Badakhshan is a historical region in Central Asia. The extent of the territory defined as Badakhshan has fluctuated throughout its history; today it chiefly comprises Badakhshan Province in northeastern Afghanistan and Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in eastern Tajikistan.
Name The name "Badakhshan" (, Badaxšân; ; , Badakhshon; ) is derived from the Sasanian official title bēdaxš or badaxš, which may be from an earlier *pati-axša; the suffix -ān indicates that the country belonged, or had been assigned as a fief, to a person holding the rank of a badaxš.W. Eilers, "BADAḴŠĀN iii. The name ", Encyclopædia Iranica, December 15, 1988.
Demographics Badakhshan has a diverse ethno-linguistic and religious community of Badakhshanis. Tajiks and Pamiris are in the majority, while a minority of Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, and Hazaras also inhabit some villages. There are also groups of speakers of several Pamir languages of the Eastern Iranian language group.G. Morgenstierne Iranica During the 20th century, within Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, the speakers of Pamir languages put forward their own separate ethnic identity as Pamiris. The Pamiri people were not officially recognized as a separate ethnic group in Tajikistan, but Tajikistan Pamiri movements and associations have been formed. The main religious sects of Badakhshan are Isma'ili Islam and Sunni Islam; Nasir Khusraw propagated Isma'ilism there in 11th century. The music of Badakhshan is an important part of the region's cultural heritage.The Music of Tajik Badakhshan, Jan van Belle, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2003.
History
Early history
Badakhshan was an important trading center during antiquity. The only then-known deposits of lapis lazuli were mined there as early as the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Badakhshan was an important region, crossed by the Silk Road.An ancient route through the clouds: Once part of the legendary Silk Road, Central Asia’s Pamir Mountains might be the world’s last true adventure., Pascal Mannaerts, BBC, 3 October 2016 Its significance was its geo-economic role in the silk trade and ancient commodities transactions between the East and West.The Migration of Silk Production from China to Europe and its Subsequent Development, Claudio Zannier, Chapter 17, p. 289 in Textiles and Clothing along the Silk Roads: Thematic Collection of Cultural Exchanges along the Silk Roads, 2022, by UNESCO and China National Silk Museum. Zhao Feng, Marie Louise Nosch, eds. , 413 pages
Marco Polo wrote that Balas ruby could be found under the "Syghinan" (Shighnan) mountain in Badashan/Badakshan.The Travels of Marco Polo via Wikisource "Balas" is derived from Balascia, the ancient name for Badakhshan, a region in Central Asia in the upper valley of the Panj River, one of the principal tributaries of the Oxus River. However, "Balascia" itself may be derived from the Sanskrit bālasūryaka, which translates as "crimson-coloured morning sun". Mines in the Gorno Badakhshan region of Tajikistan constituted for centuries the main source for red and pink spinels.
The excavations along the banks of the Amu Darya show evidence of trade with the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East in the 4th–3rd millennia BC."Ancient Iranian Nomads in Western Central Asia", A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov. , pp. 33–34 in History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250 Volume II. János Harmatta, B.N. Puri, G.F. Etemadi eds. UNESCO Publishing, 1996.
Through the Khyber Pass, precious stones and rubies were transported to all corners of the Middle East for sale. Jewelry and clothing decorated with rubies from the 3rd millennium BC have been discovered in Southeast Asia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran, Indo-China, and even in Western countries. The Badakhshan rubies have been found in Pakistan (Mohenjo-Daro), Egypt (Necropolis of Thebes), and other places. There was a special caravan route from Badakhshan to these civilizations, which introduced Badakhshan to the world in ancient times through these precious stones.
There is also evidence in Badakhshan from the Stone Age. In the Stone Age, construction of new clay huts in Badakhshan began. Later, in the Neolithic period, the tribes of the Middle East, including the Badakhshan, used wooden gates with their heels running over stone holes. Scientists also attribute the appearance of a window for smoke and light to the Neolithic period. Archaeologists call the Neolithic artifacts in Takharistan (Badakhshan) in the historical literature "Mountain Neolithic of Hissar culture". This civilization lasted from the 6th to the 3rd millennium BC.
The Bronze Age in Badakhshan, from the 3rd millennium BC to the 9th-8th centuries BC, was the most important historical stage of development and evolution. The development of productive forces and significant changes in the social system took place during this period. People learned the production and use of minerals, learned how to melt metals to make iron stronger, and began to produce weapons and household items. On this basis, handicrafts developed, and new and large camps were built. Other production activities, such as agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, the emergence of horses and carts, road construction, etc., accelerated the division of society into classes. The construction of shields, sickles, axes, pickaxes, and shovels flourished during this period of bronze.
The great ruby road appeared on the maps of merchants during this period and became known as the Silk Road, which later became a major trade route and served the peoples of different nations until the 17–18th century. Badakhshan was at that time a land called Airyanem Vaejah, and "Varena" in the Avesta refers to a part of Badakhshan in the Khatlon conflict. Badakhshan gained its status among the world civilizations with these two types of precious stones, both in the time of the Elamites, in the time of the Maud, and in the time of the Achaemenids when the roads of communication were so long that the "Road of the King" was 2400 km long, and was used to transport rubies from Badakhshan, turquoise from Khorezm, and jade from Lake Baikal. The mineralogist A. E. Fersman wrote that one stone was known throughout the long history of culture – the bright blue lapis lazuli of Afghanistan (Badakhshan), which was transported by caravan routes to Egypt, China, Rome, and Byzantium. Some scholars claim that the "mountain valley" mentioned by the Greeks was Badakhshan.
Early modern history
The region was ruled over by the mirs of Badakhshan. Sultan Muhammad of Badakhshan was the last of a series of kings who traced their descent to Alexander the Great. He was killed by Abu Sa'id Mirza, the ruler of Timurid Empire, who took possession of Badakhshan, which after his death fell to his son, Sultan Mahmud Mirza, who had three sons, Baysinghar Mirza, Ali Mirza, and Khan Mirza. When Mahmud died, Amir Khusrau Khan, one of his nobles, blinded Baysinghar Mirza, killed the second prince, and ruled as a usurper. He submitted to the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1504 CE. When Babur took Kandahar in 1506 CE from Shah Beg Arghun, he sent Khan Mirza as governor to Badakhshan. A son was born to Khan Mirza by the name of Mirza Sulaiman in 1514 CE.
After the death of Khan Mirza, Badakhshan was governed for Babur by Prince Humayun, Sultan Wais Khan (Mirza Sulaiman's father-in-law), Prince Hindal Mirza, and Mirza Sulaiman, who held Badakhshan till October 8, 1541, when he had to surrender himself and his son, Mirza Ibrahim, to Prince Kamran Mirza. They were released by Humayun in 1545, and again took possession of Badakhshan. When Humayun had taken Kabul, he made war upon and defeated Mirza Sulaiman who once in possession of his country, had refused to submit; but when the return of Prince Kamran Mirza from Sindh obliged Emperor Humayun to go to Kabul, he reinstated Mirza Sulaiman, who held Badakhshan till 1575. Bent on making conquests, he invaded Balkh in 1560, but had to return. His son, Mirza Ibrahim, was killed in battle.
When Akbar became Mughal Emperor, his stepbrother Mirza Muhammad Hakim's mother had been killed by Shah Abul Ma'ali. Mirza Sulaiman went to Kabul, and had Abul Ma'ali hanged; he then had his own daughter married to Mirza Muhammad Hakim, and appointed Umed Ali, a Badakhshan noble, as Mirza Muhammad Hakim's agent in 1563. But Mirza Muhammad Hakim did not go on well with Mirza Sulaiman, who returned the next year to Kabul with hostile intentions; but Mirza Muhammad Hakim fled Fayzabad and asked Akbar for assistance, so that Mirza Sulaiman, though he had taken Jalalabad, had to return to Badakhshan. He returned to Kabul in 1566, when Akbar's troops had left that country, but retreated on being promised tribute.
Mirza Sulaiman's wife was Khurram Begum, of the Kipchak tribe. She was clever, and had her husband so much in her power that he did nothing without her advice. Her enemy was Muhtarim Khanum, the widow of Prince Kamran Mirza. Mirza Sulaiman wanted to marry her; but Khurram Begum got her married, against her will, to Mirza Ibrahim, by whom she had a son, Mirza Shahrukh. When Mirza Ibrahim fell in the war with Balkh, Khurram Begum wanted to send the Khanum to her father, Shah Muhammad of Kashgar; but she refused to go. As soon as Shahrukh had grown up, his mother and some Badakhshi nobles excited him to rebel against his grandfather Mirza Sulaiman. This he did, alternately rebelling and again making peace. Khurram Begum then died. Shahrukh took away those parts of Badakhshan which his father had held, and found so many adherents, that Mirza Sulaiman, pretending to go on a pilgrimage to Makkah, left Badakhshan for Kabul, and crossing the Indus went to India in 1575 CE. Khan Jahan, governor of the Punjab, received orders from Emperor Akbar to invade Badakhshan, but was suddenly ordered to go to Bengal instead, as Mun'im Khan had died and Mirza Sulaiman did not care for the governorship of Bengal, which Akbar had offered him.
Mirza Sulaiman then went to Ismail II of Safavid Iran. When the death of that monarch deprived him of the assistance which he had just received, he went to Muzaffar Husain Mirza at Kandahar, and then to Mirza Muhammad Hakim at Kabul. Not succeeding in raising disturbances in Kabul, he made for the frontier of Badakhshan, and luckily finding some adherents, he managed to get from his grandson the territory between Taiqan and the Hindu Kush. Soon after, Muhtarim Khanum died. Being again pressed by Shahrukh, Mirza Sulaiman applied for help to Abdullah Khan II, king of Turan, who had long wished to annex Badakhshan. He invaded and took the country in 1584; Shahrukh fled to the Mughal Empire, and Mirza Sulaiman to Kabul. As he could not recover Badakhshan for himself, and was rendered destitute by the death of Mirza Muhammad Hakim, he followed the example of his grandson, and repaired to the court of Akbar who made him a commander of six thousand. He lived out his life at Akbar's court in Lahore where he died in 1589 CE.
Like neighboring Balkh Subah, Badakhshan was shortly conquered in 1641 by Mughal padshah (emperor) Shah Jahan, who turned it also into a short-lived subah (imperial top-level province), only to be lost again in 1647.
Later emirates and khanates