Maymana (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
/
Uzbek/
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
: میمنه) is the capital city of
Faryab Province
Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, which is located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. It has a population of about 1,109,223, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The pr ...
in northwestern
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 bordere ...
, near the
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
border. It is approximately northwest of the country's capital
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, and is located on the Maymana River, which is a tributary of the
Murghab River
The Marghab River (Persian/Pashto: مرغاب, ''Morqâb''), anciently the Margiana (Ancient Greek: Μαργιανή, ''Margianḗ''), is an long river in Central Asia. It rises in the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh'') in Ghor ...
. The population of Maymana was 149,040 in 2015,
making it one of the largest cities of northwestern Afghanistan.
On 14 August 2021, Maymana was seized by
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
fighters, becoming the twenty-second provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban as part of the wider
2021 Taliban offensive
A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...
. As of January 2022, however, clashes between Taliban and resistance fighters and protests have been reported in the city.
Location
Maymana is located at the northern foot of the Torkestan Range at an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
of on the old terrace of the Qeysar or Maymana River, which is a right tributary of the
Murghab River
The Marghab River (Persian/Pashto: مرغاب, ''Morqâb''), anciently the Margiana (Ancient Greek: Μαργιανή, ''Margianḗ''), is an long river in Central Asia. It rises in the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh'') in Ghor ...
. The Maymana River branches off of the Band-e Turkistan River 50 km south of the city. The highlands of the Maymana region generally possess a very rich topsoil which supports the seasonal agricultural activities.
Land use
Maymana is a trading and transit hub in northern Afghanistan. Just over half of the land in Maymana is non built-up (57%) consisting largely of agriculture.
The central districts (2-5) have higher dwelling density and clear road grids.
The outer districts(1, 7-10) are characterized by more agricultural land.
Population
During the 19th century, the population of the settlement was estimated at 15,000–18,000 and was assumed to be a dominantly Uzbek city due to the market language which was mostly
Chagatai language
Chagatai (چغتای, ''Čaġatāy''), also known as ''Turki'', Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (''Čaġatāy türkīsi''), is an extinct Turkic literary language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia and remained the shared literar ...
(Uzbeki). However, documents show it was a city of different ethnicities and people such as
Tajiks
Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...
,
Turkmens
Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...
,
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
and
Baluch. In 1958, the population was estimated to be 30,000. By 1979 this had risen to 38,250, and by 1982 to 56,973. Since there was never an official population census, those previous data should not be taken seriously. In 2004, it was estimated that Maymana has a population of 75,900 but was not backed by any evidence. In 2015, the population was estimated to be 149,040 by UN supported observers.
Maymana has 10 districts and a total land area of 3,461
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...
.
The total number of dwellings in this city are 16,560.
History
![People of Maymana in Faryab province](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/People_of_Maymana_in_Faryab_province.jpg)
The town is of ancient origin. It seems clear that Maymana citadel dates back to the early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
. Ceramic materials in a nearby cave at Bilchiragh are from the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
and late
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
-Bronze Age. Between 800 B.C and 700 A.D it was part of
Median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
and
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
, as well of
Kushanian and
Hephtalite, before being subjugated by Arabs during the
Islamic Conquest
The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories ...
who used local Iranian vassals to rule the region. In the 7th and 8th century it was the residence of the Malik of
Guzganan
Guzgan ( fa, گوزگان, also known as Gozgan, Guzganan or Quzghan, in Arabic Juzjan or Juzjanan) was a historical region and early medieval principality in what is now northern Afghanistan.
Etymology
The area was known as "Guzgan" or in the ...
, last Kushanian remnants, which was then under the control of the
Farighunid
The Farighunids were an Iranian dynasty that ruled Guzgan (modern-day northern Afghanistan) in the late 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries. They were ultimately deposed by the ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire, Sultan Mahmud ().
Background
Accordi ...
, a native
dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
. From the 9th to 11th century the region was ruled by several rulers and dynasties (
Saffarid
The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persians, ...
,
Mihrabanid
The Mihrabanid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled Sistan (or Nimruz) from 1236 until the mid-16th century. It was the third indigenous Muslim dynasty of Sistan, having been preceded by the Saffarid and Nasrid dynasties.
Overview
Most of wh ...
,
Nasrid...) from Sistan and then being subjugated by the Iranian
Samanid
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
and the Irano-Turkic
Ghaznavid
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
and
Khwarizm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
rulers.
In the 12th and 13th century the region was devastated by nomadic Turks and invading Mongols. It took long for the region, nearly 200 years, to recover from the damage the nomadic and invading Turko-Mongol foreigners from northern
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
had caused. The area's population remained thin and the commercial trade was very weak but enough for the survivors to develop new agricultural and rebuild old structures. While the city was garrisoned and hosted Iranians and some Arabs, the villages as well owned by Iranians and settled remnants of Arabs, the deserts and steppe were home of wandering nomads of Turko-Mongolian and Iranian stocks (
Aymaq
The Aimaq ( fa, ایماق, Aimāq) or Chahar Aimaq (), also transliterated as Aimagh, Aimak and Aymaq, are a collection of Sunni and mostly Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They live mostly in the central and western highlands ...
).
In the 16th century, the Turkic
Uzbek influence came to Maymana with the invasions of
Turkistan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...
and
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
by
Muhammad Shaibani
Muhammad Shaybani Khan ( uz, Muhammad Shayboniy, also known as Abul-Fath Shaybani Khan or Shayabak Khan or Shahi Beg Khan, originally named "Shibägh", which means " wormwood" or " obsidian") (c. 1451 – 2 December 1510), was an Uzbek leader ...
. For the region it was again a complicated time. However, Shaibani was defeated by the Iranian
Saffavids
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
but the Uzbek elements remained dominant from then up to day in the region until in the 18th and 19th centuries.
During that time the city became the center of the
Maimana Khanate The Maimana Khanate (Dari: خانات میمنه, Uzbek: میمنه ''خنليغى)'' was an Uzbek Khanate in Northern Afghanistan centered around the town of Maimana. It was founded in 1747 with the death of Nader Shah. The Mings had been the gov ...
and an important centre for commerce, as well as being the gateway to
Turkistan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...
from
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It served as an important cultural and trade centre for the whole region and served to connect various different states and peoples. Under the Uzbek rule, the city experienced a sudden renaissance, starting from the conquest of the area by Muhammad Shaibani and lasting all the way down to the Pashtun subjugation of the region. In 1876, under
Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan (); c. 1825 – 21 February 1879) was Amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was one of the sons of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan.
Life
Sher Ali Khan ...
, the city fell to the kingdom of Kabul and was viciosly put in ruins. As result, only ten percent of the population remained alive while a large part either died or left the city for other regions after the horrific slaughter.
In the 20th century, the city was once strongly walled with thick walls and towers and surrounded by a moat, but in the 20th century all this has been reduced to an anonymous mound. In 1934, the rebuilding of the city started, and in 1949 the northern parts of the old city were renewed, the old city citadel changed to a park. Maymana was the administrative center of
Meymaneh Province Meymaneh Province was a former province of Afghanistan, which in 1964 was divided, creating Badghis Province and Faryab Province. However, the name "Maymana" survives the administrative center of the Faryab Province
Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the ...
until the disintegration of the province.
As part of the
International Security Assistance Force
' ps, کمک او همکاري '
, allies = Afghanistan
, opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda
, commander1 =
, commander1_label = Commander
, commander2 =
, commander2_label =
, commander3 =
, comman ...
operation in Afghanistan, a
Provincial Reconstruction Team
A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRT ...
led by
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
formerly operated in the province. The team also included
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
n troops.
Transportation
Maymana is served by
Maymana Airport
Maymana Airport is a public use airport located near Maymana, Faryab, Afghanistan.
Airlines and destinations
As of September 2018, there are no scheduled services at the airport.
See also
*List of airports in Afghanistan
This is a list of ai ...
which had direct flights to
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
as of May 2014.
[2014 East Horizon Airlines Timetable, http://flyeasthorizon.com/flight-schedule/ ]
Economy
The town serves an agricultural area irrigated from the Qeysar River and also handles the trade in
Karakul sheep with nomads. Maymana is an important livestock centre in Afghanistan. In the 1970s, the wool and cotton processing industry was booming in the city. Maymana is a market for leather goods, silk, carpets, wheat, barley, melons and grapes.
There is also an
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
located 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Maymana in a valley surrounded by hills and a range of mountains with some peaks reaching 12,000 ft.; 24 miles (39 km) southeast of the
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
border; and 64 miles (103 km) south of
Andkhoy. The runway is with gravel surface.
Maymana is, after
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
,
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
,
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
,
Mazar-i-Sharif
, official_name =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif
, pushpin ...
,
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
,
Kunduz
, native_name_lang = prs
, other_name =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg
, imagesize = 300
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_ ...
, and
Ghazni
Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...
, the eighth-largest Afghan town with an independent women-managed radio station, Radio Quyaash, established in February 2005.
Climate
Maymana has a
hot-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
: ''Csa'') with hot, dry summers and cold, moist winters.
References
External links
* Dupree, Nancy Hatch (1977): ''An Historical Guide to Afghanistan''. 2nd Edition. Revised and Enlarged. Afghan Tourist Organization. (First edition: 1970.)
{{Authority control
Populated places in Faryab Province
Provincial capitals in Afghanistan
Cities in Afghanistan