Herat: Difference between revisions

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'''Herat''' is a city in Western Afghanistan, the capital of [[Herat Province]]. It has a long cultural history as a gateway between Persian and Turkic culture, bordering on [[Iran]] and [[Turkmenistan]]. In 2008, its Old City was recognized by [[UNESCO]] as <ref name=UNESCO>{{citation
| title =  The Herat Old City wins the Award of Excellence in the 2008 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage
| url = http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38356&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
| author = United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization
| date = November 28, 2008}}</ref> It has suffered much damage in the wars of Afghanistan.
==Ancient history==
First settled approximately 5,000 years ago, it was an established city when Alexander the Great came  in the 3rd century BCE. Herodotus called it the "breadbasket of Asia." <ref name=Rashid2000>{{citation
| author = Ahmed Rashid
| title = Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia
| publisher = Yale University Press
| year = 2000
| isbn = 0300089023}}, p. 37</ref>  Later, it was the main city of the Persian kingdom of Khorasan; it is the only one of the four cities <ref>Balkh in northern Afghanistan, Mary in Turkmenistan and Nishapur (where Omar Khayyam is buried) in Iran</ref> of the kingdom that is largely intact. <ref name=Frontline2006-11-04>{{citation
| volume=23| issue=22 | dae = Nov. 04-17, 2006
| journal = Frontline: India's National Magazine
| title = Historic Herat
| author = Romesh Bhattacharji
| url = http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2322/stories/20061117000406400.htm}}</ref>
Its central mosque was first built in the seventh century, and rebuilt by the Ghorid Dynasty in 1200. It was associated with [[Sufism]], especially with the poet Khawaja Abdullah Ansari, who died in 1088.
==Flowering==
==Flowering==
{{quotation|In Herat if you stretch out your feet you are sure to kick a poet|Ali Sher Nawa}}
{{quotation|In Herat if you stretch out your feet you are sure to kick a poet|Ali Sher Nawa}}
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Still a major cultural attractions, a mosque, tomb and madrassa complex, built in 1417 by Gohar Shad, daughter of a Chugtai noble, one of the Mongol hordes. Called the "most incomparable woman". she restored many buildings in Herat.  Her grave reads "The Bilkis of All Time"; Bilkis is the Islamic name for the  Queen of Sheba.<ref name=Frontline2006-11-04 /> While Herat is conservative for women's rights, she has been called Afghanistan's first feminist.
Still a major cultural attractions, a mosque, tomb and madrassa complex, built in 1417 by Gohar Shad, daughter of a Chugtai noble, one of the Mongol hordes. Called the "most incomparable woman". she restored many buildings in Herat.  Her grave reads "The Bilkis of All Time"; Bilkis is the Islamic name for the  Queen of Sheba.<ref name=Frontline2006-11-04 /> While Herat is conservative for women's rights, she has been called Afghanistan's first feminist.
==Contemporary==
It revolted against the pro-Soviet Amin government in March 1979. Unrest had grown when large numbers of unemployed Afghans, who had been in Iran, were armed by the Khomeini government and sent back to Afghanistan. There also had been urging to the Herat Shi'a from Teheran.  A number of Soviet advisers and their families were killed in the revolt. The Soviets rejected Afghan appeals for troops, but made a show of force on the border.<ref>{{citation
| title = Out of Afghanistan: the inside story of the Soviet withdrawal
| author = Diego Cordovez, Selig S. Harrison
| publisher = Oxford University Press US | year=  1995
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=iFasqHGo3p0C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Herat+March+1979+revolt+Soviet&source=bl&ots=jRl4nnsSEw&sig=J7P9EpVmKIoltW73iUkmFJhk6m8&hl=en&ei=i3cISti9MeawtgfZ3-WKBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPA35,M1
| isbn = 0195062949}}, pp. 35-37</ref> Ismail Khan told Ahmad Rashid that the Soviets bombed the city and did more damage than the Mongols. <ref>Rashid 2000, p. 38</ref>
In the wars of Afghanistan, it is geographically important, in that it controls a highway to [[Kandahar]].
In Afghan politics, it is still strongly associated with [[Ismail Khan]], who was removed as governor, by President Karzai, in 2004. It was one of the centers of the [[Northern Alliance]] in the war against the [[Taliban]].
The 209th Corps of the [[Afghan National Army]] is headquartered in Herat.
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

Revision as of 01:29, 12 May 2009

Flowering

In Herat if you stretch out your feet you are sure to kick a poet — Ali Sher Nawa

In the 14th and 15th centuries, under the Timurid dynasty, it became known as the "Florence of Asia". [1]

Still a major cultural attractions, a mosque, tomb and madrassa complex, built in 1417 by Gohar Shad, daughter of a Chugtai noble, one of the Mongol hordes. Called the "most incomparable woman". she restored many buildings in Herat. Her grave reads "The Bilkis of All Time"; Bilkis is the Islamic name for the Queen of Sheba.[2] While Herat is conservative for women's rights, she has been called Afghanistan's first feminist.

  1. ↑ "Herat, the 'pearl' of Afghanistan", BBC News, November 12, 2001
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Frontline2006-11-04
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