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BADAKSHAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 183 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BADAKSHAN , including WAKHAN, a See also:

province on the See also:north-See also:east frontier of See also:Afghanistan, adjoining See also:Russian territory. Its north-eastern boundaries were decided by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873, which expressly acknowledged "Badakshan with its dependent See also:district Wakhan " as " fully belonging to the See also:amir of See also:Kabul," and limited it to the See also:left or See also:southern See also:bank of the See also:Oxus. Much of the interior of the province is still unexplored. On the See also:west, Badakshan is bounded by a See also:line which crosses the See also:Turkestan plains southwards from the junction of the See also:Kunduz and Oxus See also:rivers till it touches the eastern See also:water-See also:divide of the See also:Tashkurghan See also:river (here called the Koh-i-Chungar), and then runs See also:south-east, See also:crossing the Sarkhab affluent of the Khanabad (Kunduz) ,till it strikes the See also:Hindu Kush. The southern boundary is carried along the See also:crest of the Hindu Kush as far as the Khawak pass, leading from Badakshan into the Panjshir valley. Beyond this it is indefinite. It is known that the Kafirs occupy the crest of the Hindu Kush eastwards of the Khawak, but how far they extend north of the See also:main See also:watershed is not ascertainable. The southern limits of Badakshan become definite again at the Dorah pass. The Dorah connects Zebak and Ishkashim at the See also:elbow, or See also:bend, of the Oxus with the Lutku valley leading to See also:Chitral. From the Dorah eastwards the crest of the Hindu Kush again becomes the boundary till it effects a junction with the Murtagh and Sarikol ranges, which shut off See also:China from See also:Russia and See also:India. Skirting See also:round the See also:head of the Tagdumbash Pamir, it finally merges into the Pamir boundary, and turns westwards, following the course of the Oxus, to the junction of that river and the Khanabad (Kunduz). So far as the See also:northern boundary follows the Oxus stream, under the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, it is only separated by the length of these slopes (some 8 or to m.) from the southern boundary along the crest.

Thus Badakshan reaches out an See also:

arm into the See also:Pamirs eastwards—bottle-shaped—narrow at the See also:neck (represented by the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush), andswelling out eastwards so as to include a See also:part of the See also:great and little Pamirs. Before the boundary See also:settlement of 1873 the small states of Roshan and See also:Shignan extended to the left bank of the Oxus, and the province of Darwaz, on the other See also:hand, extended to the right bank. Now, however, the Darwaz See also:extension north= wards is exchanged for the Russian Pamir extension westwards, and the river throughout is the boundary between Russian and Afghan territory; the See also:political boundaries of those provinces and those of. Wakhan being no longer coincident with their See also:geographical limits. The following are the See also:chief provincial subdivisions of Badakshan, omitting Roshan and Shignan: On the west Rustak, Kataghan, Ghori, Narin and Anderab; on the north Darwaz, Ragh and Shiwa; on the east Charan, Ishkashim, Zebak and Wakhan; and in the centre See also:Faizabad, Farkhar, Minjan and See also:Kishm. There are others, but nothing certain is known about these See also:minor subdivisions. The conformation of the See also:mountain districts, which comprise all the southern districts of Badakshan and the northern hills and valleys of See also:Kafiristan, is undoubtedly analogous to that of the See also:rest of the Hindu Kush westwards. The water-divide of the Hindu Kush from the Dorah to the Khawak pass, i.e. through the centre of Kafiristan, has never been accurately traced; but its topographical conformation is evidently a continuation of that which has been observed in the districts of Badakshan to the west of the Khawak. The Hindu Kush represents the southern edge of a great central upheaval or See also:plateau. It breaks up into See also:long spurs southwards, deep amongst which are hidden the valleys of Kafiristan, almost isolated from each other by the rugged and See also:snow-capped altitudes which divide them. To the north the plateau gradually slopes away towards the Oxus, falling from an See also:average See also:altitude of 15,000 ft. to 4000 ft. about Faizabad, in the centre of Badakshan, but tailing off to uoo at Kunduz, in Kataghan, where it merges into the See also:flat plains bordering the Oxus. The Kokcha river traverses Badakshan from south-east to north-west, and, with the Kunduz, drains all the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush west of the Dorah pass.

Some of its See also:

sources' are near Zebak, See also:close to the great bend of the Oxus northwards, so that it cuts off all the mountainous See also:area included within that bend from the rest of Badakshan. Its chief affluent is the Minjan, which See also:Sir See also:George See also:Robertson found to be a considerable stream where it approaches the Hindu Kush close under the Dorah: Like the Kunduz, it probably drains the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush by deep lateral valleys, more or less parallel to the crest, reaching westwards towards the Khawak pass. From the Oxus (t000 ft.) to Faizabad (4000 ft.) and Zebak (8500 ft.) the course of the Kokcha offers a high road across Badakshan; between Zebak and Ishkashim, at the Oxus bend, there is but an insignificant pass of 9500 ft.; and from Ishkashim by the Panja, through the Pamirs, is the continuation of what must once have been a much-traversed See also:trade route connecting Afghan Turkestan with See also:Kashgar and China. It is undoubtedly one of the great See also:continental high-roads of See also:Asia. North of the Kokcha, within the Oxus bend, is the mountainous district of Darwaz, of which the physiography belongs rather to the Pamir type than to that of the Hindu Kush. A very remarkable meridional range extends for too m. north-wards from the Hindu Kush (it is across this range that the route from Zebak to Ishkashim lies), which determines the great bend of the Oxus river northwards from Ishkashim, and narrows the valley of that river into the formation of a trough as far as the next bend westwards at Kala Wamar. The western slopes of this range drain to the Oxus either north-westwards, by the Kokcha and the Ragh, or else they twist their streams into the Shiwa, which runs due north across Darwaz. Here again we find the main routes which See also:traverse the See also:country following the rivers closely. The valleys are narrow, but fertile and populous: The mountains are rugged and difficult; but there is much of the See also:world-famous beauty of scenery, and of the almost phenomenal agricultural See also:wealth of the valleys of See also:Bokhara and See also:Ferghana to be found in the as yet See also:half-explored recesses of Badakshan. The See also:principal domesticated See also:animal is the See also:yak. There are also large flocks of See also:sheep, cows, goats, ponies, See also:fine See also:dogs and Bactrian camels. The more important See also:wild animals are a large wild sheep (Ovis poli), foxes, wolves, jackals, bears, boars, See also:deer and leopards; amongst birds, there are partridges, pheasants, ravens, jays, sparrows, larks, a famous breed of See also:hawks, &c.

Badakshan proper is peopled by Tajiks, See also:

Turks and See also:Arabs, who speak the See also:Persian and See also:Turki See also:languages, and profess the orthodox doctrines of the See also:Mahommedan See also:law adopted by the Sunnite See also:sect; while the mountainous districts are inhabited by Tajiks, professing the Shi'ite creed and speaking distinct dialects in different districts. See also:History.=Badakshan, part of the See also:Greek See also:Bactria, was visited by Hsiian Tsang in 63o and 644. The Arabian geographers of the loth See also:century speak of its mines of See also:ruby and lapis lazuli, and give notices of the flourishing See also:commerce and large towns of Waksh and Khotl, regions which appear to have in part corresponded with Badakshan. In 1272–1273 Marco See also:Polo and his companions stayed for a See also:time in Badakshan. During this and the following centuries the country was governed by See also:kings who claimed to be descendants of See also:Alexander the Great. The last of these kings was Shah Mahommed, who died in the See also:middle of the 15th century, leaving only his married daughters to represent the royal line. See also:Early in the middle of the 16th century the Usbegs obtained See also:possession of Badakshan, but were soon expelled, and then the country was generally governed by descendants of the old royal See also:dynasty by the See also:female line. About the middle of the 18th century the See also:present dynasty of Mirs established its footing in the See also:place of the old one which had become See also:extinct. In 1765 the country was invaded and ravaged by the ruler of Kabul. During the first three decades of the 19th century it was overrun and depopulated by Kohan Beg and his son See also:Murad Beg, chiefs of the Kataghan Usbegs of Kunduz. When Murad Beg died, the See also:power passed into the hands of another Usbeg, Mahommed Amir See also:Khan. In x859 the Kataghan Usbegs were expelled; and Mir Jahander Shah, the representative of the See also:modern royal line,was reinstatedat Faizabad See also:tinder the supremacy of the Afghans.

In 1867 he was expelled by Abdur Rahman and replaced by Mir Mahommed Shah, and other representatives of the same See also:

family. (T. H.

End of Article: BADAKSHAN

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