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Historical Time Line of the Afghanistan Region
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- cerca 1500 BCE: Indo-European tribes called Aryans from Iran settle in the region.
- c. 500 BCE: Persian Empire conquers the region.
- c. 330 BCE: Alexander of Macedonia conquers the region and establishes
Kandihar (Alexandria). His mother in Macedonia sends a message asking him what is taking him so long. Alexander
replies that the people in the region will fight over a a handfull of dust and sends four Afghans and a bucket
of dust back to her to demonstrate his assertion.
- c. 300 BCE: Kushans from Central Asia conquer the region and most of northern India to form an empire
which last four centuries. Buddhism is the predominate religion and Hellenistic art forms are developed.
- c. 300: Invasion by the Huns.
- c. 400: Invasion by the Huns.
- c. 500-700: Local rule uner nominal suzerainty under Iranian Sassanian dynasty
- c. 700: Conversion to Islam after conquest by Turkish armies.
- 961: Creation of Islamic state of Ghazni. Under Sultan Mahmood Ghazni became an empire which encompassed
northern India and central Asia as well as the Afghanistan region.
- 1030: Death of Sultan Mahmood and the beginning of the decline in the Ghazni Empire.
- c. 1100: Rise of the Tajik Ghurids in the western part of the Afghanistan region.
- c. 1200: The conquest of northern India by the Ghurids of western Afghanistan but loss of their
home region by invading Turks.
- c. 1250: The conquest and devastation of the Afghanistan reion by the Mongol-Turkish armies of
Ghenis Khan. The settlement of army units of Mongol soldiers in the Afghanistan region whose descendants
are called Hazaras, after the word for one thousand.
- c. 1400: The rebuilding of the cities and irrigation system by Shah Rukh, the son of Tamerlane,
- c. 1480: Babur, a moslem Mongol leader loses control of his kingdom in central Asia and moves south
to conquer the Kabul region of Afghanistan. From there he conquered northern India and established
the Moghal Empire.
- c. 1550: Uzbeks begin a migration across the Amu Darya into the Afghanistan region.
- c. 1550: The Persian Empire under the Safawid dynasty captures Herat in the western part of the Afghanistan
region and the lower reaches of the Helmand River valley in the southwestern portion of the Hindu Kush.
- c. 1600: An awakening of Pushtun ethnic consciousness occurs. Khushlal Khan Khattak (1613-1689) is
the major figure in this process.
- c. 1700: Guerrilla leaders established control over the region occuppied by Pushtuns and the Persions
are driven out. Kandahar captured b;y the Ghilzai-led forces from the Persians in 1709. The tribes of
Durrani Pushtuns who were forced to migrate to the city of Herat rebel and driven the Persians for the
city in 1716.
- 1722: Ghilzai Pushtuns defeat the Safawid Persian empire and capture its capial city of Isfahan.
- 1729: Persians under the leadership of Nadir Shah Afshar defeat the Ghilzais in Iran and invade the
Afghanistan region.
- 1747: Nadir Shah Afshar is assassinated. Ahmad Khan, a Pushtun of the Durrani tribe,
serving at a high rank in the army of Nadir Shah Afshar rallies the Afghans in that army and returns to
the Pushtun area and assumes leadership of the Pushtuns.
Ahmad Khan was of the Sadozai clan of the Durranis which was not the most powerful clan and therefore
his leadership was not unchallenged.
- 1793: The son and successor of Ahmad Afshar, Timur, died leading to the loss of the monarchy from the
Sadozai clan to the leader of the Barakzai clan of the Durrani tribes, Dost Mohammed.
- c. 1800: Dost Mohammed beginns consolidating his power and in 1835 he assumes the time of amir.
- 1839-1842: British forces invaded the Afghanistan region and were defeated.
- 1863: Dost Mohammed died and there was a struggle among his sons for control.
- 1869: Shere Ali, the third son of Dost Mohammed, emerges as the dominant leader. He tries to introduce
industry and improve the military and the educational system.
- 1879: When Shere Ali tries to maintain neutrality between the interests of the British and Russian
Empires the British invade the region and depose Shere Ali.
- 1880: Abdur Rahman accepts British supervision over the foreign affairs of Afghanistan and
receives a stipend and free rein to establish control over the Afghanistan region.
He claims divine right to rule as an absolute monarch. He conquered the largely Shiite Hazaras and the
pagan Kafirs of was later called Nuristan. He assumes the title of Amir.
(To be continued.)