Old Russian Turkistan.—Soviet Central Asia comprises some part of Turkistan. Since Russia conquered Turkistan about 1865, Tashkent and Samarkand were occupied and further terri tory was absorbed and the whole united into Russian Turkistan. Until 1917 Russian Central Asia consisted of several territories, including the governor-generalship of Turkistan. After the revolu tion the Soviet Government established its power in these districts, and the khanates of Khiva and Bukhara were destroyed (192o). In the same year was set up a Peoples' Soviet Republic and the former governor-generalship of Turkistan became an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic within the R.S.F.S.R. in 1921. In 1925 a redistribution took place and the new States of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, together with several autonomous regions, were set up. The remaining Turkistan areas were linked with the Autonomous Kirghiz Socialist Soviet Republic.
Afghan Turkistan.—Afghan Turkistan, now called the Mazar Province, the northern province of Afghanistan, is bounded on the east by Badakhshan, north by the Oxus river, north-west by Russia, and south by the Hindu Khush, the Koh-i-Baba, and the northern watershed of the Hari Rud basin, which separates it from the Herat Province. Its northern frontier was decided by the Russo-Afghan Agreement of 1873, and delineated by the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1885, which gave rise to the Panjdeh incident. With a length of some 500 m. and an average breadth, north to south, of 114 m., it comprises about 57,000 sq.m., or two-ninths of the kingdom of Afghanistan. Ex cept in the river valleys it is a poor territory, rough and moun tainous towards the south, but subsiding into undulating wastes and pasture lands towards the Turkman desert, and the Oxus riverain, which is highly cultivated. The population, which is mostly settled in and around its towns and villages, is estimated at 800,000. The principal town is Mazar-i-Sharif.
The bulk of the people are of Persian and Uzbeg stock, inter spersed by Mongol Hazaras and Hindus, with Turkoman tribes in the Oxus plains. Ancient Balkh or Bactriana was a province
of the Achaemenian empire. About 25o B.C., Diodotus (Theo dotus), governor of Bactria under the Seleucidae, declared his independence and commenced the history of the Graeco-Bactrian dynasties, which succumbed to Parthian and nomadic movements about 126 B.C. Traces of the Buddhist era which succeeded re main in the rock-cut topes of Haibak. Devastated by Jenghiz Khan, it belonged to the Delhi empire for about a century, and then fell into Uzbeg hands. In the 18th century its khanates Kundaz, Tashkurgan, Balkh with Akcha, and the four western khanates, or "Chahar Vilayet" of Saripul, Shibarghan, Andkhui and Maimana—formed part of the dominion of Ahmed Khan Durani, and so remained under his son Timur, but relapsed on Timur's death to the independent rule of various Uzbeg chiefs, dominated by Bukhara. Between 185o and 1859 Amir Dost Muhammad re-established Afghan influence, but sovereignty over the Chahar Vilayet was disputed by Bukhara until settled in favour of Afghanistan by the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1859.
Under the strong rule of Abdur Rahman these territories were more closely welded to Kabul, some relaxation of authority under Amir Habibullah having been made good by King Amanullah, who in 1927, together with his queen, visited Maimana, Mazar i-Sharif, Tashkurgan and Kataghan, and by royal decree gave the district the name of the Mazar Province. In 1926, a dispute between Russia and Afghanistan regarding Urta Tagai, an island in the Oxus, was settled in favour of Afghanistan. A motor road and telegraph line linking the Mazar Province to Kabul were under construction in 1928. There are aerodromes, on the main Kabul-Tashkent air route, at Mazar-i-Sharif and Haibak. Half of Mazar-i-Sharif was destroyed by fire in June 1927. The Province is administered by a governor directly responsible to the Central Government. Schemes for the extension of cotton cultivation are under consideration. Mazar-i-Sharif is an im portant centre of the trade in astrakhan and furs.