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HERAT
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HERAT , a See also:city and See also:province of See also:Afghanistan. The city of Herat lies in 340 20' 30" N., and 62° 11' o" E., at an See also:altitude of 2500 ft. above See also:sea-level. Estimated pop. about 1o,00o. It is a city of See also:great See also:interest historically, geographically, politically and strategically, but in See also:modern days it has quite lost its See also:ancient commercial importance. From this central point great lines of communication radiate in all directions to See also:Russian, See also:British, See also:Persian and Afghan territory. Sixty-six See also:miles to the See also:north lies the See also:terminus of the Russian railway See also:system; to the See also:south-See also:east is See also:Kandahar (36o m.) and about 70 M. beyond that, New Chaman, the terminus of the British railway system. Southward lies See also:Seistan (200 m.), and eastward See also:Kabul (550 m.); while on the See also:west four routes See also:lead into See also:Persia by Turbet to See also:Meshed (215 m.), and by See also:Birjend to See also:Kerman (400 m.), to See also:Yezd (500 m.), or to See also:Isfahan (600 m.). The city forms a quadrangle of nearly 1 m. square (more accurately about 1600 yds. by 1500 yds.); on the western, See also:southern and eastern faces the See also:line of See also:defence is almost straight, the only projecting points being the gateways, but on the See also:northern See also:face the See also:contour is broken by a See also:double outwork, consisting of the See also:Ark or citadel, which is built of See also:sun-dried See also:brick on a high artificial See also:mound within the See also:enceinte, and a See also:lower See also:work at its See also:foot, called the Ark-i-nao, or " new citadel," which extends too yds. beyond the line of the city See also:wall. That which distinguishes Herat from all other See also:Oriental cities, and at the same See also:time constitutes its See also:main defence, is the stupendous See also:character of the earthwork upon which the city wall is built. This earthwork averages 250 ft. in width at the See also:base and about 5o ft. in height, and as it is crowned by a wall 25 ft. high and 14 ft. thick at the base, supported by about 150 semi-circular towers, and is further protected by a ditch 45 ft. in width and 16 in See also:depth, it presents an See also:appearance of imposing strength. When the royal See also:engineers of the Russo-Afghan Boundary See also:Commission entered Herat in 1885 they found its defences in various stages of disrepair. The gigantic rampart was unflanked, and the covered ways in the face of it subject to See also:enfilade from end to end. The ditch was choked, the See also:gates were unprotected; the tumbled See also:mass of irregular mud buildings which constituted the city clung tightly to the walls; there were no See also:gun emplacements. Outside, matters were almost worse than inside. To the north of the walls the site of old Herat was indicated by a vast mass of debris—mounds of bricks and pottery intersected by a network of shallow trenches, where the only semblance of a protective wall was the irregular line of the Tal-i-Bangi. South of the city was a vast See also:area filled in with the graveyards of centuries. Here the trenches dug by the Persians during the last See also:siege were still in a See also:fair See also:state of preservation; they were within a See also: The See also:crest of the See also:outer ridges of this subsidiary range is about 700 ft. above the city, at a distance of 4 M. from it. For 28 m. farther the road winds first amongst the broken ridges of the Koh-i-Mulla Khwaja, then over the intervening dasht into the southern spurs of the See also:Paropamisus to the Ardewan pass. This is the highest point it attains, and it has risen about 2150 ft. from Herat. From the pass it drops over the gradually decreasing grades of a wide sweep of Choi (which here happens to be locally See also:free from the intersecting network of narrow ravines which is generally a distinguishing feature of See also:Turkestan See also:loess formations) for a distance of 35 M. into the Russian railway station, falling some 2700 ft. from the crest of the Paropamisus. To the south the road from Herat to India through Kandahar lies across an open plain, which presents no great See also:engineering difficulties, but is of a somewhat waterless and barren character. The city possesses five gates, two on the northern face, the Kutab-chak near the north-east See also:angle of the wall, and the Malik at the re-entering angle of the Ark-i-nao; and three others in the centres of the remaining faces, the See also:Irak See also:gate on the west, the Kandahar gate on the south and the Kushk gate on the east face. Four streets called the Chahar-sick, See also:running from the centre of each face, meet in the centre of the See also:town in a small domed quadrangle. The See also:principal See also:street runs from the south or Kandahar gate to the See also:market in front of the citadel, and is covered in with a vaulted roof through its entire length, the shops and buildings of this See also:bazaar being much See also:superior to those of the other streets, and the merchants' caravanserais, several of which are spacious and well built, all opening out on this great thoroughfare. Near the central quadrangle of the city is a vast See also:reservoir of See also:water, the dome of which is of bold and excellent proportions. The only other public See also:building of any consequence in Herat is the great See also:mosque or Mesjid-i-Juma, which comprises an area of 800 yds. square, and must have been a most magnificent structure. It was erected towards the close of the 15th See also:century, during the reign of Shah See also:Sultan Hussein of the See also:family of Timur, and is said when perfect to have been 465 ft. long by 275 ft. wide, to have had 408 cupolas,13o windows, 444 pillars and 6 entrances, and to have been adorned in the most magnificent manner with See also:gilding, See also:carving, See also:precious mosaics and other elaborate and costly embellishments. Now, however, it is falling rapidly into ruin, the ever-changing provincial See also:governors who administer Herat having neither the means nor the inclination to undertake the necessary repairs. Neither the See also:palace of the Charbagh within the city wall, which was the See also:residence of the British See also:mission in 184o-1841, nor the royal quarters in the citadel deserve any See also:special See also:notice. At the See also:present See also:day, with the exception of the Chahar-sick, where there is always a certain amount of See also:traffic, and where the great diversity of See also:race and See also:costume imparts much liveliness to the See also:scene, Herat presents a very See also:melancholy and desolate appearance. The mud houses in See also:rear of the bazaars are for the most See also:part uninhabited and in ruins, and even the burnt brick buildings are becoming every-where dilapidated. The city is also one of the filthiest in the East, as there are no means of drainage or See also:sewerage, and garbage of every description lies in heaps in the open streets. Along the slopes of the northern hills there is a space of some 4 M. in length by 3 M. in breadth, the See also:surface of the plain, strewn over its whole extent with pieces of pottery and crumbling bricks, and also broken here and there by earthen mounds and ruined walls, the debris of palatial structures which at one time were the See also:glory and wonder of the East. Of these structures indeed some have survived to the present day in a sufficiently perfect state to See also:bear See also:witness to the grandeur and beauty of the old See also:architecture of Herat. Such was the mosque of the Mosalla before its destruction. Scarcely inferior in beauty of design and See also:execution, though of more moderate dimensions, is the See also:tomb of the See also:saint Abdullah Ansari, in the same neighbourhood. This building, which was erected by Shah Rukh Mirza, the See also:grandson of Timur, over 500 years ago, contains some exquisite specimens of See also:sculpture in the best See also:style of Oriental See also:art. Adjoining the tomb also are numerous See also:marble mausoleums, the sepulchres of princes of the See also:house of Timur; and especially deserving of notice is a royal building tastefully decorated by an See also:Italian artist named Geraldi, who was in the service of Shah Abbas the Great. The locality, which is further enlivened by gardens and running streams, is named Gazir-gdh, and is a favourite resort of the Heratis. It is held indeed in high veneration by all classes, and the famous Dost Mahommed See also:Khan is himself buried at the foot of the tomb of the saint. Two other royal palaces named respectively Bagh-i-Shah and Takht-i-Sefer, are situated on the same rising ground somewhat farther to the west. The buildings are now in ruins, but the view from the pavilions, shaded by splendid See also:plane trees on the terraced gardens formed on the slope of the See also:mountain, is said to be very beautiful. The See also:population of Herat and the neighbourhood is of a very mixed character. The See also:original inhabitants of Ariana were no doubt of the See also:Aryan family, and immediately cognate with the Persian race, but they were probably intermixed at a very See also:early See also:period with the Sacae and See also:Massagetae, who seem to have held the mountains from Kabul to Herat from the first See also:dawn of See also:history, and to whom must be ascribed—rather than to an infusion of Turco-Tartaric See also:blood introduced by the armies of Jenghiz and Timur—the See also:peculiar broad features and flattish countenance which distinguish the inhabitants of Herat, Seistan and the eastern provinces of Persia from their countrymen farther to the west. Under the See also:government of Herat, hbwever, there are a,very large number of tribes, ruled over by See also:separate and semi-See also:independent chiefs, and belonging probably to different nationalities. The principal See also:group of tribes is called the Chahar-See also:Aimak, or " four races," the constituent parts of which, however, are variously stated by different authorities both as to strength and nomenclature. The Heratis are an agricultural race, and are not nearly so warlike as the Pathans from the neighbourhood of Kabul or Kandahar. The long narrow valley of the Hari Rud, starting from the western slopes of the Koh-i-Baba, extends almost due west for 300 M. before it takes its great northern See also:bend at Kuhsan, and passes northwards through the broken ridges of the Siah Bubuk (the western extremity of the range which we now See also:call Paropamisus) towards Sarakhs. For the greater part of its length it drains the southern slopes only of the Paropamisus and the northern slopes of a parallel range called Koh-i-Safed. The Paropamisus forms the southern face of the Turkestan See also:plateau, which contains the See also:sources of the See also:Murghab See also:river; the northern face of the same plateau is defined by the See also:Band-i-Turkestan. On the south of the plateau we find a similar See also:succession of narrow valleys dividing parallel flexures, or anticlinals, formed under similar See also:geological conditions to those which appear to be universally applicable to the See also:Himalaya, the See also:Hindu Kush, and the See also:Indus frontier mountain systems. From one of these long lateral valleys the Hari Rud receives its principal tributary, which joins the main river below Obeh, 18o m. from its source; and it is this tributary (separated from the Hari Rud by the narrow ridges of the Koh-i-Safed and Band-i- Baian) that offers the high road from Herat to Kabul, and not the Han Rud itself. From its source to Obeh the Hari Rud is a
valley of sandy desolation. There are no glaciers near its sources,
although they must have existed there in geologically recent
times, but masses of melting See also:snow annually give rise to floods,
which See also:rush through the midst of the valley in a turbid red stream,
frequently rendering the river impassable and cutting off the
crazy brick See also:bridges at Herat and Tirpul. It is impossible, whilst watching the See also:rolling, seething See also:volume of See also:flood-water which swirls westwards in See also:April, to imagine the See also:waste stretches of dry river-See also:bed which in a few months' time (when every available drop of water is carried off for See also:irrigation) will represent the Hari Rud. The soft shales or See also:clays of the hills bounding the valley render these hills especially subject to the See also:action of denudation, and the result, in rounded slopes and easily accessible crests, determines the nature of the easy tracks and passes which intersect them. At the same time, any excessive See also:local rainfall is productive of difficulty and danger from the floods of liquid mud and loose boulders which sweep like an See also:avalanche down the See also: The valley about Herat includes a See also:flat alluvial plain which might, for some miles on any See also:side except the north, be speedily reduced to an impassable swamp by means of flood-water from the surrounding canals. Three miles to the south of the city the river flows from east to west, spanned by the See also:Pal-i-Malun, a See also:bridge possessing See also:grand proportions, but which was in 1885 in a state of grievous disrepair and practically useless. East and west stretches the long vista of the Hari Rud. Due north the hills called the Koh-i-Mulla Khwaja appear to be close and dominating, but the foot of these hills is really about 3 M. distant from the city. This northern line of barren, broken See also:sandstone hills is geographically no part of the Paropamisus range, from which it is separated by a stretch of sandy upland about ao M. in width, called the Dasht-i-Hamdamao, or Dasht-i-Ardewan, formed by the See also:talus or See also:drift of the higher mountains, which, washed down through centuries of denudation, now forms long sweeping spurs of gravel and See also:sand, scantily clothed with See also:worm-See also:wood scrub and almost destitute of water. Through this stretch of dasht the drainage from the main water-See also:divide breaks down-wards to the plains of Herat, where it is arrested and utilized for irrigation purposes. To the north-east of the city a very considerable valley has been formed between the Paropamisus and the subsidiary Koh-i-Mulla Khwaja range, called Korokh. Here there are one or two important villages and a well-known See also:shrine marked by a group of See also:pine trees which is unique in this part of Afghanistan. The valley leads to a group of passes across the Paropamisus into Turkestan, of which the Zirmast is perhaps the best known. The main water-divide between Herat and the Turkestan Choi (the loess See also:district) has been called Paropamisus for want of any well-recognized general name. To the north of the Korokh valley it exhibits something of the formation of the Hindu Kush (of which it is apparently a geological See also:extension). but as it passes westwards it becomes broken Environs of Herat. v See also:HERAULT into fragments by processes of denudation, until it is hardly recognizable as a distinct range at all. The See also:direct passes across . it from Herat (the Baba and the Ardewan) See also:wind amongst masses of disintegrating sandstone for some miles on each side of the dividing See also:watershed, but farther west the rounded knolls of the See also:rain-washed See also:downs may be crossed almost at any point without difficulty. The names applied to this debris of a once formidable mountain system are essentially local and hardly distinctive. Beyond this range the sand and See also:clay loess formation spreads downwards like a tumbled sea, hiding within the folds of its many-crested hills the twisting course of the Kushk and its tributaries. History.—The origin of Herat is lost in antiquity. The name first appears in the See also:list of See also:primitive Zoroastrian settlements contained in the Vendidrid See also:Sade, where, however, like most of the names in the same list,—such as Sughudu (See also:Sogdiana), Mouru (Mery or Margus), Haraquiti (Arachotus or Arghand-ab), Haetumant (Etymander or See also:Helmund), and Ragha (or Argha-stan),--it seems to apply to the river or river-See also:basin, which was the special centre of population. This name of Haroyu, as it is written in the Vendidad,or Hariwa,as it appears in the See also:inscriptions of See also:Darius, is a cognate See also:form with the See also:Sanskrit Sarayu, which signifies " a river," and its resemblance to the ethnic See also:title of Aryan (Sans. Arya) is purely fortuitous; though from the circumstance of the city being named " See also:Aria See also:Metropolis " by the Greeks, and being also recognized as the See also:capital of Ariana, " the See also:country of the Arians," the two forms have been frequently confounded. Of the See also:foundation of Herat (or Heri, as it is still often called) nothing is known. We can only infer from the See also:colossal character of the See also:earth-See also:works which surround the modern town, that, like the similar remains at Bost on the Helmund and at See also:Ulan Robat of Arachosia, they belong to that period of Central-Asian history which preceded the rise of Achaemenian See also:power, and which in Grecian See also:romance is illustrated by the names of Bacchus, of See also:Hercules and of See also:Semiramis. To trace in any detail the fortunes of Herat would be to write the modern history of the East, for there has hardly been a dynastic revolution, or a See also:foreign invasion, or a great See also:civil See also:war in Central See also:Asia since the time of the See also:prophet, in which Herat has not played a conspicuous part and suffered accordingly. Under the Tahirids of See also:Khorasan, the Saffarids of Seistan and the See also:Samanids of See also:Bokhara, it flourished for some centuries in See also:peace and progressive prosperity; but during the succeeding See also:rule of the Ghaznevid See also:kings its See also:metropolitan character was for a time obscured by the celebrity of the neighbouring capital of See also:Ghazni, until finally in the reign of Sultan See also:San See also:jar of Mery about 1159 the city was entirely destroyed by an irruption of the Ghuzz, the predecessors, in race as well as in See also:habitat, of the modern Turkomans. Herat gradually recovered under the enlightened Ghorid kings, who were indeed natives of the province, though they preferred to hold their See also:court amid their ancestral fortresses in the mountains of See also:Ghor, so that at the time of Jenghiz Khan's invasion it equalled or even exceeded in populousness and wealth its See also:sister capitals of See also:Balkh, Mery and See also:Nishapur, the See also:united strength of the four cities being estimated at three millions of inhabitants. But this See also:Mogul visitation was most calamitous; See also:forty persons, indeed, are stated to have alone survived the general See also:massacre of 1232, and as a similar See also:catastrophe overtook the city at the hands of Timur in 1398, when the local See also:dynasty of Kurt, which had succeeded the Ghorides in eastern Khorasan, was put an end to, it is astonishing to find that early in the 15th century Herat was again flourishing and populous, and the favoured seat of the art and literature of the East. It was indeed under the princes of the house of Timur that most of the See also:noble buildings were erected, of which the remains still excite our admiration at Herat, while all the great See also:historical works relative to Asia, such as the Rozetes-Sefu, the Habib-es-seir, See also:Hafiz Abru's Tarikh, the Matld' a-es-So'adin, &c., date from the same See also:place and the same See also:age: Four times was Herat sacked by Turkomans and Usbegs during the centuries which intervened between the Timuride princes and the rise of the Afghan power, and it has never in modern times attained to anything like its old importance. Afghantribes, who had originally dwelt far to the east, were first settled at Herat by See also:Nadir Shah, and from that time they have monopolized the government and formed the dominant See also:element in the population. It will be needless to trace the revolutions and See also:counter-revolutions which have followed each other in See also:quick succession at Herat since Ahmad Shah See also:Durani founded the Afghan See also:monarchy about the See also:middle of the 18th century. Let it suffice to say that Herat has been throughout the seat of an Afghan government, sometimes in subordination to Kabul and sometimes independent. Persia indeed for many years showed a strong disposition to reassert the supremacy over Herat which was exercised by the Safawid kings, but great Britain, disapproving of the advance of Persia towards the See also:Indian frontier, steadily resisted the encroachment; and, indeed, after helping the Heratis to See also:beat off the attack of the Persian See also:army in 1838, the British at length compelled the shah in 1857 at the close of his war with them to sign a treaty recognizing the further irrdependence of the place, and pledging Persia against any further interference with the Afghans. In 1863 Herat, which for fifty years previously had been independent of Kabul, was incorporated by Dost Mahomed Khan in the Afghan monarchy, and the Amir, Habibullah of Afghanistan, like his See also:father Abdur Rahman before him, remained Amir of Herat and Kandahar, as well as Kabul. See Holdich, Indian Borderland (1901); C. E. Yate, Northern Afghanistan (1888). (T. H. 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