Posted on 11/10/2001 9:08:09 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
50,000 BCE-20,000 BCE Archaeologists have identified evidence of stone age technology in Aq Kupruk, and Hazar Sum. Plant remains at the foothill of the Hindu Kush mountains indicate, that North Afghanistan was one of the earliest places to domestic plants and animals. 3000 BCE-2000 BCE
2000 BCE- 1500 BCE
600 BCE -- (There is some speculation about this date) Zoroaster introduces a new religion in Bactria (Balkh)---(Zoroastrianism--Monotheistic religion) (about 522 BC)--Zoroaster dies during nomadic invasion near Balkh. 522 BCE--486 BCE
329-326 BCE
323 BCE Greeks rule Bactria (Northern Afghanistan) 170 BCE-160 BCE Bactrian--Parthian 50 AD
220 AD Kushan empire fragments into petty dynasties. 400 AD Invasion of the White Huns. They destroy the Buddhist culture, and leave most of the country in ruins. 425--550 Independent Yaftalee rule in Afghanistan. 550 AD
652 AD Arabs introduce Islam |
652 AD Arabs introduce Islam 962-1030
1030--
1140-- Ghorid leaders from central Afghanistan capture and burn Ghazni, then move on to conquer India. 1219-1221 --
1273 Marco Polo crossed Afghan Turkistan 1332-1370 Descendants of earlier Ghorid rulers reassert control over Afghanistan. 1370-1404
1451-- An Afghan named Buhlul invades Delhi, and seizes the throne. He finds the Lodi dynasty. 1504-1519 Babur, founder of the Moghul dynasty takes control of Kabul 1520-1579 Bayazid Roshan (Afghan intellectual) revolts against the power of the Moghul government. Roshan was killed in a battle with the Moghuls in 1579--but his struggle for independence continued. 1613-1689 Khushhal Khan Khattak (Afghan warrior-poet) initiates a national uprising against the foreign Moghul government. 1708 Mir Wais (forerunner of Afghan independence) makes Kandahar independent of Safavid Persia that had ruled it since 1622. 1715-- Mir Wais dies peacefully, and lies in a mausoleum outside of Kandahar. 1722-- Mir Wais' son, Mir Mahmud, invades Persia and occupies Isfahan. At the same time, the Durranis revolt, and terminate the Persian occupation of Herat. 1725--
1736-- Nadir Shah (head of Persia) occupies southwest Afghanistan, and southeast Persia. 1738-- Nadir Shah takes Kandahar. 1747-- Nadir Shah is assassinated, and the Afghans rise once again. Afghans, under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Abdali retake Kandahar, and establish modern Afghanistan. |
1747--1773
1773-1793
1793-1801
1801-1803
1803-1809
1809-1818
1819-1826
1826-- Dost Mohammad Khan takes Kabul, and establishes control. 1832--1833 Persia moves into Khurasan (province), and threatens Herat. Afghans defend Herat successfully. 1834-- (May)--Afghans lose Peshawar to the Sikhs; later they crushed the Sikhs under the leadership of Akbar Khan who defeated the Sikhs near Jamrud, and killed the great Sikh general Hari Singh. However, they failed to retake Peshawar due to disunity and bad judgment on the part of Dost Mohammad Khan. 1836-- Dost Mohammad Khan is proclaimed as Amir al-mu' minin (commander of the faithful). He was well on the road toward reunifying the whole of Afghanistan when the British, in collaboration with an ex-king (Shah Shuja), invade Afghanistan. 1839-1842
1843 After the annihilation of British troops, Afghanistan once again becomes independent, and the exiled Amir, Dost Mohammad Khan comes back and occupies the royal throne (1843-1863). 1845-- Afghan hero, Akbar Khan dies 1855 Dost Mohammad Khan signs a peace treaty with India. 1859-- British take Baluchistan, and Afghanistan becomes completely landlocked. 1863-1866
1866-1867
1867-1868--
1873
1878
1879
1880
1885--
1893 The Durand line fixes borders of Afghanistan with British India, splitting Afghan tribal areas, leaving half of these Afghans in what is now Pakistan. 1895 Afghanistan's northern border is fixed and guaranteed by Russia 1901--
1907-- Russia and Great Britain sign the convention of St. Petersburg, in which Afghanistan is declared outside Russia's sphere of influence. 1918-- Mahmud Tarzi (Afghan Intellectual) introduces modern Journalism into Afghanistan with the creation of several newspapers. 1919--
1921--
1923-- Amanullah Khan changes his title from Amir to Padshah (King). 1929--
1930--
1933--
1934-- The United States of America formally recognizes Afghanistan 1938-- Da Afghanistan Bank (State Bank of Afghanistan) is incorporated. 1939-- Minor pro-Amanullah Khan uprising (January 15) 1940-- Zahir Shah proclaims Afghanistan as neutral during WW2 1947-- Britain withdraws from India. Pakistan is carved out of Indian and Afghan lands. 1949--
1953-- Prince Mohammad Daoud becomes Prime Minister. 1954-- The U.S. rejects Afghanistan's request to buy military equipment to modernize the army. 1955--
1956--
1959--
1961-- Pakistan and Afghanistan come close to war over Pashtunistan. 1963-1964-- Zahir Shah demands Daoud's resignation. Dr. Mohammad Yusof becomes Prime Minister. 1965--
1969--
1972-- Mohammad Moussa becomes Prime Minister. 1973--
1974-- UNESCO names Herat as one of the first cities to be designated as a part of the worlds cultural heritage. 1975--1977--
1978--
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1978--
1979--
1980-- Dr. Najibullah is brought back from USSR to run the secret police. 1984-- UN sends investigators to Afghanistan to examine reported human rights violations. 1986-- Babrak Karmal is replaced by Dr. Najibullah. 1987--
1988--1989--
1992--
1994--
1995--
1996--
1997--
1998--
1999--
2000--
2001--
|
AQ/1997
Last updated 4/2001
I would love to visit that country. What a history!
Here's a good page on Nuristan: http://www.geocities.com/afghanistan_ca/Nuristan.html
And from encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/34178.html
Nuristan
Pronounced As: nooristan [Persian,=land of light or the enlightened], region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, NE Afghanistan, bordered on the E by Pakistan. Formerly called Kafiristan [land of the infidels], it is inhabited by an ethnically distinctive people (numbering about 60,000), who practiced animism until their forcible conversion to Islam in 1895-96. Inhabiting relatively isolated villages in deep, narrow mountain valleys, they grow wheat, barley, millet, peas, wine grapes, and other fruit and raise livestock (chiefly goats). A special artisan caste specializes in woodcarving, pottery making, weaving, and metalwork. The Nuristanis, divided into several tribes, speak Dardic dialects (often mutually unintelligible) belonging to a distinct branch of the Indo-European language family. Nuristan was the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla fighting during the 1979-89 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces.
Here's a rules page: Buzkahi Rules
Yes, 'The Man Who Would Be King', with Caine and Connery (and Christopher Plummer as Rudyard Kipling), was a great movie. It also gives a fair idea of the sort of people we're dealing with. It takes place shortly before Kafiristan (Nuristan) was converted to Islam, and shows that the character of the people has not been affected by that conversion.
The talk of how the British, Russians, and Americans never will rule Afghanistan is shown to be reasonable by the history in the main article, since not even Afghans have been able to assert control over that beautiful place. However, killing and obliterated various factions (such as the Taliban) seems to be the real national sport, a sport which everyone seems to love and at which everyone excels.
Actually it looks like they're gathered around the head of the loser of a 'Man Who Would Be King' type of Buzkashi game.
Doesn't a rulebook for Buzkahi seem like a contradiction in terms?
So we build a Disneyland in Afghanistan, and THERE will be the happiest place in the friendliest country on Earth.
If they weren't so busy with almost constant warring, both internal and external, you'd reasonably think the irrigation system would be rebuilt. So much for progress, in nearly 800 years.
BTW--does anyone know the name for this irrgation technique? I know it is/was also practiced in Iran/Persia (recalling college geography class).
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