For many centuries this country was the centre of history. First, as the seat of powerful Buddhist kingdoms, and then as the highway of Moslem conquest. In the time of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 515, these regions em braced the Achemenian Satrapies, and among them a district known as Paktyes, which must have been on the right bank of the River Indus now known as the district of Yusufzai, and the Peshawar valley. This is undoubtedly the origin of Pukhtun which is the oldest name of the country of the Afghans, and is still retained in the designation of their language.
Alexander the Great marched to Herat, the ancient Artacoana, the capital of Aria, and pro ceeded to Zarangae on the banks of the Hel mand. He then advanced to °a country among the snows in a barren lands which seems to have been the mountain regions of Kabul and Ghazni. After retiring to the foot of the Caucasus for the winter he advanced to Bac tria, the modern Balkh, and proceeded to Kabul, from whence he marched down the left bank of the Kabul River and crossed the Indus probably at Hund near Attock.
The Ariana mentioned by Strabo, about the beginning of the Christian era, must have occu pied the limits of the present Afghanistan. In 310 B.C. an Indian king named Chandragupta ruled the province of Kabul. In 250 B.C. there was an independent Greek dynasty in Bactria (Balkh). The ancient coins, and the old Bud dhist ruins show evidences of this, and when the old ruins at Balkh have been excavated very interesting historical facts will be made known regarding this Greek kingdom in Central Asia. At present we know but little regarding it.
Demetrius, B.C. 190, reigned in Arachosia after being expelled from Bactria. Eucratides, 181 ac., reigned in the mountain region. Under Heliocles, 147 the Parthians extended their conquests through the country into India. In 126 ac. Meander invaded India. The Chinese accounts of the time when Bactria was over run by Scythian invaders are supposed to be very extensive although they have not yet been translated into western languages. Chinese his torians say there was a nation called Yuchi settled in the Oxus valley in 126 ac. In the travels of the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Tsang in the 7th century we have accounts of the country now known as Afghanistan. In 630 A.D. he says there were both Indian and Turk rulers in the Kabul valley.
The first attempts of the Moslem conqueror to bring these regions to the faith of the Prophet of Arabia were unsuccessful. It was
not until 977 A.D. that Subuktigin the Turk con quered the country and established his capital at Ghazni and founded what is known as the Ghaznevi dynasty. His son was the famous Mahmud of Ghazni who in 1001 invaded India, and in course of time established Afghan rule both at Lahore and Delhi. He is credited with having made 12 expeditions to India. His tomb is still to be seen at Ghazni. The Ghaznevi dynasty was succeeded by that of Ghor or Ghur which transferred the capital of the em pire to Herat. Muhammad Ghori ruled Af ghanistan in the 12th century and made Delhi the capital of his kingdom. About 1220 Genghiz Khan, the great Mogul ruler of the Tartars, marched through Afghanistan and displaced the Ghor dynasty. In 1398 Timur made himself master of Central Asia, and crossing the Indus plundered the Panjab as far as Delhi.
Baber, who was sixth in descent of Timur, captured the city of Kabul in 1504, and made it the capital of his empire. He was eventually killed and his body was carried from Agra and interred in Kabul where his tomb is still to be seen. His son Humayun was defeated and driven out of India in 1540, but in 1555 he again mounted the throne at Delhi, and at his death was succeeded by Akbar, the greatest of the Mogul emperors of India. The Afghans gave Akbar much trouble. When the power of the court of Delhi was weakened, Kandahar with a large part of Afghanistan fell under the power of the Shah of Persia. Nadir Shah was pro claimed King of Persia in 1736. He seized the city of Kabul as one of the main gates of India, and then leading his army through the Khybar Pass entered the Peshawar valley and there defeated the imperial forces. Ahmed Khan, a general of the Saddozia clan, seized the treasury at Kandahar, and was crowned King of the Duranis about 1747. With Ahmed Shah commences the history of Afghanistan as an independent nation. He reigned 26 years and was succeeded by his son Timur, who in 1773 removed the seat of government from Kandahar to Kabul. He reigned 20 years, and died in 1793 leaving three sons. The youngest son, Shah Shujah, eventually ascended the throne and made Peshawar his capital. In 1800 the Tsar of Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte concocted a scheme for the invasion of India, and consequently the British government sent Mr. Monstuart Elphinstone as ambassador to Shah Shujah at Peshawar and concluded a treaty in 1809.