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Bactra
Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021–2022, the National Statistics and Information Authority reported that the town had 138,594 residents. Listed as the eighth largest settlement in the country, unofficial 2024 estimates set its population at around 114,883 people. Historically, the site of present-day Balkh was held in considerably high regard due to its religious and political significance in Ariana. A hub of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, the ancient city was also known to the Persians as Zariaspa and to the Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria. As such, it was famously known as the capital of Bactria or Tokharistan. The Italian explorer and writer Marco Polo described Balkh as "a noble city and a great seat of learning" prior to the Mongol conquests. Most o ...
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Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area within the north of modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Bactria was strategically located south of Sogdia and the western part of the Pamir Mountains. The extensive mountain ranges acted as protective "walls" on three sides, with the Pamir on the north and the Hindu Kush on south forming a junction with the Karakoram, Karakoram range towards the east. Called "beautiful Bactria, crowned with flags" by the Avesta, the region is considered, in the Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian faith, to be one of the "Avestan geography, sixteen perfect Iranian lands" that the supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, had created. It was once a small and independent kingdom struggling to exist against nomadic Turya (Avesta), Turanians. One of the early centres of ...
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List Of Cities In Afghanistan
The only city in Afghanistan with over 1 million people is its capital, Kabul. The rest are smaller cities and towns. Demographics of Afghanistan, Afghanistan's population is estimated to be between 36–50 million. Of this, 26% were reported to be living in urban areas and the rest in rural areas or the countryside. List The chart below shows 18 cities of Afghanistan with a population over 70,000, by order of population. Population estimates are from 2015. Ancient names Ancient names of places or cities in Afghanistan: Gallery File:Kabul, Afghanistan view.jpg , Kabul is the only city in Afghanistan with over a million residents File:Aerial view of a section of Kandahar in 2013.jpg , Kandahar is the second largest city and the former capital of Afghanistan. The city is located in southern Afghanistan. File: View of Herat in 2009.jpg , Herat is the third largest city and is located in western Afghanistan File: Mi-17 helicopter flies over the northern Afghan city-101113-N- ...
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Ancient Iran
The history of Iran (also known as Name of Iran, Persia) is intertwined with Greater Iran, which is a socio-cultural region encompassing all of the areas that have witnessed significant settlement or influence exerted by the Iranian peoples and the Iranian languages chiefly the Persians and the Persian language. Central to this region is the Iranian plateau, now largely covered by Iran, modern Iran. The most pronounced impact of Iranian history can be seen stretching from Anatolia in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, and parts of Central Asia. To varying degrees, it also overlaps or mingles with the histories of many other major civilizations, such as History of India, India, History of China, China, History of Greece, Greece, Ancient Rome, Rome, and History of Egypt, Egypt. Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC.
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Les Nouvelles Littéraires
''Les Nouvelles littéraires'' was a French literary and artistic newspaper created in October 1922 by the Éditions Larousse. It disappeared in 1985 after having taken the title '. History ''Les Nouvelles littéraires'' were headed by from 1922 to 1936 then by André Gillon, and then his son Étienne Gillon. René Minguet was its director from 1971 to 1975 followed by Philippe Tesson from 1975 to 1983. The editors were successively Gilbert Charles, Frédéric Lefèvre (writer), Frédéric Lefèvre from 1922 until 1949, from 1949 to 1962, and until its disestablishment in 1985. The magazine, at first artistic and literary, became interested in cinema and science afterwards. It ceased publication from 1940 until 1945. In 1924, the newspaper published an appendix entitled ''L'Art vivant''. Some collaborators * Raymond Woog * Jean-Louis Ezine * Michel Field * Jeanne Cressanges * Pierre Billard * Pierrette Micheloud * Pascal Mérigeau * Maurice Féaudierre * Madeleine Masson *Ma ...
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Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China such as Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana, Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist Tantra, tantric practices of the Gupta Empire, post-Gupta Medieval India, early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Emp ...
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Shambhala
Shambhala (, ),Śambhala m. (also written Sambhala): Name of a town (situated between the Rathaprā and Ganges, and identified by some with Sambhal in Moradabad; the town or district of Śambhala is fabled to be the place where Kalki, the last incarnation of Vishnu, is to appear in the family of a Brahmin, Brahman named Vishnu Yash) Mahabharata, MBh. Harivaṃśa, Hariv. Pur. (Monier Monier-Williams, Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit-English Dictionary'', 1899). also spelled ''Shambala'' or ''Shamballa'' (; ), is a spirituality, spiritual kingdom in Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Shambhala is mentioned in the Kalachakra, ''Kalachakra Tantra''. The Bon scriptures speak of a closely related land called Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. The Sanskrit name is taken from the name of a city near the Ganges, sometimes identified with Sambhal in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, as mentioned in the Hinduism, Hindu Puranas. The mythological relevance of the place originates with a prophec ...
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Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel (born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David; 24 October 1868 – 8 September 1969) was a Belgian–French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, anarchist, opera singer, and writer. She is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet, when it was forbidden to foreigners. David-Néel wrote over 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels, including ''Magic and Mystery in Tibet'', which was published in 1929. Her teachings influenced the beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the popularisers of Eastern philosophy Alan Watts and Ram Dass, and the esotericist Benjamin Creme. Biography Early life and background In 1871, when David-Néel was two years old, her father Louis David, appalled by the execution of the last Communards, took her to see the Communards' Wall at the ''Père-Lachaise'' cemetery in Paris; she never forgot this early encounter with the face of death, from which she first learned of the ferocity of humans. Two yea ...
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Dari
Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian Literary Language", in ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', Online Edition 2006. it is known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Persian in many Western sources. The decision to rename the local variety of Persian in 1964 was more political than linguistic to support an Afghan state narrative. Dari Persian is most closely related to Tajiki Persian as spoken in Tajikistan and the two share many phonological and lexical similarities. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and Iran; the languages are mutually intelligible. Dari is the official language for approximately 30.6 million people in Afghanistan and it serves as the common language for inter-ethnic communication in the country. ...
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Naval Postgraduate School
Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including classified studies and interdisciplinary research, to advance the operational effectiveness, technological leadership and warfighting advantage of the Naval service." It offers master's and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense civilians and international partners. Established in 1909, the school also offers research fellowship opportunities at the postdoctoral level through the National Academies' National Research Council research associateship program. History On 9 June 1909, Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer signed General Order No. 27, establishing a school of marine engineering at Annapolis, Maryland. On 31 October 1912, Meyer signed Navy General Order No. 233, ...
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Tajiks
Tajiks (; ; also spelled ''Tadzhiks'' or ''Tadjiks'') is the name of various Persian-speaking Eastern Iranian groups of people native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Even though the term ''Tajik'' does not refer to a cohesive cross-national ethnic group,Nourzhanov, K., & Bleuer, C. (2013). Forging Tajik Identity: Ethnic Origins, National–Territorial Delimitation and Nationalism. In Tajikistan: A Political and Social History (pp. 27–50). ANU Press. Link/ref> Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak variations of Persian, a west Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are considered a separate ethn ...
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Balkh River
The Balkh River (; ) or Balkhab, also known in its upper reaches as the Band-e Amir River, is a river in northern Afghanistan. The river rises in the Band-e Amir lakes in Bamyan Province in the Hindu Kush. The river flows west, then north, and terminates in irrigation canals in the area of the cities of Balkh and Mazar-e Sharif or in the desert. In times of exceptional flood the river drains into the lowlands of Turkmenistan. In ancient times the river terminated in a delta at the Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ..., but has not reached that river since irrigation canals were developed centuries ago. p.5 References Landforms of Balkh Province Rivers of Afghanistan {{Balkh-geo-stub ...
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Mongol Invasions And Conquests
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the destruction under the Mongol Empire, Mongol devastation as one of the deadliest episodes in history. At its height, the Mongol Empire included modern-day Mongolia, China, North Korea, South Korea, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Siberia, Georgia (country), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and most of European Russia. Overview The Mongol Empire developed in the course of the 13th century through a series of victorious campaigns throughout Eurasia. At its height, it stretched from the Pacific to Central Europe. It was later known as the largest contiguous land empire of all time. In contrast with later Thalassocracy, "empires of the ...
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