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  THE ORIGINS AND THE EARLY HISTORY The origins of the Hazāras are uncertain and much debated among scholars (see Bacon, 1951, 1963; Ferdinand, 1959; Schurmann, pp. 110-58; Gawecki, 1980; Poladi, pp. 1-29; Mousavi, pp. 19-43). Among the Hazāras themselves, three main theories exist: they are of Mongolian or Turko-Mongolian descent (sometimes, they are even considered to be the direct heirs of Genghis Khan’s armies); they are the autochthones of the area, representing a stock of population preceding the invasions by Indo-European speaking people (2000-1500 B.C.E.); they are of mixed race as a result of several waves of migration. The Mongol contribution seems difficult to deny considering the common physical appearance of the Hazāras, even if their features are actually very variable. The term  hazāra  first appeared at the beginning of the 16th century in the memoirs of Babur (1987), the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India. He used it several times to designate people ...

  introduction  The Hazaras live in Afghanistan. Local legends and some native historians trace their ancestry to the biblical figure Yafith (or Japheth), the son of Noah. The Hazaras believe themselves to be descendants of the Turko-Mongol tribes of Asia. However, there is little precise knowledge about their ethnic origins and their history in Afghanistan. 2 • LOCATION Most of the Hazaras are concentrated in the mountainous central region of Afghanistan. The area that serves as their homeland is known as Hazarajat. Hazaras are also found scattered in other areas of the country in smaller numbers. There is also a Hazara population in Baluchistan, Pakistan. The exact number of Hazaras is not known because there has never been a complete national census taken in Afghanistan. Estimates of the Hazara population range from about 1.5 million to 4.3 million people (or 7 to 20 percent of the total Afghani population). 3 • LANGUAGE Most Hazaras today speak Dari, a form of Persian also...

Band-e Amir National Park   Afghanistan established its first national park on April 22, 2009, to promote and protect the natural beauty of a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush. Band-e-Amir is a chain of six lakes in the mountainous desert of central Afghanistan. The lakes formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. Over time,  the water deposited layers of hardened minerals (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which helped the Afghan government set up the park, Band-e-Amir is one of the few travertine systems in the world. They were created by the  carbon d ioxide-rich rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit  calcium carbonate   precipitate  in the form of  travertine  walls that today store the water of these lakes. Band-e Amir is one of the few rare natu...

The two colossal Bamiyan Buddhas stood as arguably the most important archaeological site in  Afghanistan  for well over a thousand years. They were the largest standing Buddha figures in the world. Then, in a matter of days in the spring of 2001, members of the  Taliban  destroyed the Buddha images carved into a cliff face in the Bamiyan Valley. In this series of three slides, learn about the history of the Buddhas, their sudden  destruction, and what comes next for Bamiyan. History of the Bamiyan Buddhas The smaller Buddha, pictured here, stood about 38 meters (125 feet) tall. It was carved from the mountainside around 550 CE, according to radiocarbon dating. To the east, the larger Buddha stood some 55 meters (180 feet) high and was carved a bit later, likely around 615 CE. Each Buddha stood in a niche, still attached to the back wall along their robes, but with free-standing feet and legs so that pilgrims could circumambulate around them. The stone cores of ...