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AFGHAN TURKESTAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 320 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AFGHAN See also:

TURKESTAN , the most See also:northern See also:province of See also:Afghanistan. It is bounded on the E. by See also:Badakshan, on the N. by the See also:Oxus See also:river, on the N.W. and W. by See also:Russia and the Hari Rud river, and on the S. by the See also:Hindu Kush, the Koh-i-Baba AFIUM-KARA-See also:HISSAR 319 and the northern See also:watershed of the Hari Rud See also:basin. Its northern frontier was decided by the Anglo-See also:Russian agreement of 1873, and delimited by the Russo-Afghan boundary See also:commission of 1885, which gave rise to the See also:Panjdeh incident. The whole territory, from the junction of the Kokcha river with the Oxus on the See also:north-See also:east to the province of See also:Herat on the See also:south-See also:west, is some 500 M. in length, with an See also:average width from the Russian frontier to the Hindu Kush of 114 M. It thus comprises about 57,000 sq. m. or roughly two-ninths of the See also:kingdom of Afghanistan. Except in the river valleys it is a poor territory, rough and mountainous towards the south, but subsiding into undulating wastes and pasture-lands towards the Turkman See also:desert, and the Oxus riverain which is highly cultivated. The See also:population, which is mostly agricultural, settled in and around its towns and villages, is estimated at 750,000. The province includes the khanates of See also:Kunduz, Tashkurgan, See also:Balkh with See also:Akcha; the western khanates of See also:Saripul, See also:Shibarghan, See also:Andkhui and See also:Maimana, sometimes classed together as the Chahar Villayet, or " Four Domains "; and such parts of the See also:Hazara tribes as See also:lie north of the Hindu Kush and its prolongation. The See also:principal See also:town is Mazar-i-Sharif, .which in See also:modern times has supplanted the See also:ancient See also:city of Balkh; and Taklitapul, near Mazar, is the See also:chief Afghan See also:cantonment north of the Hindu Kush. Ethnically and historically Afghan Turkestan is more connected with See also:Bokhara than with See also:Kabul, of which See also:government it has been a dependency only since the See also:time of Dost Mahommed. The bulk of the See also:people of the cities are of See also:Persian and Uzbeg stock, but interspersed with them are Mongol Hazaras and See also:Hindus with See also:Turkoman tribes in the Oxus plains. Over these races the Afghans See also:rule as conquerors and there is no See also:bond of racial unity between them.

Ancient Balkh or Bactriana was a province of the Achaemenian See also:

empire, and probably was occupied in See also:great measure by a See also:race of Iranian See also:blood. About 250 B.C. See also:Diodotus (Theodotus), See also:governor of See also:Bactria under the Seleucidae, declared his See also:independence, and commenced the See also:history of the See also:Greco-Bactrian dynasties, which succumbed to See also:Parthian and nomadic movements about 126 B.C. After this came a Buddhist era which has See also:left its traces in the gigantic sculptures at See also:Bamian and the See also:rock-cut topes of See also:Haibak. The See also:district was devastated by Jenghiz See also:Khan, and has never since fully recovered its prosperity. For about a See also:century it belonged to the See also:Delhi empire, and then See also:fell into Uzbeg hands. In the 18th century it formed See also:part of the dominion of Ahmad Khan See also:Durani, and so remained under his son Timur. But under the fratricidal See also:wars of Timur's sons the See also:separate khanates fell back under the See also:independent rule of various Uzbeg chiefs. At the beginning of the 19th century they belonged to Bokhara; but under the great See also:amir Dost Mahommed the Afghans recovered Balkh and Tashkurgan in 185o, Akcha and the four western khanates in 1855, and Kunduz in 1859. The See also:sovereignty over Andkhui, Shibarghan, Saripul and Maimana was in dispute between Bokhara and Kabul until settled by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873 in favour of the Afghan claim. Under the strong rule of Abdur Rahman these outlying territories were closely welded to Kabul; but after the See also:accession of Habibullah the bonds once more relaxed. (T.

H. H.*) AFIUM-KARA-HISSAR (afium, See also:

opium), the popular name of Kara-hissar See also:Sahib, a city of See also:Asiatic See also:Turkey, in the vilayet of See also:Brusa, nearly 200 m. E. of See also:Smyrna, and 5o M. S.S.E. of See also:Kutaiah. Pop. 18,000 (Moslems, 13,000; Christians, 5000). Called See also:Nicopolis by See also:Leo III. after his victory over the See also:Arabs in 740, its name was changed by the Seljuk See also:Turks to Kara-hissar. It stands partly on level ground, partly on a declivity, and above it rises a precipitous trachytic rock (400 ft.) on the See also:summit of which are the ruins of an ancient See also:castle. From its situation on the route of the caravans between Smyrna and western See also:Asia on the one See also:hand, and See also:Armenia, See also:Georgia, &c., on the other, the city became a See also:place of extensive See also:trade, and its bazaars are well stocked with the merchandise of both See also:Europe and the East. Opium in large quantities is produced in its vicinity and forms the See also:staple See also:article of its See also:commerce ; and there are, besides, manufactures of See also:black felts, carpets, arms and See also:saddlery. Afium contains several mosques (one of them a very handsome See also:building), and is the seat of an Armenian See also:bishop. The town is connected by railway with Smyrna, See also:Konia, See also:Angora and See also:Constantinople.

See V. Cuinet, Turquie d'Asie (See also:

Paris, 1894), vol. iv. A FORTIORI (See also:Lat. " from a stronger [See also:reason] "), a See also:term used of an See also:argument which justifies a statement not itself specifically demonstrated by reference to a proved conclusion which includes it; thus, if A is proved less than B, and is known to be greater than C, it follows a fortiori that C is less than B without further See also:proof. The argument is frequently based merely on a comparison of probabilities (cf. Matt. vi. 30), when it constitutes an See also:appeal to See also:common sense.

End of Article: AFGHAN TURKESTAN

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