Afghan Turkestan

2025-10-04T19:25:55Z

2601:84:8501:8150:311A:EFDD:E86F:BF58: /* See also */

{{Short description|Region in northern Afghanistan}}{{Infobox settlement
| name = Afghan Turkestan
| other_name =
| settlement_type = Region
| image_map = Areas of Afghanistan inhabited by Turkic speaking people (orthographic projection with inset).svg
| map_caption = Turkic-inhabited areas (according to the [[CIA]], 2005)
| subdivision_type = Countries
| subdivision_name = {{flag|Afghanistan}}
| subdivision_type1 = Languages
| subdivision_name1 = [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], [[Dari]], [[Pashto]]
| area_total_km2 = 147000
}}

'''Afghan Turkestan'''{{efn|{{langx|prs|ترکستان افغان|Turkistāni Afghān}}}} is a region in northern [[Afghanistan]], on the border with the former [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republic]]s of [[Turkmenistan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Tajikistan]]. In the 19th century, there was a province in Afghanistan named [[Turkestan Province|Turkestan]] with [[Mazar-e Sharif]] as provincial capital. The province incorporated the territories of the present-day provinces of [[Balkh province|Balkh]], [[Kunduz province|Kunduz]], [[Jowzjan province|Jowzjan]], [[Sar-e Pol province|Sar-e Pol]], and [[Faryab province|Faryab]]. In 1890, [[Qataghan-Badakhshan Province]] was separated from Turkestan Province. It was later abolished by [[Abdur Rahman Khan|Abdur Rahman]].<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Angus |author-last=Hamilton |title=Afghanistan |publisher=W. Heinemann |date=1906 |pages=https://books.google.com/books?id=nexWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247&dq=Mazar-i-Sharif+Province&hl=en&ei=3cXiTPemB4a8lQe26NyCBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Mazar-i-Sharif%20Province&f=false 247}}</ref>

The whole territory of Afghan Turkestan, from the junction of the [[Kokcha]] river with the [[Amu Darya]] on the north-east to the province of [[Herat province|Herat]] on the south-west, was some {{convert|500|mi|km|order=flip}} in length, with an average width from the Russian frontier to the [[Hindu Kush]] of {{convert|183|km|abbr=on}}. It thus comprised about 147,000 km<sup>2</sup> (57,000 sq mi) or roughly two-ninths of the former [[Kingdom of Afghanistan]].

== Geography ==
The area is agriculturally poor except in the river valleys, being rough and mountainous towards the south, but subsiding into undulating wastes and pasture-lands towards the [[Karakum Desert]].

The province included the khanates of [[Qunduz Khanate|Kunduz]], [[Kholm, Afghanistan|Tashkurgan]], [[Balkh]], and [[Akcha]] in the east and the four khanates or ''Chahar Wilayat'' ("four domains") of [[Saripul]], [[Shibarghan]], [[Andkhoy (city)]], and [[Maimana Khanate|Maymana]] in the west.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |last=Holdich |first=Thomas Hungerford |wstitle=Afghan Turkestan |volume=1 |page=319}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
[[File:CIA Afghanistan ethnic groups map.jpg|thumb|[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] map showing the territory of the settlement of [[Ethnic group|ethnic groups]] and subgroups in [[Afghanistan]]]]
The bulk of the people are [[Uzbeks]] and [[Turkmens]] with large concentrations of [[Hazaras]], [[Afghan Qizilbash|Qizilbashs]], [[Afghan Tatars|Tatars]], [[Tajiks]], and [[Pashtuns]].<ref>{{cite web|website=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/05/13/pashtuns.htm |title=Pashtuns say they're being brutalized |date=12 May 2002}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Afghan Turkestan in 1751.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of Afghan Turkestan in January 1751]][[File:Afghan-Turkestan in 19th century.png|thumb|291x291px|Map of [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]] Khanates forming Afghan-Turkestan, 19th century]]

Ancient Balkh or [[Bactria]] was an integral part of [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]], and was occupied by [[Indo-Iranians]]. In the 5th century BCE, it became a province of the [[Achaemenian Empire]] and later became part of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. About 250 BC [[Diodotus of Bactria|Diodotus (Theodotus)]], governor of [[Bactria]] under the [[Seleucid dynasty|Seleucidae]], declared his independence, and commenced the history of the Greco-Bactrian dynasties, which succumbed to [[Parthia]]n and nomadic movements about 126 BC. After this came a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] era which has left its traces in the gigantic sculptures at Bamian and the rock-cut topes of Haibak. The district was devastated by [[Genghis Khan]], and has never since fully recovered its prosperity. For about a century it belonged to the [[Delhi]] empire, and then fell into [[Uzbekistan|Uzbek]] hands. In the 18th century it formed part of the dominion of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], and so remained under his son [[Timur Shah Durrani|Timur Shah]]. But under the fratricidal wars of Timur's sons the separate khanates fell back under the independent rule of various Uzbek chiefs. At the beginning of the 19th century they belonged to Bukhara; but under the [[emir]] [[Dost Mohammad Khan|Dost Mohammad]], the Afghans recovered Balkh and Tashkurgan in 1850, Akcha and the four western khanates in 1855, and Kunduz in 1859. Dost Mohammad's earliest campaigns begin in the 1830s in the [[Afghan Turkestan Campaign of 1838-39]]. The sovereignty over [[Andkhoy (city)|Andkhoy]], [[Shibarghan]], [[Saripul]], and [[Maymana]] was in dispute between Bukhara and Kabul until settled by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873 in favour of the Afghan claim. Under the strong rule of [[Abdur Rahman Khan|Abdur Rahman]] these outlying territories were closely welded to Kabul; but after the accession of [[Habibullah Khan|Habibullah]] the bonds once more relaxed. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, many ethnic Pashtuns either [[Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan|voluntarily or involuntarily settled in Afghan Turkestan]].[[File:Afghan Turkestan Province, 1929.png|thumb|Afghan Turkestan Province in 1929]]In 1890, the district of Qataghan and Badakhshan was divided from Afghan Turkestan and made into the [[Qataghan-Badakhshan Province]]. Administration of the province was assigned to the [[Northern Bureau]] in [[Kabul]].<ref name=mcchesiraj>Fayz Muḥammad Katib. Siraj al-tawarıkh. V. III. Afghanistan Digital Library. <http://afghanistandl.nyu.edu/books/adl0009/index.html></ref>

== See also ==
* [[Chinese Turkestan]]
* [[Russian Turkestan]]
* [[Turkestan Province]]
* [[Pashtun colonization of Northern Afghanistan|Pashtunization of Afghan Turkestan]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Main|Bibliography of the history of Central Asia#Afghan Turkestan}}

[[Category:Former provinces of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Turkestan]]
[[Category:Regions of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Turkic toponyms]]

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Afghan Turkestan