Kabul
Kābul (Persian: کابل) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with population of about 3 million people. It is an economic and cultural center, situated 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above-sea-level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. Kabul is linked with Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif via a long beltway (circular highway) that stretches across the country. It is also linked by highways with Pakistan to the southeast and Tajikistan to the north.
History
Kabul is over 3,000 years old. Many empires have long fought over the city, due to its strategic location along the trade routes of Southern and Central Asia. In 1504 Babur captured Kabul and used it as his headquarters until 1526, before his conquest of India. In 1776, Timur Shah Durrani made it the capital of modern Afghanistan.[1] The population of the city is multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, reflecting the diversity of the entire country. Kabul is currently in the process of being rebuilt following decades of wars and chaos.
The city of Kabul is thought to have been established between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE.[2] In the Rig Veda (composed between 1700–1100 BCE) the word "Kubhā" is mentioned, which appears to refer to the Kabul River. There is a reference to a settlement called Kabura by the Persian Achaemenids around 400 BCE which may be the basis for the use of the name Kabura by Ptolemy.[3] Alexander the Great conquered Kabul during his conquest of the Persian Empire. The city later became part of the Seleucid Empire before becoming part of the Mauryan Empire. The Bactrians founded the town of Paropamisadae near Kabul, but it was later ceded to the Mauryans in the 1st century BCE.
According to many noted scholars, the Sanskrit name of Kabul is Kamboj.[4] [5] [6] [7] It is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in the classical writings. Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency 1904 maintains that the ancient name of Kabul was Kambojapura, which Ptolemy (160 CE) mentions as Kaboura (from Ka(m)bo(j)pura?). Hiuen Tsang refers to the name as Kaofu, which according to Dr. J. W. McCrindle [8], Dr Sylvain Lévi [9], Dr. B. C. Law [10], Dr. R. K. Mukkerji [11], N. L. Dey [12] and many other scholars [13], is equivalent to Sanskrit Kamboja (Kamboj/Kambuj). Kaofu was also the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuechi who had migrated from across the Hindukush into Kabul valley around Christian era [14]. According to some scholars, the fifth clan mentioned among the Tochari/Yuechi may have been a clan of the Kambojas [15]
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom captured Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BCE, then lost the city to their subordinates in the Indo-Greek Kingdom in the mid 2nd century BCE. Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BCE, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire nearly 100 years later. It was conquered by Kushan Emperor Kujula Kadphises in the early 1st century CE and remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century CE.[16][17] Kabul was one of the two capital cities of Kushans.
Around 230 CE the Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Empire and were replaced by Sassanid vassals known as the Kushanshas or Indo-Sassanids. In 420 CE the Kushanshas were driven out of Afghanistan by the Chionites tribe known as the Kidarites, who were then replaced in the 460s by the Hephthalites. The Hephthalites were defeated in 565 CE by a coalition of Persian and Turkish armies, and most of the realm fell to those Empires. Kabul became part of the surviving Kushano-Hephthalite Kingdom of Kapisa, who were also known as Kabul-Shahan. The rulers of Kabul-Shahan built a huge defensive wall around the city to protect it from invaders. This wall has survived until today and is considered a historical site. Around 670 CE the Kushano-Hephthalites were replaced by the Shahi or Hindu- Shahi dynasty.
- ↑ Britannica Concise Encyclopedia - Kabul.
- ↑ The history of Afghanistan, Ghandara.com website
- ↑ [http://books.google.com/books?id=KG0xJ659O1QC&pg=PA385 "Kabul" Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge (1901 edition) J.B. Lippincott Company, New York, page 385
- ↑ Ethnologische Forschungen und Sammlung von Material für dieselben, 1871, p 244, Adolf Bastian - Ethnology.
- ↑ The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with ..., 1868, p 155, John William Kaye, Meadows Taylor, Great Britain India Office - Ethnology.
- ↑ Supplementary Glossary, p. 304, H. M. Elliot.
- ↑ Various Census of India, 1867, p 34.
- ↑ Alexander’s Invasion, p 38, J. W. McCrindle; Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180, J. W. McCrindle.
- ↑ Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian in India, 1993 edition, p 100, Dr Sylvain Lévi, Jules Bloch, Jean Przyluski, Asian Educational Services - Indo-Aryan philology.
- ↑ Some Kṣatriya Tribes of Ancient India, 1924, p 235, Dr B. C. Law - Kshatriyas; Indological Studies, 1950, p 36; Tribes in Ancient India, 1943, p 3.
- ↑ Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, 1966, p 173, Dr Radhakumud Mookerji - History; Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity: Based on the Arthaṡâstra of Kautilya, 1914, p 40, Narendra Nath Law, Kauṭalya, Radhakumud Mookerji; The Fundamental Unity of India, 2004, p 86; The Fundamental Unity of India (from Hindu Sources), 1914, p 57, Dr Radhakumud Mookerji.
- ↑ Geographical Dictionary of ancient and Medieval India, Dr Nundo Lal Dey.
- ↑ The Modern Review, 1907, p 135, Ramananda Chatterjee - India; Literary History of Ancient India in Relation to Its Racial and Linguistic ..., p 165, Chandra Chakraberty; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī - Kamboja (Pakistan) etc.
- ↑ The Ancient Geography of India, p 15, A Cunningham.
- ↑ Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 43, Dr J. L. Kamboj.
- ↑ Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation...link
- ↑ Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation... Link