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Ghōr ( Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...
, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
, encompassing hundreds of villages, and approximately 764,472 settled people. Firuzkoh (called Chaghcharan until 2014) serves as the capital of the province.


Etymology

The ancient Indo-European, Sogdian ''gor-''/''gur-'' ("mountain"-) is well preserved in all Slavic ''gor-''/''gór- (goor-/gur-)'', e.g.: Gorals, Goran, Goranci, Góra,
Gora Gora may refer to: *Gora (surname) *'' Gora'', a Bengali novel by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore *Gora (musical instrument) *'' G.O.R.A.'', a 2004 Turkish comedy film * Goparaju Ramachandra Rao ("Gora", 1902–1975), Indian social reformer an ...
..., in Iranian languages, e.g.:
Gorani language Gorani ( ku, گۆرانی, Goranî, lit=song) also known by its main dialect; Hawrami (ھەورامی, ''Hewramî'') is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by ethnic Kurds and which with Zazaki constitute the Zaza–Gorani languages. All ...
,
Guran (Kurdish tribe) Guran (or Goran; ku, گوران) is a Kurdish tribe. One of their main historical centers is Dartang, a region whose capital is at Rijab, at the western end of the gorge where the Alwand River enters into the Zohab plain. The other one is Darn ...
... and even in India and Nepal, e.g.: Gurkha. The Polish notation using ''gór-'' ("ó" stands for a sound between English "oo" and "u") instead of the popular ''gur-'' or ''ghur-'' preserves the ancient orthography.


History

The inhabitants of Ghor were completely Islamized during the Ghurids era. Before the 12th century, the area was home to Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and a small number of Jews. Remains of the oldest settlements discovered by
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n archaeologists in 2007 and 2008 in Ghor date back to 5000 BC. Ruins of a few castles and other defense fortifications were also discovered in the environs of
Chaghcharan Chaghcharān (Dari-Persian: ), also called Firozkoh (Dari-Persian: ), is a town and district in central Afghanistan, which serves as the capital of Ghor Province. It is located on the southern side of the Hari River, at an altitude of 2,230 m abov ...
. A Buddhist monastery hand-carved on the bluff of the river
Harirud The Hari River ( or prs, هری رود, translit=Harī Rōd; ps, د هري سیند) or Herat River is a river flowing from the mountains of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, where it forms the Tejend oasis and disappears in the Karakum Des ...
existed in the first centuries during the prevalence of Buddhism. The artificial caves revealed testimony of the daily life of the Buddhist monks. Various scholars and historians such as John McLeod attribute the conversion of the Ghauri's to Islam to Mahmud Ghazni after his conquest of Ghor. Traditional Muslim historians such as Estakhri and
Ibn Haukal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler who travelled during the y ...
attest to the existence of the non-Islamic enclave of Ghor before the time of Ghazni, which is attributed to converting its population to Islam. Minhaju-S-Siraj recorded strife between the non-Muslim and Muslim populations: According to Minhahu-S Siraj, Amir Suri was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni, made prisoner along with his son, and taken to Ghazni, where Amir Suri died. In 1011, 1015 and 1020, both Mahmud and Mas'ud I led expeditions into Ghur and established
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
in place of indigenous paganism. After this, Ghur was considered a vassal state of the Ghaznavid empire. During the reign of 'Abd ar Rashi and the usurper Toghrul, Ghur and Gharchistan gained autonomy. Ghor was also the center of the Ghurid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries. The remains of their capital Firozkoh, which was sacked and destroyed by the Mongols in 1222, includes the Minaret of Jam, a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
World Heritage Site.


Karzai and Ghani administrations

In June 2004, hundreds of troops of Abdul Salaam Khan, who had rejected the Afghan government's plan to disarm regional militias, attacked Chaghcharan and took over the city in an afternoon-long siege. Eighteen people were killed or wounded in the fighting, at which point Governor Mohammed Ibrahim fled. Three days later the Afghan government announced that it would not retake Chaghcharan. Khan and Ibrahim began negotiations soon after but reached no agreement. Khan's troops left Chaghcharan on June 23, a day ahead of when an Afghan National Army battalion, led by Lieutenant-General Aminullah Paktiyanai, arrived with the support of about twenty U.S. soldiers.


Taliban administration (2021-present)

In 2021, the Taliban regained control of Ghor after the 2021 Taliban offensive.


Transportation

As of September 2014, Chaghcharan Airport, located at the provincial capital of Chaghcharan, had regularly scheduled flights to Kabul and Herat. Ghor province has a significant number of female drivers compared to the other provinces. As of 2013, roads in the province remained largely undeveloped, unpaved and often lacked bridges over rivers.


Economy

Agriculture and animal husbandry are the primary economic activities in Ghor Province. According to the United Nations, many young men were forced to leave the province to find work in Herat or Iran and a small percentage of the population were teachers, government officials, carpet weavers, carpenters and tailors. Over half of the population could not cover their basic needs with their level of income.
Opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
production had returned to the region following the Taliban's departure as locals attempted to increase their incomes by farming a more economically lucrative crop.


Healthcare

The percentage of households with clean drinking water fell from 14% in 2005 to 9% in 2011.Archive, Civil Military Fusion Centre, https://www.cimicweb.org/AfghanistanProvincialMap/Pages/Ghor.aspx The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant fell from 9% in 2005 to 3% in 2011.


Education

The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) increased from 19% in 2005 to 25% in 2011. The overall net enrolment rate (6–13 years of age) increased from 28% in 2005 to 47% in 2011. Ghor University that first established as Ghor Higher Education Institute and then promoted to Ghor University has around 500 students with a significant number of girls. There are also some Teacher Training Institutes in the Firuzkoh, Taywara and Lal districts. The number of high schools increased in last the 10 years and attendance in university entrance exams (Kankor) jumped from hundreds to thousands of students. Several agriculture and mechanical schools were also established. There is only one nursing school that trains young female high school graduates for midwifery and nursing that is part of the Ministry of Public Health and run by an NGO in association with Ghor provincial hospital.


Demographics

As of 2020, the total population of Ghor province is about 764,472.


Geography

Ghor occupies the end of the Hindu Kush mountains. Ghor is 2,500 meters above sea level and heavy snowfalls often block many of its rugged passes from November to April. It is also a drought-prone area in the summer.


Districts


Sports

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
, volleyball,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, tennis, taekwondo and
karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
are all official sports of the province. In July 2010, the
Ghor Province cricket team Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds ...
was founded and will represent the province in future domestic tournaments.


See also

* Mandesh * Hazarajat * Provinces of Afghanistan


References


Further reading

* ''The Places in Between'' by Rory Stewart, 2005, Picador Publishers,


External links


World Food Programme, Ghor Provincial Profile
(accessed 11 February 2013) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghor Province Buddhism in Afghanistan Hazarajat Provinces of Afghanistan Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan