Qataghan Province

This article is about the defunct province in Afghanistan named Qataghan. For the town in Tajikistan, see Katagan.

Qataghan Province (Persian/Pashto: قطغن), also spelled Kataghan, was a province of Afghanistan which became defunct in 1963, when it was divided into the current Baghlan Province, Kunduz Province, and Takhar Province. From the 19th century to 1963 Qataghan and neighboring Badakhshan Province were united into a single province called Qataghan-Badakhshan Province. It was ruled by a single governor and was divided into two separate provinces in 1963. The capital of Qataghan Province was Baghlan, now a city in the north of Baghlan Province.

Etymology

The province (formerly a historical region) shared its name with the Khatagin Turco-Mongol tribal of that area. Historian William Maley stated that the removal of the term "Qataghan" upon the division of the area was part of a deliberate process to remove ethnic identities from administrative names, drawing a comparison with the division and renaming of Hazarajat, homeland of the ethnic Hazara people.

Music

Qataghani style songs were born in Qataghan Province.

Population

Large population of Qataghani people are in Baghlan the capital of Qataghan province living into Darah Nikpai.

Economy

Mostly rice farming, since 2003 people starting grapes framing, there are also few gold mines in Baghlan.

Further reading

• Burhanuddin Kushkaki. Rāhnamā-yi Qaṭaghan va Badakhshān. Kabul: Vizarat-i Ḥarbiyah, 1923.
• “Kataghan” in Ludwig W. Adamec. Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan Vol. 1. Badakhshan Province and northeastern Afghanistan. Graz: Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972. pp. 94–96.