In 637 A.D., only five years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad,
Arab Muslims shattered the might of the Iranian Sassanians at
the battle of Qadisiya, and the invaders began to reach into the
lands east of Iran. By the middle of the eighth century, the rising
Abbasid Dynasty was able to subdue the Arab invasion, putting
an end to the prolonged struggle. Peace prevailed under the rule
of the caliph Harun al Rashid (785-809) and his son, and learning
flourished in such Central Asian cities as Samarkand. From the
seventh through the ninth centuries, most inhabitants of what
is present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern parts of the former
Soviet Union, and areas of northern India were converted to Sunni
Islam.
In the eighth and ninth centuries ancestors of many of today's
Turkic-speaking Afghans settled in the Hindu Kush area (partly
to obtain better grazing land) and began to assimilate much of
the culture and language of the Pashtun tribes already present
there (see Ethnic Groups, ch. 2).
By the middle of the ninth century, Abbasid rule had faltered,
and semi-independent states began to emerge throughout the empire.
In the Hindu Kush area, three short-lived, local dynasties ascended
to power. The best known of the three, the Samanid, extended its
rule from Bukhara as far south as India and west as Iran. Although
Arab Muslim intellectual life still was centered in Baghdad, Iranian
Muslim scholarship, that is, Shia Islam, predominated in the Samanid
areas at this time. By the mid-tenth century, the Samanid Dynasty
had crumbled in the face of attacks from Turkish tribes to the
north and from the Ghaznavids, a rising dynasty to the south.
Country
name Afghanistan conventional long form Islamic State of
Afghanistan conventional short form Afghanistan local long
form Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan local short form Afghanestan former Republic of Afghanistan
Area
- total: 647,500 sq km land: 647,500 sq km water: 0 sq km
Terrain
- mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest
Climate
- arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers
Geography
- landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide
the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in
the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor)
Waterways
- 1,200 km note: chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT (2001)
Natural hazards - damaging earthquakes
occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
Content
on this web site is provided for informational purposes only. We accept no responsibility
for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information
published on this site. We encourage you to verify any critical information with
the relevant authorities.
