdered in Zarang, at the time of the assassination, Khalaf had been outside the capital. When he heard about his fathers death, he rode for the town of Bust, soon afterward he led an army against Zarang, which was under the control of a rival Saffarid named Abu Hafs b. Seeing Khalafs army, Abu Hafs fled the capital and sought refuge in Samanid Khurasan, shortly after Khalaf was proclaimed amir, he proclaimed Abul-Husayn Tahir ibn Muhammad his co-ruler. Abul-Husayn Tahir, who was descended from the Saffarids on his mothers side, had been governing Farah, Khalaf set him up in the Yaqubi palace and had his name inserted in the khutba beside his. A year after Khalafs ascension, a riot broke out in Zarang, led by an ayyar leader and involving the city factions, it was quickly put down. Khalaf then decided to perform the Pilgrimage and departed, leaving Abul-Husayn Tahir in charge, Khalaf spent probably one year on the Pilgrimage before returning. On the way home he stopped at Baghdad, where the Buyid amir Muizz al-Dawla gave him an audience with the Abbasid caliph al-Muti, the caliph confirmed him in his rule of Sistan and gave him a robe of honor and standard. Khalaf felt, however, that Abul-Husayn Tahir would not willingly give up control of Sistan upon his return, so he went to the Samanids for assistance, returning to Sistan, he forced Abul-Husayn Tahir to retreat. As soon as Khalafs army had been dismissed, however, Abul-Husayn Tahir returned, the conflict suddenly ended with the death of Abul Husayn Tahir in 970, his son Husayn declared his alliegence to the Samanids and left Sistan for the time being. Within a year of the death of Abul-Husayn Tahir, his son Husayn pressed his claim to the amirate, returning to Sistan, he soon gained control of Zarang in late 970/early 971. When Khalaf and his forces advanced to retake the capital, Husayn left the city, in the ensuing battle, Khalaf was victorious and several of Husayns military commanders were killed. Khalaf retook Zarang in April 971 and immediately began to root out Husayns supporters in the city, Khalafs victory proved to be only temporary, as Husayn returned in the following year. With an army that included elephants, Husayn defeated Khalaf in battle, a further setback for Khalaf occurred when the Samanids decided to get involved in the conflict. A Samanid army was sent to support Husayn, Khalaf gave battle but was defeated in August of 979, Husayn and his Samanid allies then surrounded Zarang, which Khalaf had fled to after the battle. A siege lasting for three years began
Khalaf I
–
Coin of Khalaf
8.
Medieval
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Medieval
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Medieval
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Medieval
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Medieval
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
9.
Tahirid dynasty
–
The Tahirid dynasty was a dynasty, of Persian dihqan origin, that governed the Abbasid province of Khorasan from 821 to 873, and the city of Baghdad from 820 until 891. The dynasty was founded by Tahir ibn Husayn, a general in the service of the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun. Their capital in Khorasan was initially located at Merv, but later moved to Nishapur, the Tahirids enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in their governance of Khorasan, although they remained subject to the Abbasid caliphate and were not independent rulers. The founder of the Tahirid dynasty was Tahir ibn Husayn, a general who had played a role in the civil war between the rival caliphs al-Amin and al-Mamun. He and his ancestors had previously awarded minor governorships in eastern Khorasan for their service to the Abbasids. In 821, Tahir was made governor of Khorasan, but he died soon afterwards, the caliph then appointed Tahirs son, Talha, whose governorship lasted from 822–828. Tahirs other son, Abdullah, was instated as the wali of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, the replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khurasan. Abdullah died in 845 and was succeeded by his son Tahir II, not much is known of Tahirs rule, but the administrative dependency of Sistan was lost to rebels during his governorship. Tahirid rule began to deteriorate after Tahirs son Muhammad ibn Tahir became governor, due to his carelessness with the affairs of the state. In Khorasan itself, Muhammads rule continued to grow weak, and in 873 he was finally overthrown by the Saffarid dynasty. Besides their hold over Khorasan, the Tahirids also served as the governors of Baghdad. After he left for Khorasan, the governorship of Baghdad was given to a member of a branch of the family, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. During Ishaqs term as governor, he was responsible for implementing the Mihna in Baghdad and his administration also witnessed the departure of the caliphs from Baghdad, as they made the recently constructed city of Samarra their new capital. When Ishaq died in 849 he was succeeded first by two of his sons, and then in 851 by Tahirs grandson Muhammad ibn Abdallah. The following year, he forced al-Mustain to abdicate and recognized al-Mutazz as caliph, eventually order was restored in Baghdad, and the Tahirids continued to serve as governors of the city for another two decades. In 891, however, Badr al-Mutadidi was put in charge of the security of Baghdad in place of the Tahirids, and the family soon lost their prominence within the caliphate after that. The Tahirids were highly Arabized in culture and outlook, and eager to be accepted in the Caliphal world where cultivation of things Arabic gave social and cultural prestige, for this reason, the Tahirids could not play a part in the renaissance of New Persian language and culture. But the Persian language, was at least tolerated in the entourage of the Tahirids, on the other hand, the Saffarids played the leading part in the renaissance of Persian literature
Tahirid dynasty
–
Provinces governed by the Tahirids.
Tahirid dynasty
10.
Abbasid Caliphate
–
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads
Abbasid Caliphate
–
The Black Banner of the Abbasids.
Abbasid Caliphate
–
Coin of the Abbasids,
Baghdad, Iraq, 765
Abbasid Caliphate
–
Image of the
Amir of
Khorasan Isma'il ibn Ahmad on the
Tajikistani somoni who exercised independent authority from the Abassids
11.
Samanid dynasty
–
The Samanid Empire, also known as the Samanid dynasty, Samanid Emirate, or simply Samanids, was a Sunni Iranian empire, ruling from 819 to 999. The Samanid state was founded by four brothers, Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, in 892, Ismail ibn Ahmad united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was also under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority, the Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world. This would lead to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture, the Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory, scholars note that the Samanids revived Persian more than the Buyids and the Saffarids, while continuing to patronize Arabic to a smaller degree. In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared that here, in region, the language is Persian. The eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty was Saman Khuda, a Persian noble who belonged to a dehqan family, the latter is more probable since the earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in Khorasan rather than Transoxiana. Originally a Zoroastrian, Saman Khuda converted to Islam during the governorship of Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri in Khorasan and this marked the beginning of the Samanid dynasty. He was defeated at a battle near Pushang in 857, and fled to Nishapur, the Tahirids thereafter assumed direct control over Herat. In 839/40, Nuh seized Isfijab from the nomadic pagan Turks living in the steppe and he thereafter had a wall constructed around the city to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2—his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad, were appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan. After Yahyas death in 855, Ahmad took control over Shash and he died in 864/5, his son Nasr I received Farghana and Samarkand, while his other son Yaqub received Shash. Nasr I used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother Ismail to Bukhara, when Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants, who saw him as one who could restore order. Although the Bukhar Khudahs continued to rule in Bukhara for a few more years. After not so long, disagreement over where tax money should be distributed, started a conflict between the brothers, Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle, and took control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had invested with Transoxiana. Because of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless and he thereafter forced the Abbasid caliph to recognize him as the ruler of those territories, which they did. In the spring of 900, he clashed with Ismail near Balkh, Ismail thereafter sent him Baghdad, where he was executed
Samanid dynasty
–
The Samanid Empire at its greatest extent under
Isma'il ibn Ahmad
Samanid dynasty
–
History of Afghanistan
Samanid dynasty
–
Monument of
Amir Ismail Samani in
Tajikistan
12.
Ghaznavids
–
In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the Ghurid king Ala al-Din Husayn. Two military families arose from the Turkic slave-guards of the Samanid Empire, the Simjurids and Ghaznavids, the Simjurids received an appanage in the Kohistan region of eastern Khorasan. His death created a crisis between his brothers. A court party instigated by men of the scribal class — civilian ministers rather than Turkic generals — rejected the candidacy of Alp Tigin for the Samanid throne. Mansur I was installed instead, and Alp Tigin prudently retired to south of the Hindu Kush, the struggles of the Turkic slave generals for mastery of the throne with the help of shifting allegiance from the courts ministerial leaders both demonstrated and accelerated the Samanid decline. Samanid weakness attracted into Transoxiana the Karluks, a Turkic people who had converted to Islam. They occupied Bukhara in 992, establishing in Transoxania the Kara-Khanid Khanate, after Alp Tigins death in 993, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, followed by his slave Sabuktigin, took the throne. Sabuktigins son Mahmud of Ghazni made an agreement with the Kara-Khanid Khanate whereby the Amu Darya was recognised as their mutual boundary, however, modern historians believe this was an attempt to connect himself with the history of old Persia. After the death of Sabuktigin, his son Ismail claimed the throne for a temporary period, in 997, Mahmud, another son of Sebuktigin, succeeded the throne, and Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty have become perpetually associated with him. He completed the conquest of the Samanid and Shahi territories, including the Ismaili Kingdom of Multan, Sindh, by all accounts, the rule of Mahmud was the golden age and height of the Ghaznavid Empire. Mahmud carried out seventeen expeditions through northern India to establish his control and set up tributary states and he established his authority from the borders of Ray to Samarkand, from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna. During Mahmuds reign, the Ghaznavids settled 4,000 Turkmen families near Farana in Khorasan, by 1027, due to the Turkmen raiding neighbouring settlements, the governor of Tus, Abu lAlarith Arslan Jadhib, led military strikes against them. The Turkmen were defeated and scattered to neighbouring lands, although, as late as 1033, Ghaznavid governor Tash Farrash executed fifty Turkmen chiefs for raids into Khorasan. Mahmud left the empire to his son Mohammed, who was mild, affectionate and his brother, Masud, asked for three provinces that he had won by his sword, but his brother did not consent. Masud had to fight his brother, and he became king, blinding and imprisoning Mohammed as punishment. The two brothers now exchanged positions, Mohammed was elevated from prison to the throne, while Masud was consigned to a dungeon after a reign of ten years and was assassinated in 1040. Masuds son, Madood, was governor of Balkh, and in 1040, after hearing of his fathers death and he fought with the sons of the blind Mohammed and was victorious. However, the empire disintegrated and most kings did not submit to Madood
Ghaznavids
–
History of Afghanistan
Ghaznavids
–
Flag adopted by
Mahmud of Ghazni
Ghaznavids
Ghaznavids
13.
Persian language
–
Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
Persian language
–
Old Persian
Persian language
–
Ferdowsi 's
Shahnameh
Persian language
–
Kalilah va Dimna, an influential work in Persian literature.
14.
Muslim
–
A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
Muslim
–
Afghan Muslims praying inside
Gardens of Babur in
Kabul,
Afghanistan.
Muslim
–
Famous
Muslim converts from various fields.
15.
Persianate
–
A Persianate society, or Persified society, is a society that is either based on, or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art, and/or identity. The term Persianate is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson, most of the more local languages of high culture that later emerged among Muslims. Depended upon Persian wholly or in part for their literary inspiration. We may call all these traditions, carried in Persian or reflecting Persian inspiration. Persianate is a cultural category, but it appears at times to be a religious category of a racial origin. It was a mixture of Persian and Islamic cultures that became the dominant culture of the ruling and elite classes of Greater Iran, Asia Minor. When the peoples of Greater Iran were invaded by Islamic forces in the 7th and 8th centuries, while the Islamic conquest led to the Arabization of language and culture in the former Byzantine territories, this did not happen in Persia. It was spread by poets, artists, architects, artisans, jurists, and scholars, Persianate culture involved modes of consciousness, ethos, and religious practices that have persisted in the Iranian world against hegemonic Arab Muslim cultural constructs. In a way, along with investing the notion of heteroglossia, Persianate culture embodies the Iranian past and ways in which this past blended with the Islamic present or became transmuted. The historical change was largely on the basis of a binary model and this duality is symbolically expressed in the Shiite tradition that Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shiite Imam, had married Shahrbanu, daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Sassanid king of Iran. This genealogy makes the later imams, descended from Husayn and Shahrbanu, despite the Islamization of public affairs, the Iranians retained much of their pre-Islamic outlook and way of life, adjusted to fit the demands of Islam. Under the Abbasids, the capital shifted from Syria to Iraq, Persian culture, and the customs of the Persian Barmakid viziers, became the style of the ruling elite. Politically, the Abbasids soon started losing their control over Iranians, the governors of Khurasan, the Tahirids, though appointed by the caliph, were effectively independent. When the Persian Saffarids from Sistan freed the lands, the Buyyids, the Ziyarids and the Samanids in Western Iran, Mazandaran. Pahlavi was the lingua franca of the Sassanian Empire before the Arab invasion, but towards the end of the 7th, in the 9th century, a New Persian language emerged as the idiom of administration and literature. The Persian language, according to Marshall Hodgson in his The Venture of Islam, was to form the model for the rise of still other languages to the literary level. Like Turkish, most of the local languages of high culture that later emerged among Muslims depended upon Persian. One may call these traditions, carried in Persian or reflecting Persian inspiration and this seems to be the origin of the term Persianate
Persianate
–
The Ottoman Süleymanname (The Book of
Suleyman) manuscript of Celebi, in Shirazi style with Persian Texts
Persianate
–
Illustration from Jami's Rose Garden of the Pious, dated 1553. The image blends Persian poetry and
Persian miniature into one, as is the norm for many works of Persian literature.
Persianate
–
Mihr 'Ali (Iranian, active ca. 1800-1830). Portrait of
Fath Ali Shah Qajar, 1815.
Brooklyn Museum
Persianate
–
Prince Muhammad-Beik of
Georgia, 1620. Artist is
Reza Abbasi. Painting is located at Berlin's Museum Für Islamische Kunst.
16.
Sistan
–
Sīstān, known in ancient times as Sakastan, is a historical and geographical region in present-day eastern Iran, southern Afghanistan, and the Nok Kundi region of Balochistan. Sistan derives its name from Sakastan, the Sakas were a Scythian tribe which from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century migrated to the Iranian Plateau and India, where they carved a kingdom known as the Indo-Scythian Kingdom. In the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian scripture written in Pahlavi, the province is called Seyansih, after the Arab conquest of Iran, the province became known as Sijistan/Sistan. The more ancient Old Persian name of the region - prior to Saka dominance - was zaranka and this older form is also the root of the name Zaranj, capital of the Afghan Nimruz Province. Encyclopædia Iranica says The name of the country and its inhabitants is first attested as Old Persian z-r-k in the great Bīsotūn inscription of Darius I, in the Shahnameh, Sistan is also referred to as Zabulistan, after the region in the eastern part of Iran. In Ferdowsis epic, Zabulistan is in turn described to be the homeland of the mythological hero Rostam, in prehistoric times, the Jiroft Civilization covered parts of Sistan and Kerman Province. Later the area was occupied by Aryan tribes related to the Indo-Aryans, eventually a kingdom known as Arachosia was formed, parts of which were ruled by the Medean Empire by 600 BC. The Medes were overthrown by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 550 BC, in the 4rd century BC, Macedonian king Alexander the Great annexed the region during his conquest of the Persian Empire and founded the colony of Alexandria in Arachosia. Alexanders Empire fragmented after his death, and Arachosia came under control of the Seleucid Empire, after the fall of the Mauryans, the region fell to their Greco-Bactrian allies in 180 BC, before breaking away and becoming part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Indo-Parthian king Gondophares was leader of Sistan around c, 20–10 BCE as it was part of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom which was also called Gedrosia, its Hellenistic name. After the mid 2nd century BC, much of the Indo-Greek Kingdom was overrun by tribes known as the Indo-Scythians or Saka, from which Sistan eventually derived its name. The Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Persian Empire in the mid 3rd century, first becoming part of a vassal Kushansha state, Sassanid armies reconquered Sistan in by 565 AD, but lost the area to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate after the mid 640s. The province was formed in ca, shapurs son Narseh was the first to appointed as the governor of province, which he would govern until 271, when the Sasanian prince Hormizd was appointed as the new governor. 281, Hormizd revolted against his cousin Bahram II, during the revolt, the people of Sakastan was one of his supporters. Nevertheless, Bahram II managed to suppress the revolt in 283, during his early reign, Shapur II appointed his brother Shapur Sakanshah as the governor of Sakastan. Peroz I, during his reign, put an end to dynastic rule in province by appointing a Karenid as its governor. The reason behind the appointment was to further family conflict in the province. During the Muslim conquest of Persia, the last Sasanian king Yazdegerd III fled to Sakastan in the mid-640s, however, Yazdegerd III quickly ended this support when he demanded tax money that he had failed to pay
Sistan
–
The gates of Haozdar, in Sistan
Sistan
–
Map of Sakastan, with the capital Sigal.
17.
Greater Iran
–
It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains. It is also referred to as Greater Persia, while the Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term Iranian Cultural Continent. The term Iran is not limited to the state of Iran. The concept of Greater Iran has its source in the history of the Achaemenid Empire in Persis, the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 resulted in Iran ceding Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia. After the Russo-Persian War, the Turkmanchey Treaty of 1828 ended centuries of Iranian control of its Caucasian provinces, in 1935, the endonym Iran was adopted as the official international name of Persia by its ruler Reza Shah. The name “Irān“, meaning “land of the Aryans”, is the New Persian continuation of the old genitive plural aryānām, the Avestan evidence is confirmed by Greek sources, Arianē is spoken of as being between Persia and the Indian subcontinent. However, this is a Greek pronunciation of the name Haroyum/Haraiva, a land listed separately from the homeland of the Aryans. While up until the end of the Parthian period in the 3rd century CE, the idea of “Irān“ had an ethnic, linguistic, the idea of an “Iranian“ empire or kingdom in a political sense is a purely Sasanian one. It was the result of a convergence of interests between the new dynasty and the Zoroastrian clergy, as we can deduce from the available evidence and this convergence gave rise to the idea of an Ērān-šahr “Kingdom of the Iranians, ” which was “ēr“. Richard Nelson Frye defines Greater Iran as including much of the Caucasus, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, with influences extending to China. According to Frye, Iran means all lands and peoples where Iranian languages were and are spoken, and this view, even though common among serious scholars, is almost certainly overstated. To the Ancient Greeks, Greater Iran ended at the Indus, according to J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams most of Western greater Iran spoke Southwestern Iranian languages in the Achaemenid era while the Eastern territory spoke Eastern Iranian languages related to Avestan. In the words of Richard Nelson Frye, Only in modern times did western colonial intervention, as Patrick Clawson states, ethnic nationalism is largely a nineteenth century phenomenon, even if it is fashionable to retroactively extend it. Greater Iran however has more of a cultural super-state, rather than a political one to begin with. A detailed list of these follows in this article. Greater Iran is called Iranzamin which means The Land of Iran, Iranzamin was in the mythical times opposed to the Turanzamin the Land of Turan, which was located in the upper part of Central Asia. In the pre-Islamic period, Iranians distinguished two main regions in the territory they ruled, one Iran and the other Aniran, by Iran they meant all the regions inhabited by ancient Iranian peoples, this region was more extensive in the past
Greater Iran
Greater Iran
–
An 1814 map of
Persia, depicting the large western province of
Irak (Persian Iraq), bordered on the west by
Irak Arabi (Arabic Iraq) – under
Georgian Mamluk rule at the time, and
Kourdistan – under direct
Ottoman rule at the time.
Greater Iran
–
The
Cyrus Cylinder, written in
Babylonian cuneiform in the name of the
Achaemenid king,
Cyrus the Great. It describes the Persian takeover of
Babylon (the ancient name of Iraq).
Greater Iran
–
The
Imām Husayn Shrine in
Karbalā,
Iraq is one of
Shīa Islām 's
holiest sites and a place of great annual
pilgrimage, receiving tens of millions of visitors each year.
18.
Greater Khorasan
–
Khorasan is a historical region lying in the northeast of Persia. Khorasan in its proper sense comprised principally the cities of Balkh and Herat, Mashhad and Nishapur, Merv and Nisa, and Bukhara and Samarkand. Some believe that at certain times Khorasan covered an area, which included parts of Transoxiana, Soghdiana, Sistan. Sources from the 14th to the 16th century report that areas in the south of the Hindu Kush mountain range formed a frontier between Khorasan and Hindustan, in the Islamic period, Persian Iraq and Khorasan were the two important territories. The boundary between these two was the surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs, and Timurids divided their empires into Iraqi, the adjective Greater is added these days to distinguish the historical region from the Khorasan Province of Iran, which roughly encompassed the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan. The name Khorāsān is derived from Middle Persian Khwarāsān, a compound of khwar, thus the name Khorasan means land where the sun rises or east. The Persian word Khāvar-zamīn, meaning the land, has also been used as an equivalent term. First established as an entity by the Sassanids, the borders of the region have varied considerably during its 1. Initially the Khorasan province of Sassanid empire included the cities of Nishapur, Herat, Merv, Faryab, Taloqan, Balkh, Bukhara, Badghis, Abiward, Gharjistan, Tus or Susia, Sarakhs and Gurgan. It acquired its greatest extent under the Caliphs, for whom Khorasan was the name of one of the three political zones under their dominion. Under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, Khorasan was divided into four sections or quarters, each section based on a single major city, Nishapur, Merv, Herat. In the Middle Ages, the term was applied in Persia to all its territories that lay east and north east of Dasht-e Kavir. Ghobar uses the terms Proper Khorasan and Improper Khorasan in his book to distinguish between the usage of Khorasan in its sense and its usage in a loose sense. Improper Khorasans boundaries extended to as far as Hazarajat and Kabul in the east, Sistan and Baluchistan in the south, Transoxiana and Khwarezm in the north, and Damghan and Gorgan in the west. It is mentioned in the Memoirs of Babur that, The people of Hindustān call every country beyond their own Khorasān, in the manner as the Arabs term all except Arabia. On the road between Hindustān and Khorasān, there are two great marts, the one Kābul, the other Kandahār. Caravans, from Ferghāna, Tūrkestān, Samarkand, Balkh, Bokhāra, Hissār and this country lies between Hindustān and Khorasān
Greater Khorasan
–
Names of territories during the
Caliphate in 750 CE.
Greater Khorasan
–
An accurate map of Persia by
Emanuel Bowen showing the names of territories during the Persian
Safavid dynasty and
Mughal Empire of India (
ca. 1500–1747)
Greater Khorasan
–
An early
turquoise mine in the Madan village of Khorasan during the early 20th century
Greater Khorasan
–
The village of Meyamei in 1909
19.
Name of Afghanistan
–
The name Afghānistān means land of the Afghans, which originates from the ethnonym Afghan. Historically, the name Afghan mainly designated the Pashtun people, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan, the earliest reference to the name is found in the 10th-century geography book known as Hudud ul-alam. The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for place, in 1857, in his review of J. W. Kayes The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes Afghanistan as, an extensive country of Asia. Between Persia and the Indies, and in the direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar. Afghanistan was officially recognized as a state by the international community after the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 was signed. Arabs know this and so do Romans, Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans, pashtunization has been going on in the region since at least the 8th century. It is a process of a cultural or linguistic change in which something non-Pashtun becomes Pashtun, according to Tarikh-i Yamini, Afghans enrolled in Sabuktigins Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th century as well as in the later Ghurid Kingdom. From the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290, Afghans are becoming more recognized in history among the Delhi Sultanate of India. The later Lodi dynasty and Sur dynasty of Delhi were both made up of Afghans, whose rule stretched to as far as what is now Bangladesh in the east. The word Afghan is mentioned in the form of Abgan in the third century CE by the Sassanians and as Avagana in the 6th century CE by Indian astronomer Varahamihira. A people called the Afghans are mentioned several times in a 10th-century geography book, Hudud al-alam, particularly where a reference is made to a village, Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the frontier mountains of the Indus River. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen and their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman. The name Afghanistan is mentioned in writing by the 16th century Mughal ruler Babur, the road from Khorasān leads by way of Kandahār. It is a level road, and does not go through any hill-passes. In the country of Kābul there are many and various tribes and its valleys and plains are inhabited by Tūrks, Aimāks, and Arabs. In the city and the part of the villages, the population consists of Tājiks*
Name of Afghanistan
–
History of Afghanistan
Name of Afghanistan
–
Tents of Afghan
nomads in
Badghis Province of
Afghanistan. They are known in
Pashto language as
Kuchans, who migrate from region to region depending on the season.
Name of Afghanistan
–
The Afghan
Lodi dynasty of
North India
Name of Afghanistan
–
A
Lithography collection made by James Rattray in the early 1800s shows the name
Afghaunistan on the front cover.
20.
Warlord
–
A warlord is a leader able to exercise military, economic, and political control over a subnational territory within a sovereign state due to his ability to mobilize loyal armed forces. These armed forces, usually considered militias, are loyal to the rather than to the state regime. Warlords have existed throughout much of history, albeit in a variety of different capacities within the political, economic, and social structure of states or ungoverned territories. The first non-English usage of warlord appeared in Germany in 1861, with the translation as Kriegsherr, there is also a divergence of opinion within the field of political science as to what specifically constitutes warlordism, particularly in the context of the historical setting. There are two major functional distinctions when considering warlords vis-à-vis their relationship with the state and this can be viewed as cooperative warlord politics. The other is one in which the warlord is operating independently of the state and is viewed as a rebel and this is commonly viewed as ungoverned warlordism. The other major consideration in categorizing warlords is through the lens of history, Warlordism was a widespread, dominant political framework that ordered many of the worlds societies until the modern state became globally ubiquitous. Often warlord governance in pre-modern state history was constructed along tribal or kinship lines and was congruent with early perceptions of nation, in colonial empires warlords served in both cooperative political capacities and as leaders of rebellions. In modern states the presence of warlords is often seen as an indicator of state weakness or failure, American historian David G. Herrmann noted, Warlordism is the default condition of humanity. In both cases there is an inherent inefficiency in the model, as resources are wasted on unproductive arming and fighting, however, the functionality is often sustainable because it presents citizens with no choice but to accept rent payments in exchange for protection. Charles Tilly, an American political scientist and sociologist, theorized that organized crime can function as a means for war and he argues that the monopoly of crime by the state--in this case being the warlords--is in order to receive protection from external rivals as well as internal political rivals. As noted French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville and political scientists such as E. J, within political science there is a growing body of research and analysis on warlordism that has emerged within weak states that have gained independence as a result of the collapse of empire. Warlord states are disproportionately concentrated within two regions--the former European colonies of Africa and the former Soviet republics of Eurasia, the warlords, with their established militias, are able to maintain a monopoly of violence within certain territories. By limiting access to these privileges, members of the dominant warlord coalition create credible incentives to cooperate rather than fight among themselves, Driscoll termed this warlordism Militia Coalition Politics. As Driscoll observed, the warlords colluded to create a state, one political theory, pioneered by American economist Mancur Olson, posits that warlords can function as stationary bandits. In some African states warlord politics can be a product of endowment-rich, some nations, including Liberia and Sierra Leone, have had stationary bandits who use extraction of resources such as diamonds, cobalt and timber in order to increase their political power. They often enforce their right to resources by claiming to be protecting the people. These warlords, or stationary bandits, often partner with compliant foreign firms and create symbiotic relationships to yield greater power for the warlords and a source of wealth for external firms
Warlord
–
Uesugi Kenshin was one of the most powerful lords of the
Warring States period in Japan.
21.
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
22.
Kabul
–
Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan as well as its largest city, located in the eastern section of the country. According to a 2015 estimate, the population of the city was around 3,678,033 which includes all the ethnic groups. Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the worlds 64th largest city and the fifth fastest-growing city in the world, Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. The city is at a location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia. It has been part of the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Mauryans, Kushans, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Later, it was controlled by the Mughal Empire until finally becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The city is located high up in a valley between the Hindu Kush mountains. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, in the early 19th century, the British occupied the city but were compelled to abandon it. Relations between Afghanistan and Great Britain were later established, the city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed. A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties, since the removal of the Taliban from power in late 2001, the city gradually began rebuilding itself with assistance by the international community. Despite the many terrorist attacks by elements, the city is growing and developing. The city is divided into about 18 districts, the Kabul International Airport is located in the Wazir Akbar Khan district a few miles from the foreign embassies. The Parliament of Afghanistan, built by India, is located in the Kārte Seh district, Kabul, also spelled Cabool, Caubul, Kabol, or Cabul. The word Kubhā is mentioned in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism, and the Avesta. The Rigveda praises it as a city, a vision of paradise set in the mountains. The area in which the Kabul valley sits was ruled by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids, there is a reference to a settlement called Kabura by the rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, It became a center of Zoroastrianism followed by Buddhism and Hinduism. The region became part of the Seleucid Empire but was given to the Indian Maurya Empire. The Greco-Bactrians captured Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. Some historians ascribe Kabul the Sanskrit name of Kamboja and it is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical writings
Kabul
Kabul
Kabul
Kabul
23.
Sindh
–
Sindh /sɪnd/ is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is locally known as the Mehran. It was formerly known as Sind until 1956, Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north, Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and Arabian Sea to the south. Sindhs climate is noted for hot summers and mild winters, the provincial capital of Sindh is Pakistans largest city and financial hub, Karachi. Sindh has Pakistans second largest economy with Karachi being its capital hosts the headquarters of several multinational banks. Sindh is home to a portion of Pakistans industrial sector. The remainder of Sindh has an agriculture based economy, and produces fruit, food consumer items, Sindh is also the centre of Pakistans pharmaceutical industry. Sindh is known for its culture which is strongly influenced by Sufism. Several important Sufi shrines are located throughout the province which attract millions of annual devotees, Sindh also has Pakistans highest percentage of Hindu residents. Karachi and other centres of Sindh have seen ethnic tensions between the native Sindhis and the Muhajirs boil over into violence on several occasions. Sindh is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Historical Monuments at Makli, and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro, the word Sindh is derived from the Sanskrit language and is adapted from the Sanskrit term Sindhu which literally means river hence a reference to Indus River. Spelling of its name as Sind was discontinued in 1988 by an amendment passed in Sindh Assembly. The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great rendered it as Indós, the ancient Iranians referred to everything east of the river Indus as hind from the word Sindh. When the British arrived in the 17th century in India, then ruled by the Maratha Empire, they applied the Greek version of the name Sindh to all of South Asia, calling it India. The name of Pakistan is actually an acronym in which the letter s is derived from the first letter in Sindh, Sindhs first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh, currently in Balochistan, to the west expanded into Sindh and this culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The primitive village communities in Balochistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment and this was one of the most developed urban civilizations of the ancient world
Sindh
–
The Priest King from
Mohenjo-daro, more than 4000 years old, in the
National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi
Sindh
–
Excavated ruins of
Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan.
Sindh
–
A manuscript written during the Abbasid Era.
Sindh
–
The Samma period is known for pioneering of Sindhi folklore and literature.
24.
Tocharistan
–
Bactria or Bactriana was the name of a historical region in Central Asia. Bactria was located between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya river, covering the region that straddles modern-day Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The English name Bactria is derived from the Ancient Greek, Βακτριανή, analogous names include the Pashto and Persian, باختر, translit. Bākhtar, Uzbek, Балх, Tajik, Бохтар, Chinese, 大夏, pinyin, Dàxià and this region played a major role in Central Asian history. At certain times the political limits of Bactria stretched far beyond the frame of the Bactrian plain. The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex is the modern designation for a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia. 2200–1700 BC, located in present-day eastern Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centred on the upper Amu Darya and its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi. The early Greek historian Ctesias, c.400 BC, alleged that the legendary Assyrian king Ninus had defeated a Bactrian king named Oxyartes in ca.2140 BC, or some 1000 years before the Trojan War. Since the decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century, however, according to some writers, Bactria was the homeland of Indo-Iranian tribes who moved south-west into Iran and into north-western India around 2500–2000 BC. Later, it became the province of the Persian Empire in Central Asia. It was in these regions, where the soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turanian desert. After Darius III had been defeated by Alexander the Great, the satrap of Bactria, Bessus attempted to organise a resistance but was captured by other warlords. He was then tortured and killed, however, in the south, beyond the Oxus, he met strong resistance. After two years of war and an insurgency campaign, Alexander managed to establish little control over Bactria. After Alexanders death, Diodorus Siculus tells us that Philip received dominion over Bactria, at the Treaty of Triparadisus, both Diodorus Siculus and Arrian agree that the satrap Stasanor gained control over Bactria. Eventually, Alexanders empire was divided up among the generals in Alexanders army, Bactria became a part of the Seleucid Empire, named after its founder, Seleucus I. The Macedonians, especially Seleucus I and his son Antiochus I, established the Seleucid Empire, the Greek language became dominant for some time there. The paradox that Greek presence was more prominent in Bactria than in areas far closer to Greece can possibly be explained by past deportations of Greeks to Bactria
Tocharistan
–
Ancient cities of Bactria
Tocharistan
–
Goddesses, Bactria, Afghanistan, 2000–1800 BC.
Tocharistan
–
Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian male clothing).
Tocharistan
–
Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian female clothing).
25.
Makran
–
Makran is a semi-desert coastal strip in Balochistan, in Pakistan and Iran, along the coast of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The name Makran derives from Maka, borne by an overlapping satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, another, older derivation is from the Makar, or sea dragon, after the humpback whales or whale sharks that abound in the north Arabian Sea. The word Maka later became Makran, as it is common in closely related ancient Avestan, the southern part of Balochistan is called Kech Makran on Pakistani side and Makran on the Iranian side which is also the name of a former Iranian province. Prior to that, in Achaeminid times, the name Maka was used for the region, the Sumerian trading partners of Magan are identified with Makran. In Varahamihiras Brihat Samhita, there is a mention of a tribe called Makara inhabiting the lands west of India, arrian used a derivation of Makran from the Persian term mahi khoran, meaning fish eaters for Baluchi inhabitants of coastal areas, but this is considered erroneous. Maka was an important early eastern satrapy of Cyrus the Great and it corresponded to modern day Bahrain, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, plus the northern half of Oman, as well as Balochistan and the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Babylonians had made voyages using Maka to communicate with India, after Cyrus death, Darius I of Persia succeeded his throne, and, according to Greek historian Herodotus, wanted to know more about Asia. He wished to know where the Indus emptied itself into the sea, after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great also crossed Maka in his campaign of conquest. His army marched through a harsh desert path in Makran, where he lost a significant number of soldiers due to the desert conditions. Herodotus on several occasions mentions the contributions of the Mykians, who inhabited the portion of the Achaemenid Empire. They are mentioned as the men from Maka in daiva inscriptions, the Daiva inscription is one of the most important of all Achaemenid inscriptions. The Mykians served in the army of Xerxes the Great at the battle of Thermopylae and they are also thought to be responsible for inventions such as qanats and underground drainage galleries that bring water from an aquifer on the piedmont to gardens or palm groves on the plains. These inventions were very important reasons behind the success of the empire, the reasons for this may have been the arguably unjust rule of Xerxes. Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī, states in his book India that the coast of India begins with Tiz the capital of Makran. According to historian Andre Wink, Further evidence in the Chachnama makes perfectly clear that areas of Makran as of Sindh had a largely Buddhist population. The Buddhist chief offered his alligience to Chach when the latter was on his way to Kirman in 631, there is thus very wide extension of Indian cultural forms in Makran in the seventh century, even in the period when it fell under Persian sovereignty. By comparison in more recent times the last place of Hindu pilgrimage in Makran was Hinglaj,256 km west of present day Karachi in Las Bela. D. In late 644 AD Caliph Umar dispatched an army under the command of Hakam ibn Amr for the invasion of Makkuran
Makran
–
The central Makran range in Pakistan.
Makran
–
Baloch tribes and the paths that
Alexander the Great took.
Makran
–
Central Makkuran range.
Makran
–
Map of the
Baluchistan Agency.
26.
Baghdad
–
Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 -3,000,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate
Baghdad
–
Zumurrud Khaton tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD), photo of 1932.
Baghdad
–
Panoramic view over the ancient city of
Babylon, located 85 km (53 mi) south of Baghdad.
Baghdad
–
Suq al-Ghazel (The Yarn Bazaar) Minaret in Baghdad,
Mesopotamia (
Iraq). This is the oldest
minaret in Baghdad. It belonged to the Caliph Mosque, built by Caliph Muktafi 901–907 AD.
27.
Ismail Samani
–
Abū Ibrāhīm Ismāīl ibn Aḥmad, better simply known as Ismail ibn Ahmad, and also known as Ismail Samani, was the Samanid emir of Transoxiana and Khorasan. His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force and he was the son of Ahmad ibn Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the founder of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam. During his brother Nasrs reign, Ismail was sent to control of Bukhara. The citizens of the city welcomed Ismail, seeing him as someone who could bring stability, soon afterwards, a disagreement over where tax money should be distributed caused a falling out between Nasr and Ismail. A struggle ensued, in which Ismail proved victorious, although he took effective control of the state, he did not formally overthrow his brother, instead remaining in Bukhara. He did so because Nasr had been the one whom the Caliph had given the formal investiture of Transoxiana to, in the caliphs eyes, furthermore, the Saffarids of Sistan had claims on Transoxiana, the overthrow of Nasr would have given the Saffarids a pretext for invading. Ismail therefore continued to formally recognize Nasr as ruler until the death in August 892. Ismail was active to the north and east, steadily spreading Samanid influence as well as solidifying his control other areas including Kirman, Sistan. Ismail was successful in establishing economic and commercial development and organized a powerful army and it was said that he made his capital Bukhara into one of Islams most glorious cities, as Ismail attracted scholars, artists, and doctors of law into the region. The first translation of the Quran into Persian was completed during Samanid rule, Sunni theology greatly cultivated during Ismails reign, as numerous mosques and madrassas were built. In 893, Ismail took the city of Talas, the capital of the Karluk Turks, taking large numbers of slaves, in addition, a Nestorian church was converted into a mosque. He also brought an end to the Principality of Ushrusana, extending Samanid control over the Syr Darya river, Ismail and other Samanid rulers propagated Islam amongst the inhabitants and as many as 30,000 tents of Turks came to profess Islam. During his reign he subjugated numerous regional states to the east, directly incorporating some within his boundaries, Khwarezm to the north was partitioned, the southern part remained autonomous under its Afrighid rulers, while the northern part was governed by a Samanid official. Another campaign in 903 further secured the Samanid boundaries and these campaigns kept the heart of his state safe from Turkish raids, and allowed Muslim missionaries to expand their activities in the region. Even after his brother Nasrs death, Ismails rule in Bukhara was not formally recognized by the caliph at that point, as a result, the Saffarid ruler Amr-i Laith himself asked the caliph for the investiture of Transoxiana. The caliph, Al-Mutadid however sent Ismail a letter urging him to fight Amr-i Laith, according to the letter, the caliph stated that he prayed for Ismail who the caliph considered as the rightful ruler of Khorasan. The letter had an effect on Ismail, as he was determined to oppose the Saffarids. The two sides fought in Balkh, northern Afghanistan during the spring of 900, during battle, Ismail was significantly outnumbered as he came out with 20,000 horsemen against Amrs 70,000 strong cavalry
Ismail Samani
–
An image of Isma'il ibn Ahmad (Isma'il Somoni) on the 100
somoni banknote issued by the National Bank of Tajikistan.
Ismail Samani
–
Statue of Isma'il in
Dushanbe
28.
Vassal
–
A vassal or feudatory is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, the term is applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. It is like a land lord some one who own and lets you live on it, in contrast, a fidelity, or fidelitas, was a sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. Such refinements were not included from the outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, under feudalism, those who were weakest needed the protection of the knights who owned the weapons and knew how to fight. Feudal society was based on the concept of lordship, which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity. In the time of Charlemagne, the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural manorialism and the social and legal structures labelled — and these developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times, monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands, even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. The stratification of a band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term fief that had started to supersede benefice in the 9th century. An upper group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family, a lower group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conduct of warfare, as co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of an economy, came only from land and its associated assets. Many empires have set up states, based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states. In these cases a state has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while and, in many instances. In this framework, a colony or junior ally might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations. The concept of a state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance, Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire
Vassal
–
Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (
Bayeux Tapestry)
29.
Samanids
–
The Samanid Empire, also known as the Samanid dynasty, Samanid Emirate, or simply Samanids, was a Sunni Iranian empire, ruling from 819 to 999. The Samanid state was founded by four brothers, Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, in 892, Ismail ibn Ahmad united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was also under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority, the Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world. This would lead to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture, the Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory, scholars note that the Samanids revived Persian more than the Buyids and the Saffarids, while continuing to patronize Arabic to a smaller degree. In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared that here, in region, the language is Persian. The eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty was Saman Khuda, a Persian noble who belonged to a dehqan family, the latter is more probable since the earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in Khorasan rather than Transoxiana. Originally a Zoroastrian, Saman Khuda converted to Islam during the governorship of Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri in Khorasan and this marked the beginning of the Samanid dynasty. He was defeated at a battle near Pushang in 857, and fled to Nishapur, the Tahirids thereafter assumed direct control over Herat. In 839/40, Nuh seized Isfijab from the nomadic pagan Turks living in the steppe and he thereafter had a wall constructed around the city to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2—his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad, were appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan. After Yahyas death in 855, Ahmad took control over Shash and he died in 864/5, his son Nasr I received Farghana and Samarkand, while his other son Yaqub received Shash. Nasr I used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother Ismail to Bukhara, when Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants, who saw him as one who could restore order. Although the Bukhar Khudahs continued to rule in Bukhara for a few more years. After not so long, disagreement over where tax money should be distributed, started a conflict between the brothers, Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle, and took control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had invested with Transoxiana. Because of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless and he thereafter forced the Abbasid caliph to recognize him as the ruler of those territories, which they did. In the spring of 900, he clashed with Ismail near Balkh, Ismail thereafter sent him Baghdad, where he was executed
Samanids
–
The Samanid Empire at its greatest extent under
Isma'il ibn Ahmad
Samanids
–
History of Afghanistan
Samanids
–
Monument of
Amir Ismail Samani in
Tajikistan
30.
Zunbils
–
Zunbil, also written as Zhunbil, was a dynasty south of the Hindu Kush in present southern Afghanistan region. They ruled from the early 7th century until the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan in 870 AD, the Zunbils are believed to be an offspring of the southern-Hephthalite rulers of Zabulistan. The dynasty was related to the Kabul Shahis of the northeast in Kabul and it follows from Huei-chaos report that Barhatakin had two sons, one who ruled from after him in Kapisa-Gandhara and another who became king of Zabul. The Zunbils worshipped the sun, which they named Zun from which derived their name. Their territory included between what is now the city of Zaranj in southwestern Afghanistan and Kabulistan in the northeast, with Zamindawar, the title Zunbil can be traced back to the Middle-Persian original Zūn-dātbar, Zun the Justice-giver. The geographical name Zamindawar would also reflect this, from Middle Persian Zamin-i dātbar, according to Anthony McNicoll, the Zunbils ruled in the Kandahar area for nearly 250 years until the late 9th century AD. Their main capital Zamindawar was located in the present-day Helmand Province of Afghanistan, the shrine of Zoon was located about three miles south of Musa Qala in Helmand, which may still be traced today. Some believe that the Sunagir temple mentioned by the famous Chinese traveler Xuanzang in 640 AD pertains to this house of worship. In 653-4 AD, an army of around 6,000 Arabs were led by General Abdur Rahman bin Samara and they arrived to the shrine of Zoon in Zamindawar. It is reported that General Abdur Rahman broke off a hand of the idol, the General explained to the Marzbān, my intention was to show you that this idol can do neither any harm nor good. At this point some of the people of southern Afghanistan accepted Islam for the first time, abi Bakra lead the Army of Destruction against the Zunbils and was defeated. About 700 Ibn al-Ashath tried again with the Peacock Army which led to a mutiny, the early Arab governors of Sistan had at times penetrated as far as Ghazna and Kabul, but these had been little more than slave and plunder raids. The Zunbils worshiped the sun god Zun, sometimes referred to as Zoor or Zoon and he is represented with flames radiating from his head on coins. Statues were adorned with gold and used rubies for eyes, the god appears to have been brought to the region by the Hephthalites. Over time, the religion was influenced by Hinduism, with aspects of Shiva. Connections to Buddhism and Zoroastrianism have also been drawn, the cosmopolitan nature of the god is consistent with the variety of religions practiced in the region prior to the Islamization of Afghanistan. Islamic conquest of Afghanistan Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan Battle of Nahāvand Yazidis Zunbil in Encyclopædia Britannica
Zunbils
–
Names of territories during the
Caliphate in 750 CE. The Zunbil territory is within
Hind (Sind), which was culturally connected mostly with
India (Hindustan).
Zunbils
–
Newly
excavated Buddhist stupa at
Mes Aynak in
Logar Province. Similar stupas have been discovered in neighboring
Ghazni Province, including in the northern
Samangan Province.
31.
Kabul Shahi
–
They are split into two eras the Buddhist-Shahis and the later Hindu-Shahis with the change-over occurring around 870. These Hindu kings of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some ruling families in neighboring Kashmir, the last Shahi emperors Jayapala, Anandapala and Tirlochanpala fought the Muslim Turk Ghaznavids of Ghazna and were gradually defeated. Their remaining army were eventually exiled into northern India, Xuanzang describes the ruler of Kapisa/Kabul, whom he had personally met, as a devout Buddhist and a Kshatriya. Thus the folklore accounts recorded by Alberuni connect the earlier Shahis of Kabul/Kapisa to Turkish extraction, at the same time it is also claimed that their first king Barahatigin had originally come from Tibet and concealed in a narrow cave in Kabul area. One can easily see the account of Shahi origin as totally fanciful. The allegation that the first dynasty of Kabul was Turki is plainly based on the vulgar tradition, which Alberuni himself remarked was clearly absurd. The historian V. A. Smith speculates – based on Alberuni – that the earlier Shahis were a branch of the Kushanas who ruled both over Kabul and Gandhara until the rise of the Saffarids. H. M. Elliot relates the early Kabul Shahis to the Kators, charles Frederick Oldham also traces the Kabul Shahi lineage to the Kators—whom he identifies with the Kathas or Takkhas—Naga worshipping collective groups of Hinduism lineage. He further speaks of the Urasas, Abhisaras, Daradas, Gandharas, Kambojas, pandey traces the affinities of the early Kabul Shahis to the Hunas. Other accounts suggest Punjabi Kshatriya origins for the Shahi dynasty, Xuanzang clearly describes the ruler of Kapisa/Kabul, whom he had personally met, as a devout Buddhist and a Kshatriya and not a Tu-kiue/Tu-kue. Neither the Kushanas, the Hunas/Hephthalites nor the Turks have ever been designated or classified as Kshatriyas in any ancient Indian tradition, therefore, the identification of the first line of Shahi kings of Kapisa/Kabul with the Kushanas, Hunas, or Turks obviously seems to be in gross error. It is very interesting that Alberuni calls the early Shahi rulers Turks, the Shahi rulers of Kapisa/Kabul who ruled Afghanistan from the early 4th century till AD870 were Hindu Kamboj Kshatriyas. The Shahis of Afghanistan were discovered in 1874 to be connected to the Kamboja race by E. Vesey Westmacott, E. Vesey Westmacott, Bishan Singh, K. S. Dardi, et al. connect the Kabul Shahis to the ancient Indian Kshatriya clans of the Kambojas/Gandharas. George Scott Robertson writes that the Kators/Katirs of Kafiristan belong to the well known Siyaposh tribal group of the Kams, but numerous scholars now also agree that the Siyaposh tribes of Hindukush are the modern representatives of the ancient Iranian cis-Hindukush Kambojas. The name of the last king of the so-called first Shahi line of Kabul/Kapisa simply reveals a trace of Tukhara cultural influence in the Kamboja region, as hinted in the above discussion. Thus, the first ruling dynasty of Kapisa and Kabul, designated as a Kshatriya dynasty by Xuanzang had been a Kamboja dynasty from India, the Kambojas and the Tukharas are mentioned as immediate neighbors in north-west as late as the 8th century AD as Rajatarangini of Kalhana demonstrates. Evidence also exists that some medieval Muslim writers have confused the Kamboja clans of Pamirs/Hindukush with the Turks, for example, 10th-century Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi, refers to the Kumiji tribesmen of Buttaman mountains, on upper Oxus, and calls them of Turkic race. Song Yun, the Chinese Ambassador to the Huna kingdom of Gandhara, the then Yetha ruler was extremely cruel, vindictive, and anti-Buddhist and had engaged in a three years border war with the king of Ki-pin, disputing the boundaries of that country
Kabul Shahi
–
Coins of the Shahis, 8th century
Kabul Shahi
–
Coin of Shahi Kings of Kabul & Gandhara: Samanta Deva, c. AD 850–1000. Obv: Rider bearing lance on caparisoned horse facing right. Devnagari Legends: 'bhi '?. Rev: Recumbent bull facing left, trishula on bull's rump, Devnagari Legends: Sri Samanta Deva.
Kabul Shahi
–
Asia in AD 565, showing the Shahi kingdoms and their neighbours.
Kabul Shahi
–
Newly
excavated Buddhist stupa at
Mes Aynak in
Logar Province. Similar stupas have been discovered in neighbouring
Ghazni Province, including in the northern
Samangan Province.
32.
Bamyan, Afghanistan
–
Bamyan, also spelled Bamiyan and Bamian, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Bamyan was the site of an early Hindu–Buddhist monastery from which Bamyan takes its name, bamyans name is translated as ‘The Place of Shining Light’. Many statues of Buddha are carved into the sides of cliffs facing Bamyan city, in 2008, Bamyan was found to be the home of the worlds oldest oil paintings. The city of Bamyan has a population of 100,000 and it has four districts and a total land area of 3,539 hectares. The total number of dwellings in this city are 4,435, the Bamiyan valley marked the most westerly point of Buddhist expansion and was a crucial hub of trade for much of the second millennium CE. It was a place where East met West and its archaeology reveals a blend of Greek, Turkish, Persian, Chinese and Indian influence. Situated on the ancient Silk Route, the town was at the crossroads between the East and West when all trade between China and the Middle East passed through it, the Hunas made it their capital in the 5th century. Because of the cliff of the Buddhas, the ruins of the Monks caves, Shar-i-Gholghola, and its local scenery, it is one of the most visited places in Afghanistan. The Shar-i-Zohak mound ten miles south of the valley is the site of a citadel that guarded the city, the town is the cultural center of the Hazara ethnic group of Afghanistan. Most of the lives in downtown Bamyan. The valley is cradled between the mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and the Koh-i-Baba. Bamyan is a town with a bazaar at its center. It has no infrastructure of electricity, gas, or water supplies, according to Sister Cities International, Bamyan has established a sister city relationship with Gering, Nebraska, United States. It has an airport with a gravel runway, mountains cover ninety percent of the province, and the cold, long winter, lasting for six months, brings temperatures of three to twenty degrees Celsius below zero. Mainly Daizangi Hazara people live in the area, transportation facilities are increasing, but sparse. Notably Bamyan is now connected by road to Kabul through Parwan province, the connection between Maidan Shar and Bamyan –136 km long – makes it possible to reach Kabul in a 2 hour drive. The connection is almost completed missing just 15 km of paving The main crops are wheat, barley, mushung, when crops are damaged by unusually harsh weather, residents herd their livestock down to Ghazni and Maidan Provinces to exchange for food. The city and the province are served by Bamyan Airport, a new airport has been completed in 2015 with an asphalt runway
Bamyan, Afghanistan
–
Bamyan بامیان
Bamyan, Afghanistan
Bamyan, Afghanistan
Bamyan, Afghanistan
33.
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.
34.
Badghis
–
Bādghīs is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwest of the country next to Turkmenistan. The name is a corruption of the Persian compound, bâd-khiz, meaning wind source, referring to the winds that blow into the province from the north. Badghis is irrigated by the Murghab, the extension of the area into Turkmenistan still sports the old version, and serves as the Bâdkhiz Nature Preserve. Its northern border extends to the edge of the desert of Sarakhs, Badghis includes the Chul formations through which the Turkmen-Afghan boundary runs. The province was carved out of portions of Herat Province and Meymaneh Province in 1964 and has an area of 20,591 km2. It is counted as one of the most underdeveloped of the countrys 34 provinces, qala i Naw, a small town halfway between Maimana and Herat, serves as the provincial center. The province was one of the last captured by the Taliban in their military offensive before the American invasion in 2001, the province was quickly retaken by Northern Alliance forces as the United States initiated hostilities. The province was flooded by governors which was in favor of Hamed Karzai and these governors did not make a positive change. Especially governor Nasiri, who was moved to Zabul facilitated the raising of Taliban, the current Governor of the province is Jamaluddin Ishaq. At the province was a Provincial Reconstruction Team, which was led by Spain, agriculture is the main source of peoples income and the existence of Murghab, river makes the available land suitable for cultivation. The province faced severe drought during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Badghis is the leading province in Afghanistan in pistachio production. It is also one of the capitals of the country. Badghis Province suffers from a lack of adequate transportation, a single airport exists at the provincial seat--Qala i Naw Airport, which is capable of handling light aircraft. Work on a 233 km section of the Afghan ring road has started in 2012 and this will connect Herat to Mazar-i Sharif and open up Badghis to the rest of Afghanistan. This section goes from Laman in Herat Province to Qaisar in Faryab Province, through Qala-e-Now, Muqur, Bala Murghab, Badghis is part of National Ring road, but because of Pashtuns supremacy and their power in the government, they made it immposible to built it. There are three main reason why do not want the connection of ring road, the southern provinces with Pashtun majority will get less benefit from Herat-Kabul highway. The ring road will connect North to West of the country which are non-Pashtun majority and it will pave the way for breaking the old school pashtun theory to keep Afghanistan border safe by pashtuns. Pashtuns will lose the lands in Bala Murghab by flood of farmers from Faryab
Badghis
–
A village in Badghis
35.
Ghor
–
Ghōr, also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in central Afghanistan, towards the north-west, the province contains ten districts, encompassing hundreds of villages, and approximately 657,200 settled people. Firuzkoh, serves as the capital of the province, mandesh is the historical name by which the mountain region of Ghor was called. The inhabitants of Ghor were completely Islamized during the Ghurids era, before the 12th century, the area was home to Hindus, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, and a small number of Jews. Remains of the oldest settlements discovered by Lithuanian archaeologists in 2007 and 2008 in Ghor date back to 5000 BC, ruins of a few castles and other defense fortifications were also discovered in the environs of Chaghcharan. A Buddhist monastery hand-carved in the bluff of the river Harirud existed in the first centuries during the prevalence of Buddhism, the artificial caves revealed testimony of daily life of the Buddhist monks. The rise to power of the Ghurids at Ghur, an isolated area located in the mountain vastness between the Ghaznavid empire and the Seljukids, was an unusual and unexpected development. The area was so remote that till the 11th century, it had remained an enclave surrounded by Muslim principalities. It was converted to Islam in the part of the 12th century after Mahmud raided it. Even then it is believed that paganism, i. e. a variety of Mahayana Buddhism persisted in the till the end of the century. The mountainous country between Hirat and Ghazni, Ghor itself was a country of infidels, containing only a few Musulmans, and the inhabitants spoke a language different from that of Khurasan. Minhaju-S-Siraj records the strife between the non-Muslim and Muslim populations and it is said that Amir Suri was a great king and most of the territories of Ghor were in his possession. But as most of the inhabitants of Ghor of High and low degree had not yet embraced Islam, the Saffarians came from Nimroz to Bust and Dawar, Yakub Lais overpowered Lak-Lak, who was the chief of Takinabad, in the country of Rukhaj. The Ghorians sought the safety in Sara-sang and dwelt there in security, according to Minhahu-S Siraj, Amir Suri was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni, made prisoner along with his son and taken to Ghazni, where Amir Suri died. The region had previously conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni. It was also the last stronghold of an ancient religion professed by the inhabitants when all their neighbors had become Muhammadan, in the 11th century AD Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the prince of Ghor Ibn–I-Suri, and made him prisoner in a severely contested engagement in the valley of Ahingaran. Ibn-I-Suri is identified a Hindu by the author, who has recorded his overthrow, in 1011,1015 and 1020, both Mahmud and Masud I led expeditions into Ghur and established Islam in place of the indigenous paganism. After this, Ghur was considered a state of the Ghaznavid empire
Ghor
–
Minaret of Jam, Shahrak District
Ghor
–
History of Afghanistan
Ghor
–
The
Minaret of Jam built by the
Ghurid Dynasty
36.
Islam
–
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
Islam
–
The
Kaaba, in
Mecca,
Hejaz region, today's
Saudi Arabia, is the
center of Islam.
Muslims from all over the world gather there to
pray in unity.
Islam
–
The dome of the
Carol I Mosque in
Constanța,
Romania, topped by the
Islamic crescent
Islam
–
Medallion showing "
Allah " (
God) in
Hagia Sophia,
Istanbul,
Turkey.
Islam
–
An
angel presenting
Muhammad and his companions with a miniature city. In the
Topkapi Palace Library,
Istanbul.
37.
Buddhism
–
Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
Buddhism
–
Standing Buddha statue at the
Tokyo National Museum. One of the earliest known representations of the
Buddha, 1st–2nd century CE.
Buddhism
–
The Dharmachakra
Buddhism
–
Relic depicting Gautama leaving home. The Great Departure, c.1–2nd century. (
Musée Guimet)
Buddhism
–
Ascetic
Gautama with his five companions, who later comprised the first
Sangha. (Painting in
Laotian temple)
38.
Tribal chief
–
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. In the case of tribal societies existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states. The most common types are the chairman of a council and/or a broader popular assembly in parliamentary cultures, the war chief, the hereditary chief and this term has largely fallen out of use, however, and such personages are now often called kings. Historically, tribal societies represent a stage between the band society of the Paleolithic stage and civilization with centralized, super-regional government based in cities. Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings thus flourished from the Neolithic stage into the Iron Age, albeit in competition with civilisations, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, tribal kingdoms were again established over much of Europe in the wake of the Migration period. By the High Middle Ages, these had coalesced into super-regional monarchies. Tribal societies also remained prevalent in much of the New World, excepting Paleolithic or Mesolithic band societies in Oceania, europeans forced centralized governments onto these societies during colonialism, but in some instances they have retained or regained partial self-government. Tribal chiefs are known as Sheikhs, though this term is sometimes applied as an honorific title to spiritual leaders of Sufism. In Botswana, the chiefs of the various tribes are constitutionally empowered to serve as advisers to the government as members of the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. In addition to this, they serve as the ex officio chairs of the tribal kgotlas, meetings of all of the members of the tribes. The band is the unit of governance among the First Nations in Canada. As well, there may be hereditary or charismatic chiefs. There were 614 bands in Canada in 2012, there is also a national organization, the Assembly of First Nations, which elects a national chief to act as spokesperson of all First Nations bands in Canada. The offices and traditional realms of the chiefs of Ghana are constitutionally protected by the constitution of the country. The chiefs serve as custodian of all lands and the culture of the traditional area. The Solomon Islands have a Local Court Act which empowers chiefs to deal with crimes in their communities, apo Rodolfo Aguilar serves as the chieftain of the Tagbanwa tribes people living in Banuang Daan and Cabugao settlements in Coron Island, Palawan, Philippines. His position is recognized by the Filipino government, the pre-colonial states that existed in what is today Uganda were summarily abolished following independence from Great Britain. However, following constitutional reforms in 1993, a number of them were restored as politically neutral constituencies of the state by the government of Yoweri Museveni, generally, a tribe or nation is considered to be part of an ethnic group, usually sharing cultural values
Tribal chief
–
Arminius, a chieftain of the
Germanic Cherusci tribe who defeated three
Roman legions in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
Tribal chief
–
Badge of office of Chief Gambo,
Rhodesia c. 1979.
Tribal chief
–
Goyathlay, or
Geronimo,
Apache chieftain for the
Chiricahua.
39.
Nancy Dupree
–
Nancy Hatch Dupree is a historian and archaeologist on Afghanistan. She was born in India to American parents and went to Barnard College and she is the director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University in Afghanistan and author of five books that she compiled while studying the history of Afghanistan from 1962 until the late 1970s. Dupree was born in in Kerala in India, on the Arabian Sea coast and her parents were working in Kerala on rural development programs, and were also involved in village community drama. Dupree spent most of her childhood in Kerala and she subsequently also lived with her parents in Latin America. Dupree first arrived in Afghanistan in 1962 as a diplomats wife, several years later, she met Louis Duprée, who was a renowned archaeologist and scholar of Afghan culture and history. The two fell in love and got married after divorcing their former spouses, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Nancy was forced to leave the country, while Louis remained. Rather than return to the United States, she moved to a camp in Peshawar. Louis was eventually arrested under suspicion of working for the Central Intelligence Agency as a spy and he then joined Nancy in Peshawar. While in the camp, Nancy realized the potential for the loss of unique documents about Afghanistan to be lost or destroyed forever. In order to preserve these works and to them to a new generation, she. They began to both government and non-government documents that related to the countrys history, culture, the Soviet Invasion, the Mujahedeen. Nancy said that in the looting that began after the Soviet invasion, a large number of books were also sold by weight to be used to wrap food. After the Coalition forces moved into Afghanistan in 2001, Nancy and they were concerned for their own safety and that of ACBARs collection, which by 1999 consisted of 7,739 titles written in Pashto, Dari, French, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. In 2005, Nancy moved back to Kabul and worked with the Afghan government to find a place to house ACBARs collection, the collection was moved to Kabul University and the name was changed to the Afghan Collection at Kabul University. A $2 million building was completed to house the collection in 2012, Dupree divides her time between Afghanistan and her other home in North Carolina. In 2007, Nancy Hatch Dupree established the Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation and it is a charitable organization that promotes research and raises awareness of the history and culture of Afghanistan. In addition, this organization also preserves Afghani cultural heritage, the organizations primary goal is to ensure the sustainability of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. Programs offer Afghans from all walks of life, especially youth, incentives to acquire, the organization has been able to achieve its overall goal by purchasing books and providing them to the schools in parts of Afghanistan that have never had a library
Nancy Dupree
–
Nancy Hatch Dupree giving a speech during the International Architectural Ideas Competition at the
National Museum of Afghanistan in September 2012 in
Kabul,
Afghanistan
40.
Sasanians
–
The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
Sasanians
–
Normal domains
Sasanians
–
Derafsh Kaviani
Sasanians
–
Ghal'eh Dokhtar (or "The Maiden's Castle") in present-day
Fars,
Firuzabad,
Iran, built by Ardashir in 209, before he was finally able to defeat the Parthian empire.
41.
Herat
–
Herat is the third-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 436,300, and serves as the capital of Herat Province and it is linked with Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif via highway 1 or the ring road. It is further linked to the city of Mashhad in neighboring Iran through the town of Islam Qala. Herat dates back to the Avestan times and was known for its wine. The city has a number of sites, including the Herat Citadel. During the Middle Ages Herat became one of the important cities of Khorasan and it has been governed by various Afghan rulers since the early 18th century. In 1717, the city was invaded by the Hotaki forces until they were expelled by the Afsharids in 1736, after Nader Shahs death and Ahmad Shah Durranis rise to power in 1747, Herat became part of Afghanistan. It witnessed some political disturbances and military invasions during the half of the 19th century. Herat suffered from destruction during the Soviet war in the 1980s. Herat lies on the ancient trade routes of the Middle East, Central, the roads from Herat to Iran, Turkmenistan, and other parts of Afghanistan are still strategically important. As the gateway to Iran, it collects high amount of revenue for Afghanistan. The city has an international airport, Herat is a regional hub in western Afghanistan in close proximity to Iran and Turkmenistan. The city has high residential density clustered around the core of the city, however, vacant plots account for a higher percentage of the city than residential land use and agricultural is the largest percentage of total land use. Herat dates back to ancient times, but its exact age remains unknown, during the period of the Achaemenid Empire, the surrounding district was known as Hariva, and in classical sources the region was correspondingly known as Aria. In the Zoroastrian Avesta, the district is mentioned as Haroiva, the name of the district and its main town is derived from that of the chief river of the region, the Herey River, which traverses the district and passes some 5 km south of modern Herāt. Herey is mentioned in Sanskrit as yellow or golden color equivalent to Persian Zard meaning Gold, the naming of a region and its principal town after the main river is a common feature in this part of the world—compare the adjoining districts/rivers/towns of Arachosia and Bactria. The district Aria of the Achaemenid Empire is mentioned in the lists that are included in various royal inscriptions, for instance. Representatives from the district are depicted in reliefs, e. g. at the royal Achaemenid tombs of Naqsh-e Rustam and they are wearing Scythian-style dress and a twisted Bashlyk that covers their head, chin and neck
Herat
Herat
Herat
Herat
42.
Governors
–
A governor is, in most cases, a public official with the power to govern the executive branch of a non-sovereign or sub-national level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, governor may be the title of a politician who governs a constituent state and these companies operate as a major state within a state with its own armed forces. For example, in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, there are governors, school governors. The adjective pertaining to a governor is gubernatorial, from the Latin root gubernyare, the historical female form is governess, though female officials are referred to by the gender-neutral form governor of the noun to avoid confusion with other meanings of the term. Indeed, many regions of the pre-Roman antiquity were ultimately replaced by Roman standardized provincial governments after their conquest by Rome, in Pharaonic times, the governors of each of the various provinces in the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt are usually known by the Greek word. The core function of a Roman governor was as a magistrate or judge, and the management of taxation, under the Republic and the early Empire, however, a governor also commanded military forces in his province. Republican governors were all men who had served in senior magistracies in Rome in the previous year, a special case was Egypt, a rich private domain and vital granary, where the Emperor almost inherited the theocratic status of a Pharaoh. The Emperor was represented there by a sui generis styled praefectus augustalis. Otherwise, the governors of provinces had various titles, some known as consularis, apart from Egypt and the East, each diocese was directed by a governor known as a vicarius. The prefectures were directed by praefecti praetorio and this system survived with few significant changes until the collapse of the empire in the West, and in the East, the breakdown of order with the Persian and Arab invasions of the seventh century. At that stage, a new kind of governor emerged, the Strategos, today, crown colonies of the United Kingdom continue to be administered by a governor, who holds varying degrees of power. Because of the different constitutional histories of the colonies of the United Kingdom. Administrators, Commissioners and High Commissioners exercise similar powers to Governors, frequently the name Government House is given to Governors residences. The term can also be used in a generic sense, especially for compound titles which include it, Governor-general. In the United Kingdoms remaining overseas territories, the governor is normally a direct appointee of the British Government, the Governors chief responsibility is for the Defence and External Affairs of the colony. In some minor overseas territories, instead of a Governor, there is an Administrator or Commissioner, in Australia, each state has the governor as its formal representative of the Queen, as head of the state government. It is not an office but a ceremonial one. Each state governor is appointed by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Premier, State Governors have emergency reserve powers but these are rarely used
Governors
–
Flag of the Governor of
Hong Kong, 1959–1997
43.
Caliphate
–
A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph
Caliphate
–
Mustansiriya University in
Baghdad
Caliphate
–
Caliphate خِلافة
Caliphate
–
Abdülmecid II was the last Caliph of Islam from the
Ottoman dynasty.
44.
Kandahar
–
Kandahar or Qandahar is the second-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 491,500 as of 2012. Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia, the city is named after Alexander the Great, Kandahar is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at an altitude of 1,010 m above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city, the city of Kandahar has a population of 557,118. It has 15 districts and a land area of 27,337 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61,902, Kandahar is one of the most culturally significant cities of the Pashtuns and has been their traditional seat of power for more than 200 years. It is a trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit, the area is believed to be the birthplace of cannabis indica. The region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known human settlements, Alexander the Great had laid-out the foundation of what is now Old Kandahar in the 4th century BC and gave it the Ancient Greek name Αλεξάνδρεια Aραχωσίας. Many empires have long fought over the city due to its location along the trade routes of southern, central. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom, in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the last Afghan empire, made it the capital of modern Afghanistan. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, Ibn Batutta mentions Kandahar in the 14th century by describing it as a large and prosperous town three nights journey from Ghazni. It has been then mentioned extensively by Mughal Emperor Babur and others, an alternative story describes Khandahar as Gandhara in Mahabharata ruled by Suvala and later by Shakuni. The princess of Hastinapur, Gandhari was born in Gandhara, a folk etymology offered is that the word kand or qand in Persian and Pashto means candy. The name Candahar or Kandahar in this form probably translates to candy area and this probably has to do with the location being fertile and historically known for producing fine grapes, pomegranates, apricots, melons and other sweet fruits. Ernst Herzfeld claimed Kandahar perpetuated the name of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, excavations of prehistoric sites by archaeologists such as Louis Dupree and others suggest that the region around Kandahar is one of the oldest human settlements known so far. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan ca.5000 B. C. or 7000 years ago, deh Morasi Ghundai, the first prehistoric site to be excavated in Afghanistan, lies 27 km southwest of Kandahar. Another Bronze Age village mound site with multiroomed mud-brick buildings dating from the same period sits nearby at Said Qala, Bronze Age pottery, copper and bronze horse trappings and stone seals were found in the lowermost levels in the nearby cave called Shamshir Ghar. In the Seistan, southwest of these Kandahar sites, two teams of American archaeologists discovered sites relating to the 2nd millennium B. C, while the Diadochi were warring amongst themselves, the Mauryan Empire was developing in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent
Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar
45.
Ghazni
–
Ghaznī or Ghaznai, also historically known as Ghaznīn or Ghazna, is a city in Afghanistan with a population of nearly 150,000 people. It is located in the central-east part of the country, situated on a plateau at 7,280 feet above sea level, the city serves as the capital of Ghazni Province. It is linked by a highway with Kandahar to the southwest, Kabul to the northeast, the foundation stone of Ghazni Airport was laid in April 2012 which now serves Ghazni and other nearby eastern Afghan provinces. Similar to many other Afghanistani cities, Ghazni as ancient city has withstood numerous military invasions, during the pre-Islamic period, the area was inhabited by various tribes who practiced different religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. Arab Muslims introduced Islam to Ghazni in the 7th century, they were followed by the 9th century Islamic conquest of the Saffarids from Zarang in the west, sabuktigin made Ghazni the capital of the Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th century. The city was destroyed by one of the Ghurid rulers, and it fell to a number of regional powers, including the Timurids and the Delhi Sultanate, until it became part of the Hotaki dynasty, which was followed by the Durrani Empire or modern Afghanistan. During the First Anglo-Afghan War in the 19th century, Ghazni was partially destroyed by British-Indian forces, the city is currently being rebuilt by the Government of Afghanistan in remembrance of the Ghaznavid and Timurid era when it served as a major center of Islamic civilisation. The Afghan National Security Forces have established bases and check-points to deal with the Taliban insurgency, Ghazni is a trading and transit hub in central Afghanistan. Agriculture is the dominant land use at 28%, in terms of built-up land area, vacant plots slightly outweigh residential area. Districts 3 and 4 also have large institutional areas, the city of Ghazni has a population of 143,379 with 4 Police districts and total land area of 3,330 Hectares. There are 15,931 total number of dwellings in Ghazni city, Ghazni was founded some time in antiquity as a small market town and is mentioned by Ptolemy. In the 6th century BC, the city was conquered by the Achaemenid king Cyrus II, the city was subsequently incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great in 329 BC, and called Alexandria in Opiana. Ghazni was a thriving Buddhist centre up until the 7th century, in 683 AD, Arab armies brought Islam to the region, but many refused to accept the new religion. Yaqub Saffari from Zaranj conquered the city in the late 9th century and it later became the dazzling capital of the Ghaznavid Empire, which encompassed much of northern India, Persia and Central Asia. Many iconoclastic campaigns were launched from Ghazni into India, resulting in the destruction of ancient temples, libraries and palaces, the Ghaznavids took Islam to India and returned with fabulous riches taken from Indian princes and temples. Although the city was sacked in 1151 by the Ghorid Alauddin, it became their secondary capital in 1173. Between 1215 and 1221, Ghazni was ruled by the Khwarezmid Empire, in the first decades of the 11th century, Ghazni was the most important centre of Persian literature. This was the result of the policy of the Sultan Mahmud, who assembled a circle of scholars, philosophers
Ghazni
–
Ghazni غزني
Ghazni
Ghazni
–
History of Afghanistan
Ghazni
–
A 19th-century artwork by James Atkinson showing Ghazni's citadel and two minars, which were built by
Bahram Shah during the
Ghaznavid era (963–1187).
46.
Khuzestan Province
–
Khuzestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and its capital is Ahvaz and it covers an area of 63,238 km2. In 2014 it was placed in Region 4, as the Iranian province with the oldest history, it is often referred to as the birthplace of the nation, as this is where the history of the Elamites begins. Historically, one of the most important regions of the Ancient Near East, Khuzestan is what historians refer to as ancient Elam, the Achaemenid Old Persian term for Elam was Hujiyā when they conquered it from the Elamites, which is present in the modern name. Khuzestan, meaning the Land of the Khuz refers to the inhabitants of this province. In Middle Persian the term evolves into Khuz and Kuzi, the pre-Islamic Partho-Sasanian Inscriptions gives the name of the province as Khwuzestan. The seat of the province has for the most of its history been in the reaches of the land, first at Susa. This town is now known as Ahvaz, however, later in the Sasanian time and throughout the Islamic era, the provincial seat returned and stayed at Shushtar, until the late Qajar period. With the increase in the international sea commerce arriving on the shores of Khuzistan, the River Karun is navigable all the way to Ahvaz. The town was refurbished by the order of the Qajar king, Naser al-Din Shah and renamed after him. Shushtar quickly declined, while Ahvaz/Nâseri prospered to the present day, currently, Khuzestan has 18 representatives in Irans parliament, the Majlis, and 6 representatives in the Assembly of Experts. Khuzestan is known for its diversity, the population of Khuzestan consists of Lurs, Iranian Arabs, Qashqai people, Afshar tribe, indigenous Persians. Khuzestans population is predominantly Shia Muslim, but there are small Christian, Jewish, Sunni, half of Khuzestans population is Lurs. The name Khuzestan means The Land of the Khuzi, and refers to the inhabitants of this province. The name of the city of Ahvaz also has the same origin as the name Khuzestan, being an Arabic broken plural from the compound name, Suq al-Ahvaz --the medieval name of the town, that replaced the Sasanian Persian name of the pre-Islamic times. The entire province was known as the Khudhi or the Khooji until the reign of the Safavid king Tahmasp I. The southern half of the province—south, southwest of the Ahwaz Ridge, had come by the 17th century to be known—at least to the imperial Safavid chancery as Arabistan. The contemporaneous history, the Alamara-i Abbasi by Iskandar Beg Munshi, written during the reign of king Abbas I, the northern half continued to be called Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province
–
Khūzestān Province استان خوزستان
Khuzestan Province
–
Domes like this are quite common in Khuzestan province. The shape is an architectural trademark of craftsmen of the province.
Daniel 's shrine, located in Khuzestan, has such a shape. The shrine pictured here, belongs to Imamzadeh Hamzeh, located between Mahshahr and Hendijan.
Khuzestan Province
–
The
ziggurat of
Choqa Zanbil in Khuzestan was a magnificent structure of the
Elamite Empire. Khuzestan's Elamites were "precursors of the royal Persians", and were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense."
Khuzestan Province
–
Masjed Jame' Dezful. In spite of devastating damage caused by Iraqi shelling in the Iran-Iraq War, Khuzestan still possesses a rich heritage of architecture from Islamic, Sassanid, and earlier times.
47.
Abbasid
–
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads
Abbasid
–
The Black Banner of the Abbasids.
Abbasid
–
Coin of the Abbasids,
Baghdad, Iraq, 765
Abbasid
–
Image of the
Amir of
Khorasan Isma'il ibn Ahmad on the
Tajikistani somoni who exercised independent authority from the Abassids
48.
Mahmud of Ghazni
–
Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn, more commonly known as Mahmud of Ghazni, also known as Mahmūd-i Zābulī, was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. He conquered the eastern Iranian lands, modern Afghanistan, and the northwestern Indian subcontinent from 997 to his death in 1030. He was the first ruler to carry the title Sultan, signifying the extent of his power, during his rule, he invaded and plundered parts of Hindustan 17 times. Mahmud was born on Thursday,10 Muharram,361 AH/ November 2,971 CE in the town of Ghazna in Medieval Khorasan and his father Sabuktigin was a Turkic Mamluk who founded the Ghaznavid dynasty. His mother was the daughter of a Persian aristocrat from Zabulistan, Sultan Mahmud was born on 2 November 971 CE in Ghazni to first Ghaznavid Sultan Sebüktigin, Yusuf Sebüktigin being his younger brother. He was married to a woman named Kausari Jahan and had twin sons Mohammad and Masud, in 994, Mahmud joined his father Sabuktigin in the capture of Khorasan from the rebel Faiq in aid of the Samanid Emir, Nuh II. Mahmud took over his fathers kingdom in 998 after defeating and capturing Ismail at the Battle of Ghazni and he then set out west from Ghazni to take the Kandahar region followed by Bost, where he turned it into a militarised city. Mahmud initiated the first of numerous invasion of North India, on November 28,1001, his army fought and defeated the army of Raja Jayapala of the Kabul Shahis at the battle of Peshawar. In 1002, Mahmud invaded Sistan and dethroned Khalaf ibn Ahmad, from there he decided to focus on Hindustan to the southeast, particularly the highly fertile lands of the Punjab region. At this point, Jayapala attempted to revenge for an earlier military defeat at the hands of Mahmuds father. His son Anandapala succeeded him and continued the struggle to avenge his fathers suicide and he also vowed to raid and loot the wealthy region of northwestern India every year. In 1001 Mahmud of Ghazni had first invaded modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan then parts of India, Mahmud defeated, captured and later released the Shahi ruler Jayapala, who had moved his capital to Peshawar. Jaya Pala killed himself and was succeeded by his son Ananda Pala, in 1013, during Mahmuds 8th expedition into eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Shahi kingdom was overthrown. In 1014 Mahmud led an expedition to Thanesar, the next year he unsuccessfully attacked Kashmir. In 1018, he attacked Mathura and defeated a coalition of rulers there while also killing a ruler called Chandra Pala, in 1021 Mahmud supported the Kannauj king against Chandela Ganda, who was defeated. That same year Shahi Trilochana Pala was killed at Rahib and his son Bhima Pala succeeded him, Mahmud besieged Gwalior, in 1023, where he given tribute. Mahmud attacked Somnath, in 1025, and its ruler Bhima Deva I fled, the next year, he captured Somnath and marched to Kachch against Bhima Deva. That same year Mahmud also attacked the Jat people of Jud, the last four years of Mahmuds life were spent contending with the influx of Oghuz and Seljuk Turks from Central Asia and the Buyid dynasty
Mahmud of Ghazni
–
Ferdowsi reads the poem, the
Shahnameh, to Mahmud of Ghazni by painter
Vardges Sureniants
Mahmud of Ghazni
–
Sultan Mahmud and his forces attacking the fortress of
Zaranj
Mahmud of Ghazni
–
Mahmud of Ghazni last success in India against Jats
Mahmud of Ghazni
–
A Painting of the tomb of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, in 1839–40, with Sandalwood Doors long believed to be plundered from Somnath, which he destroyed in ca 1024, later found to be replicas of the original.
49.
Panjshir Valley
–
The Panjshir Valley is a valley in north-central Afghanistan,150 kilometres north of Kabul, near the Hindu Kush mountain range. Located in the Panjshir Province it is divided by the Panjshir River, the valley is home to more than 140,000 people, including Afghanistans largest concentration of ethnic Tajiks. In April 2004, it became the heart of Panjshir Province and it was the site of the Panjshir offensives fought between the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviets against the mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1980 to 1985. The valley again witnessed renewed fighting during the war in Afghanistan between Taliban and the Northern Alliance under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud. The name AminPanjshir, literally meaning Five Lions, refers to five Wali, local legend has it that the five brothers built a dam for Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the early 11th century AD. The foundations serve today for a modern reservoir, the Panjshir Valley has the potential to become a major centre of emerald mining. As early as the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder commented on gemstones from the region, in the Middle Ages, Panjshir was famed for its silver mining and the Saffarids and Samanids minted their coins there. As of 1985, crystals upwards of 190 carats had been found there, the valley has the potential of being an energy hub for Afghanistan, through construction of several electric dams. Rewat locality can be the site of the first electric dam, the valley can make the region around the Afghan capital electricity self-reliant. The construction of a road to the Badakhshan Province can contribute to the prosperity of the valley. Tourism can constitute another major source of income, the Panjshir has always been an important highway. A 10-turbine wind farm was built in Panjshir Valley in April 2008, the Panjshir Valley is the central setting of Ken Folletts 1985 spy novel Lie Down with Lions. The Panjshir Valley is featured in Steven Pressfields 2006 historical novel The Afghan Campaign
Panjshir Valley
–
A view of
Afghanistan 's Panjshir Valley.
Panjshir Valley
–
Biogeography
50.
History of Iran
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Iran is home to one of the worlds oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 7000 BC. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel names the Persians as the first Historical People, the Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. It was the largest empire yet seen and the first world empire and they were succeeded by the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Empires, who successively governed Iran for almost 1000 years and made Iran once again as a leading power in the world. Persias arch-rival was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, the Persian Empire proper begins in the Iron Age, following the influx of Iranian peoples. Iranian people gave rise to the Medes, the Achaemenid, Parthian, once a major empire of superpower proportions, having conquered far and wide, Iran has endured invasions too, by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Iran has continually reasserted its national identity throughout the centuries and has developed as a political and cultural entity. The Muslim conquest of Persia ended the Sasanian Empire and was a point in Iranian history. Islamization of Iran took place during the eighth to tenth centuries, however, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity and civilization. Iran, with its history of early cultures and empires, had suffered particularly hard during the late Middle Ages. Many invasions of nomadic tribes, whose leaders became rulers in this country, the earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran were found in the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites that are thought to date back to 100,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian stone tools made by Neandertals have also been found, in 1949, a Neanderthal radius was discovered by Carleton S. Coon in Bisitun Cave. Early agricultural communities such as Chogha Golan in 10,000 BC along with such as Chogha Bonut in 8000 BC, began to flourish in. Around about the time, the earliest-known clay vessels and modeled human and animal terracotta figurines were produced at Ganj Dareh. There are also 10, 000-year-old human and animal figurines from Tepe Sarab in Kermanshah Province among many ancient artifacts. The two main Neolithic Iranian settlements were the Zayandeh River Culture and Ganj Dareh, parts of what is modern-day northwestern Iran was part of the Kura–Araxes culture, that stretched up into the neighboring regions of the Caucasus and Anatolia. Susa is one of the settlements of Iran and the world. Based on C14 dating, the time of foundation of the city is as early as 4395 BC, the general perception among archeologists is that Susa was an extension of the Sumerian city state of Uruk. In its later history, Susa became the capital of Elam and it is one of the most artifact-rich archaeological sites in the Middle East
History of Iran
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A gold cup at the
National Museum of Iran, dating from the first half of 1st millennium BC.
History of Iran
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Arg-e Bam Before the 2003 earthquake.
History of Iran
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Chogha Zanbil is one of the few extant
ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia and is considered to be the best preserved example in the world.
Iran topics
