IIERAT is also called Heri ; and the river on which it stands is called Hari-Rud. This river Hari is called by Ptolemy Apron, by other writers Arius • and Aria was the name given to the country between Parthia (Parthuwa) in the west, Margrana (Marghush) in the north, Bactria (Bakhtrish) and Araehosia (Harauwatish) in the east. It is the Haroya of the Vendidad, and is supposed to be the same as the Haraiva (Ilariva) of the cuneiform inscriptions, though this is doubtful. The importance of its situation is very Treat, and it has always exercised considerable influence over the affairs of Central Asia, and has endured more than forty sieges in ancient and modern times. It is one of the most ancient and most renowned of the cities of Central Asia. It gave its name to an extensive province at the time of the expedition of Alexander, and is supposed by some to bo Alexandria in Ariis. Before the invasions of Chengiz Khan, the city could boast of 12,000 retail shops, 350 schools, 144,000 occupied houses, and 6000 baths, earn vansaris, and water mills. It was for some time the capital of the empire which was transmitted by Timur to his sons. Under the mild and genial rule of his son, Shah Rukh Mirza, it recovered all it had lost. The restored prosperity continued till the beginning of the 16th century. Up to that period Herat was not only the richest city in Central Asia, but the resort of the greatest divines, philosophers, poets, and historians of the age. From the house of Timur it passed in the beginning of the 16th century to the Suffava dynasty of Persia, from whom it was taken by the Daurani in 1715. It was retaken by Nadir Shah in 1731, and it fell into the hands of Ahmad Shah in 1749. When the Daurani empire, created by Ahmad Shah, was lost by his grand sons, and parcelled out among the Barakzai brothers, Shah Kamran managed to maintain a precarious footing at Herat. Ile was the son of Iilahmud, and therefore nephew of Zaman Shah, Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk, and Firoz - ud - Din, and the last remaining representative of the Saddozai princes in Afghanistan. Herat was all that remained to him of the empire of his family. Kamran was cruel and dissipated, and his minister, Yar Muhammad Khan, was even worse. Dost Muhammad was ruling at Kabul, and his half brother, Kohun-dil Khan, ruled at Kandahar. Dost Muhammad was the son of Phound Khan, Barakzai. On the 23d Noveniber 1837, Muhammad king of Persia, laid siege to Herat, in mrsuance of his ambitious policy for the re :onquest of Afghanistan. It was on this occasion hat Herat sustained a memorable ten months' iege, and all the efforts of the Persian king to :apture it, aided by the advice and direction of ussian officers; were defeated, principally by the (forts of Lieutenant Pottinger, of the Bombay k.rtillery. Shah Kanunn and his minister, how wer, continued intrigues with Persia, and the nvoy, Major d'Arcy Todd, withdrew. On the occurrence of disasters in Kabul, Yar Muhammad vas relieved of all apprehension of the interference if the British Government, and in 1842 strangled sovereign, Shah Kamran, usurped the govern ment of Herat, and professed himself a dependent if Persia. On his death in 1851, his son Syud ifuhanimad Khan succeeded him, only to be deposed a 1855, and succeeded by Muhammad Yusuf, rmndson of Firoz, grand-nephew of Shah Zeman.
fuhauunad Ynsuf was afterwards deposed, and sa, Khan succeeded ; but under him Herat fell to he Persians, and he was murdered within a few reeks by a party of Persian soldiers. By the reaty of Parrs, concluded between Britain and ?ersia on the 4th March 1857, the Persians were equired to evacuate Herat. Before they withdrew, hey installed Sultan Ahmed Khan, better known )y the name of Sultan Jan, as ruler of Herat, .nd the British Government did not refuse to ncognise hint as de facto ruler. Shortly after, Sultan Jan attacked and took Furrah, but the Amir of Kabul retook Furrah on the 29th June, and on 28th of July laid siege to Herat. After a siege of ten months, during which Sultan Jan died, the Amir Dost Muhammad took Herat by storm on 27th May 1863. He died eleven days afterwards, and was succeeded in the government of Kabul by his son, Sher Ali, who placed his own son, Muhammad Yakub, in charge of the captured city. Herat was thus again annexed to the Afghan dominions. Herat was visited by Mr. Forster in 1783, by Captain Christie in 1810, by Arthur Conolly in 1831, and by Eldred Pottinger in 1837. It is a city of great political importance ; and in the strivings of the Persians and Afghans to obtain its possession, it has undergone great changes, but quickly recovers from the effects of war.
Herat is on the high road between India and Persia, the centre spot of an extensive and fertile valley, well watered by channels made from a perennial stream. The climate is the finest in Asia. There are two hot months in the year, but the thermometer even then rarely stands higher than 85 degrees (Fahrenheit) in the shade. The nights are always cool, often cold. The Heratis have a proverb, If the soil of Isfahan, the cool breezes of Herat, and the waters of Khwarizm were in the same place, there would be no such thing as death.' Herat is on the same level with the rest of the table-land of Western Afghanistan, and may be regarded as forming part of it, but it is just beyond the ridge which divides the waters that run to the south from those that flow northward to the Oxus. The winter is tolerably mild ; on the plain the snow melts as it falls, and does not lie long even on the summits of the mountains.
The districts of Herat boast of extensive mines of iron and lead. The scimitars made at Herat are considered the best in Central Asia. The breed of Herati horses is scarcely less renowned ; they are very cheap, and are exported in large numbers. Herat, too, is famous for its carpets, worked in silk and in wool, and in both combined, they are made of any size, and command large prices. Hitherto the difficulty in the way of transport has prevented their being so well known as they deserve. Silk is spun in large quantities in the districts. The districts likewise produce largely asafoetida, saffron, pistachio nuts, gum, and manna. These and horses constitute the principal exports. Of skins, only those of the sheep and the lamb are used in Herat. Sheep skins are made up into coverings. The people are Mongol, Parsivan, Tajak, and Hazara.—Bellew; Elpltin. India, 629; East Ind. Part, Papers,133; Treaties, etc. vii. 165 ; Artiller's Lectures, 234.