AFGHANISTAN', the land of the Afghans, formerly known by the names of Dran.giana and Ariana, lies between hit. 23° and 38° n., and in long. from 62° to 73° e. Afghan is a Persian name; the inhabitants style themselves Pushtaneh (plural of Pushtu). Their country is bounded on the n. by Turkestan; on the e. by Peshawur and Sinde; on the s. by Beloochistan; and on the w. by the Persian highlands of Khorassan. The pop. is variouskv estimated at from four to nine millions. In the n.e., the alpine region of the Hindu Kush, a wild mountain isthmus cleft by numerous ravines, and towering up into the clime of perpetual ice, unites the high masses of land in eastern with in western Asia, and presents formidable obstructions to communication between the terri tory of the Oxus and that of the Indus. In the e., the Soliman mountains abruptly divide the country front the flat regions of the Punjab and the plains of the lower Indus. There are only two passes through the highlands of A. to the Indus: that in the n., formed by the deep valley of the Cabul river, has strong positions of defense at Jelalabad and Peshawur, not far from the Khyber pass; while that in the s., the Bolan pass, forms a way of communication with Sinde. The Hindu Rush and Ghor mountains, which continue the range westward, forming the Paropamisus of the Greeks. have been little explored. The elevated terraces of Cabul and Ghiznee slope gently down towards the s.w. Though the climate has generally a continental character, vet the differences of elevation and unequal distribution of water render it various. 'the date-palm ornaments the oases in the sandy desert to the s.w., and in the deep sheltered valleys of the e. the cultivation of cotton and sugar succeeds; but the high terraces of Cabul and Ghiznee (8000 to 9000 ft. above the level of the sea) are exposed to a severe winter, with heavy falls of snow. The vine flourishes here in company with apricots, apples, pears, plums, cherries, and fields of European corn. Tulips, aromatic herbs, rhubarb, tobacco and asafoetida are extensively grown; and in the well-watered valleys, pomegranates and oranges, with a profusion of roses, display the luxury and splendor of an Indian chine. A. is rich in minerals; iron and copper especially are abundant.
The Afghans are generally powerfully made; and though the features of the men may be styled harsh, the. cheek-bones being- high, and the nose very large, they arc often i,wo; if d • :,'.iii,r-rwa2n-as rRI expressive of candor, earnestness and deliberation. The position of the Afghan language among those of the Indo-germanic branch has been much discussed. A recent writer on the subject, Dr. E. Trump, says it is Indian rather than Iranian. The only authors in the Pushtu language are lyrists and ballad-writers, but the Persian is employed in prose composition, and the Persian authors.are familiar to the educated Afghans. In religion they are Mohammedans according to the version of the Sunnites, and are strongly opposed to the Persians and the Sikhs, who belong to other sects.
The Afghans have been identified with the inhabitants of a hilly country on the western slope of the Soliman mountains, mentioned by Herodotus. In the 11th e. they are referred to as a small clan in the same district, who, since that period, seem to have assimilated and absorbed populations surrounding them. They first appeared as an independent power during the internal discords of Persia after the death of Nadir Shah. Ahmed Khan, of the race of Abdalli (1747-73), took advantage of these feuds, and liberated A. from Persian rule. His success founded the Douranee dynasty. When his son Timur died, in 1793, a contest for the throne took place between the brothers Zemaun, Mahmud, and Shah Sujah, which ended in the success of Mahmud, who, however, was compelled to abdicate the throne in 1823, and died in 1829. The empire now fell into the hands of three brothers, of whom the oldest, Dost 3lohanimcd, ruled at Cabul, the most important of the three divisions of the country, where he had a revenue of 1,400,000 dollars, and an army of 18,000 men. Still, the country was in an unsettled state; for Dost Mohammed was at war with Lahore in the e., and in the w. the Persians had invaded Herat. On the 1st of Oct., 1838, the governor-general of India (lord Auckland) declared war against A., on the grounds that Dost Mohammed had unlawfully attacked the British ally, Runjeet Singh; that the military operations of the Afghans had betrayed a hostile purpose towards India; and that Shah Sujah, as the rightful heir to the Afghan throne, had placed himself under British protection. The British forces advanced through the Bolan pass to Candahar, where Shah Sujah formally claimed possession of the country. On the 21st of July, the army encamped before Ghiznee, and after some hard fighting that fortress was taken. On the 7th of Aug., Shah Sujah, with the British forces, entered Cabul, and the conquest was regarded as complete. It was a gross mistake of the nature of the country and the character of the people. The land bad been invaded, but was by no means conquered. Dost Mohammed had surrendered to the English; but his son, Akbar Khan, was actively enn-aged in a conspiracy, of which Sir Alexander Burnes and the envoy Macnaghten were not aware until it was too late. At the beginning of winter, when help from India was impossible, the outbreak took place at Cabul, when Burnes, Macnaghten and several British officers were slain. It was
then agreed that the invaders should leave the country; while, on the other hand, Akbar Khan and his confederates stipulated to provide an escort, and make other necessary arrangements for the retreat. Depending on these promises, the Bntish army left Cabul on the 6th of Jan., 1842, iu order to return by the Khyber pass into India; but neither escort nor provisions were supplied by the Afghan leaders, and the severity of the season increased the misery of the retreat. by fanatical tribes of the districts harassed the flanks and rear of the army, and slew women and children as well as men. Out of a host of 16,000—or, if we include women and children, about 26,000—only one man (Dr. Brydon) escaped to carry the dismal tidings to gen. Sale, who still held his position at Jelalabad. Almost against his own will, the new governor-general, lord Ellenborough, sent other forces into A. Gen. Nott marched from Candahar to Ghiznee, which was again taken after a slight resistance, and then proceeded to meet the army which, under gala. Pollock, had marched through the Khyber pass to Cabul. Here the ,force of Akbar Khan was defeated and routed, and the place was as far as possible desolated. The English officers and their ladies who had surrendered themselves as prisoners to Akbar Khan were restored to liberty, and soon afterwards the troops marched back to India. It was believed now that the Afghans were deprived of all power to confederate against the government of India; but this conclusion was too hasty, for in 1846 formed an alliance with the Sikhs against the British; and the disturbances in the Punjab were not quelled without several sanguinary engagements. After the decisive battle of Gujerat (Feb. 21, 1849), the Sikhs were forsaken by the Afghans, and Dost Mohammed. with about 16,000 men, fled over the Indus. After this period, Dost Mohammed devoted his attention almost exclusively to the consolidation of his dominions. He (lied in 1863, appointing Shere Ali, one of his younger sons, as his. heir. At first, the choice was acquiesced in by the sixteen sons of Dost Mohammed, a large number of whom were governors of provinces; but disputes followed, which for many years kept A. in a state of anarchy. See CABITL. The British government of India had recognized Slim All at his accession, and when in 1868, after his long struggle with his brothers, he obtained possession of Cahill, and became de facto ruler of the greater part of A., direct assistance was given him to secure the position for which he had fought so hard. Sir John Lawrence, then Indian viceroy, sent him first two and afterwads four lakhs of rupees with 3.500 stand of arms. The next viceroy of India, lord Mayo, met the Ameer in state at timballa, in March, 1869. It was then explained to him that her majesty's government had no desire to interfere with the affairs of A., except to check civil war, and, by so doing, to secure the peace and prosperity of the country. This intimation was accompanied by another large present. In the same year, the Ameer conceived the 1:4111 Idea of invading Bokhara (q.v.) and attacking the Russians, but was restrained by English advice. After 1869, Shore Ali endeavored to secure tranquillity in A. Ile was alive to the strife that had been occasioned by intrusting power to relatives, and he endeavored to replace the members of his family as much as possible by strangers. He also indicated very distinctly that he did not intend to select as his heir his son Yakoob—who, at an early age, had shown great ability as governor of Herat, and had, on many occasions, given his father most valuable assistance—but a younger son, Abdullah. The claims of Yakoob to share in the government of A. were ignored, and the result was that, in 1870, he headed a rebellion against his father; but in the following veer a reebnciliation was effected through the intervention of England. In 1869, it was settled between England and Russia that all the provinces between the Oxus and the Hindu Kush should be treated as part of A. In 1878, in consequence of new Russian diplomatic relations to A., Shore Ali was invited to receive a British mission. The refusal of the Afghans to admit the mission, which had advanced to the mouth of the Khyber pass, led, after some fruitless negotiations, to war. Hostilities began by the forcing of the entrance to the Khyber towards the end of November. There was some severe fighting in the passes, but the invaders were everywhere successful. Before the end of Dec., Jelalahad was occu pied without resistance, and Candahar a little later. Shore Ali, who had fled, died early in 1879; and Yakoob Khan, proclaimed Ameer, made peace in May. It was provided that there should be a British resident at Cabul, and that Britain should defend A. against foreign aggression, the Ameer receiving a subsidy. The Kuram, Pishin and Sibi valleys became British territory, and the Khyber and Michni passes came under British control. But in Sept. of the same year the revolted troops of the Ameer surrounded and attacked the British residency. The resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his staff, with almost the whole of their Indian guard, were slain after a desperate but bootless struggle. Measures were immediately adopted by the Indian government for punishing the outrage. The Ameer put himself under British protection, and abdicated his sovereignty; and, after some lighting, Cabul was reoccupied in the beginning of October.