Bamyan

For the province, see Bamiyan Province.

Bāmiyān (Template:PerB) is a town in central Afghanistan, the capital of Bamiyan Province. It has a population of about 61,863 people, and is approximately 240 kilometres north-west of Kabul. Bamyan is the biggest town in Hazarajat. It is famous for the ancient part of the town, where the Buddhas of Bamiyan stood for almost two millennia.

Geography

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, the town remained a crossroads between the East and West, when all the trade between China and the Middle East passed through. The Hunas made it their capital in the 5th century. Because of the cliff of Buddhas, the gigantic statues, the ruins of the Monk's caves, Shar-e Gholghola (ruins of the ancient city of noise), and the local scenery, it is one of the most visited places in Afghanistan.

The town is the cultural centre of the Hazara ethnic group of Afghanistan. Most people live down the Bamyan valley, at an altitude of about 9,200 feet (2,800 m). The valley is cradled between parallel mountain ranges: the Hindu Kush and the Koh-i-Baba.

Bamiyan is a small town, with the bazaar at its centre. The infrastructure (electricity, gas, water supply) are totally non-existent. According to Sister Cities International, Bamiyan has established a sister city relationship with Gering, Nebraska, USA. There is an airport with a gravel runway.

Mountains cover ninety percent of the province, and the cold winter lasts for six months with temperatures of three to twenty degrees Celsius below zero. Transportation facilities are increasing, but are still sparse.

The main crops are wheat, barley, mushung, and baquli, which are grown in the spring. When crops were affected by unusually harsh weather, the people usually led their livestock down to Ghazni and Maidan Provinces to exchange for food.

History

File:GBA8.jpg

The Buddhas of Bamiyan, which dated to pre-Islamic Afghanistan, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 as "un-Islamic".

Bamiyan in 565 AD, capital of a Kushano-Hephthalite Kingdom.

The city of Bamiyan had been part of the Indian kingdom of Gandhara until the area was conquered by Mahmud Gazni in the 12th century AD. For decades Bamiyan has been the centre of fighting between zealous Muslim Taliban forces and the anti-Taliban alliance – mainly Hiz-i-Wahdat – preceded by the clashes between the warlords of the local militia.

On the face of a mountain near the city, three colossal statues were carved 4,000 feet apart. One of them was 175 feet (53 m) high, the world's tallest standing statue of Buddha. The ancient statue was carved during the Kushan period in the fifth century. The statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, on the basis that they were un-Islamic.

At one time, two thousand monks prayed in caves in the sandstone cliffs. The caves were also a big tourist attraction before the long series of wars in Afghanistan. Now the unheated, doorless caves shelter dozens of refugees who have nowhere to go.

Sister cities

• Gering, Nebraska

Gallery

• 
  Bearded men with cap, probably Scythian, Bamiyan, 3-4thCentury
• 
  Welcome sign.

References

• Dupree, Nancy Hatch (1977) [1st Edition: 1970]. An Historical Guide to Afghanistan (2nd Edition, Revised and Enlarged ed.). Afghan Tourist Organization. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |origmonth= (help)

See also

• Bamiyan Province
• Buddhas of Bamyan
• Provincial Reconstruction Team