Balkh Province

This article is about the province. For the place, see Balkh.

Balkh بلخ
Map of Afghanistan with Balkh highlighted
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Mazar-e Sharif
Area
• Total	17,249 km2 (6,660 sq mi)
Population
• Total	1,123,948
• Density	65/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
Main languages	Persian, Pashto, Uzbek

Balkh (Persian / Pashto: بلخ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north of the country and its name derives from the ancient city of Balkh, near the modern town. Its capital is Mazar-e Sharif. Hailed by Constantine and home to the famous and blue mosque, a Muslim holy place once brought to ruin by Genghis Khan, rebuilt by Timur, ruined again by the Soviets, and more recently the Taliban. Mazar-e-Sharif has for centuries been an important stop on the trade routes from the Far East to the Mediterranean and Europe. Mazar-e-Sharif today is a community rebounding, rebuilding, and once again will be an important center for trade and transit.

Geography

Further information: Geography of Afghanistan

Balkh Province is situated in the northern part of Afghanistan, bordering Uzbekistan in the North, Tajikistan in the North-East, Kunduz Province in the East, Samangan Province in the South-East, Sar-e Pol Province in the South-West and Jowzjan Province in the West. The province covers an area of 16,840 km2. Nearly half of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain (48.7%) while half of the area (50.2%) is made up of flat land.

History

Further information: History of Afghanistan

Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)

Goddesses, Bactria, Afghanistan, 2000–1800 BCE.

The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC, also known as the "Oxus civilization") is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia, dated to ca. 2200–1700 BCE, located in present day Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centered on the upper Amou Darya (Oxus), in area covering ancient Bactria. Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in today's Turkmenistan.

The early Greek historian Ctesias c. 400 BCE (followed by Diodorus Siculus) 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. Ever since the discovery of cuneiform enabled actual Assyrian records to be deciphered in the 19th century, however, historians have ascribed little value to the Greek account.

According to some writers, Bactria was the homeland of Indo-European tribes who moved south-west into Iran and into North-Western India around 2500–2000 BCE. Later, it became the north province of the Persian Empire in Central Asia. It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turanian desert, that the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was said to have been born and gained his first adherents. Avestan, the language of the oldest portions of the Zoroastrian Avesta, was one of the old Iranian languages, and is the oldest attested member of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Iranian language family.

Achaemenid Empire

Further information: Bactria (satrapy)

Bactria has belonged to Iranian empires since a very early stage, in fact it is suggested by E. Herzfeld that Bactria belonged to the Median empire. And it was annexed to the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 6th century BCE and together with Margiana it formed the twelfth satrapy of Persians. After Darius III of Persia had been defeated by Alexander the Great and killed in the ensuing chaos, his murderer Bessus, the satrap of Bactria, tried to organize a national resistance based on his satrapie but was captured by other warlords and delivered to Alexander. He was then tortured and killed.

Alexander the Great and the Seleucid Empire

Alexander conquered Sogdiana and Iran. However, in the south, beyond the Oxus, he met strong resistance. After two years of war Bactria was occupied by the Macedonian empire, but Alexander never successfully subdued the people. After Alexander's death, the Macedonian empire was eventually divided up between generals in Alexander's army. Bactria became a part of the Seleucid Empire, named after its founder, Seleucus I.

The Macedonians (and especially Seleucus I, and his son Antiochus I), established the Seleucid Empire, and founded a great many Greek towns in eastern Iran, and 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 the supposed policy of Persian kings to deport unreliable Greeks to this the most remote province of their huge empire.

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

Main article: Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

Gold stater of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides, the largest gold coin of Antiquity.

"The famed Bactrian Empire of a thousand cities, wallowing in wealth (opulentissimum illud mille urbium Bactrianum imperium)"

The many difficulties against which the Seleucid kings had to fight and the attacks of Ptolemy II of Egypt gave Diodotus, satrap of Bactria, the opportunity to declare independence (about 255 BCE) and conquer Sogdiana. He was the founder of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Diodotus and his successors were able to maintain themselves against the attacks of the Seleucids—particularly from Antiochus III the Great, who was ultimately defeated by the Romans (190 BCE).

The Greco-Bactrians were so powerful that they were able to expand their territory as far as India:

"As for Bactria, a part of it lies alongside Aria towards the north, though most of it lies above Aria and to the east of it. And much of it produces everything except oil. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Bactria and beyond, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander...."

The Greco-Bactrians used Greek language for administrative purposes, and the local Bactrian language was also Hellenized, as suggested by its adoption of the Greek alphabet and Greek loanwords. In turn, some of these words were also borrowed by modern Pashto, the language of Afghanistan.

Sakas, Yuezhis and Sassanids

The treasure of the royal burial Tillia tepe is attributed to 1st century BCE Sakas in Bactria.

The weakness of the Greco-Bactrian empire was shown by its sudden and complete overthrow, first by the Sakas, and then by the Yuezhi (who later became known as Kushans), who had conquered Bactria by the time of the visit of the Chinese envoy Zhang Qian (circa 127 BCE), who had been sent by the Han emperor to investigate lands to the west of China.

Kujula Kadphises, the Guishuang xihou (or prince) of the Da Yuezhi, united the region in the early 1st century and laid the foundations for the powerful, but short-lived, Kushan Empire (1st to 3rd century CE), which was then overcome by the Sassanians from Persia.

Contacts with China

Zhang Qian taking leave from emperor Han Wudi, for his expedition to Central Asia from 138 to 126 BCE, Mogao Caves mural, 618–712 CE.

The name Daxia appears in Chinese from the 3rd century BCE to designate a mythical kingdom to the West, possibly a consequence of the first contacts with the expansion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and then is used by the explorer Zhang Qian in 126 BCE to designate Bactria.

The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in the Shiji ("Records of the Grand Historian") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE. They describe an important urban civilization of about one million people, living in walled cities under small city kings or magistrates. Daxia was an affluent country with rich markets, trading in an incredible variety of objects, coming as far as Southern China. By the time Zhang Qian visited Daxia, there was no longer a major king, and the Bactrian were suzerains to the nomadic Yuezhi, who were settled to the north of their territory beyond the Oxus (Amu Darya). Overall Zhang Qian depicted a rather sophisticated but demoralized people who were afraid of war.

Following these reports, the Chinese emperor Wu Di was informed of the level of sophistication of the urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and Parthia, and became interested in developing commercial relationship with them:

"The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan) and the possessions of Bactria (Daxia) and Parthia (Anxi) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (Hanshu, Former Han History).

These contacts immediately led to the dispatch of multiple embassies from the Chinese, which helped to develop the Silk Road.

Governance

The Governor's Palace in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province, Afghanistan.

Further information: List of governors of Balkh and Politics of Afghanistan

The current governor of Balkh is Atta Muhammad Nur.

Administrative divisions

The province is divided into 15 districts.

Districts of Balkh Province

District	Capital	Population	Area	Notes
Balkh		97,055
Charbolak		69,975
Charkint		32,306
Chimtal		81,311
Dawlatabad		79,638
Dihdadi		66,009
Kaldar		17,932
Khulmi		49,207
Kishindih		49,083		Sub-divided in 2005
Marmul		9,510
Mazar-e Sharif		375,181
Nahri Shahi		38,791
Sholgara		85,269
Shortepa		30,314
Zari		42,367		Created in 2005 within Kishindih District

Demographics

Further information: Demography of Afghanistan

Balkh has a total population of 1,123,948. The major ethnic groups living in Balkh province are Uzbek and HazaraTajik followed by, Turkmen,and Pashtun Arab and Baloch. The languages spoken are Dari Persian (50%), Pashto (27%), Turkmen (11.9%) and Uzbek (10.7%).

Sport

A buzkashi match being played in Balkh, Afghanistan.

Further information: Sport in Afghanistan

Buzkashi is a traditional horse riding sport of the region and is very popular in this province. Other sports played is football, while cricket is growing in popularity in recent years. The Province is represented in domestic competitions by the Balkh Province cricket team.

See also

• Bactria
• Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex