67 



AFGHANISTAN. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



couutry, with Bactria, which was north of it, and comprehended the 

 countries on both sidea of the Oxus, formed part of the widely- 

 extended kingdom of Syria founded by Seleucus Nicator. It remained 

 under the Syrian kings to B.C. 256 or 255, when Bactria, including 

 the eastern part of Ariana, declared its independence under Theodotus 

 or Diodotus. Before any attempt could be made by the Syrian kings 

 to recover their dominion over these countries, Parthia, or the 

 western portion of Ariana, revolted under Arsaces, who found means 

 to strengthen himself so much, that the kings of Syria were unable to 

 recover these countries. As Parthia was placed between the kingdom 

 of Bactria and the eastern provinces of the Syrian monarchy, the 

 Bactrians did not come frequently into collision with the Syrians and 

 other nations of Western Asia, and accordingly mention is rarely 

 made of this kingdom in the ancient writers. It was not even known 

 at what epoch Bactria had ceased to be governed by kings of Greek 

 extraction ; but the coins above alluded to furnish a list of Greek 

 kings of Bactria, from Theodotus B.C. 256 to Hermaeus B.C. 120. 



Hermaeus, the last king of the series, is supposed to have been 

 overpowered by Azes, a Scythian, who, as it appears, conquered these 

 countries in company with Maues. Coins of these princes, and of 

 their successor Azilides, are frequent. They have the Greek and 

 Arianiau inscriptions. It appears that these Scythians remained in 

 possession of the country about thirty years, from 90 to 60 B.C. 

 Before their arrival Mithridates II., of Parthia, had conquered a great 

 part of Kastern Ariana ; and though he was obliged to give way to 

 the Scythian invaders, the Parthians do not appear to have entirely 

 abandoned the country, as coins with Parthian names of kings are 

 met with, which, to judge from the sjyle in which they are executed, 

 must have been made between 100 and 70 B.c. It is supposed that 

 Vicramaditya, king of Oojein, conquered Cabul about 56 B.C. That 

 an Indian conquest of the country must have happened about this 

 time is proved by the fact that after this time we find Hindoo deities 

 substituted on the coins for those of the Grecian mythology. On the 

 coins of the sovereigns who governed Afghanistan after the decease of 

 Vicramaditya, and who, as it appears, were called Kadphises, Siva 

 appears in the mixed male and female character, and is very generally 

 accompanied by the bull Nandi ; but it is remarkable that the Greek 

 legend on the obverse is preserved, and that the reverse has an 

 inscription in Arianian characters and the Sanscrit language. The 

 three princes called Kadphises appear to have got possession of 

 Afghanistan in the time of Augustus Csesar, and to have held it 

 through the whole of the first century of our era. 



The dominion of the family of the Kadphises seems to have been 

 overturned at the close of the first century by the irruption of 

 another nation of Scythians, for about this time a new series of corns 

 begins, of a different device and style from any before current. These 

 kings bear on the coins the name of Kanarkes, and they seem to have 

 possessed the country nearly to the close of the 4th century. 

 Their coins are not bilingual : the only characters are Greek, but they 

 become at last so corrupt as to be quite illegible. On the reverse no 

 mythological deity is impressed, but there are Mithraic representations 

 of the sun or moon, with mystical names of these luminaries, also in 

 Greek letters. A few of the Kanarki coins have Siva and the bull on 

 tin- reverse, so that it appears that the Hindoo religion was not 

 wholly rejected, but that the Mithraic worship predominated. 



It is not ascertained when the family of the Kauarkes ceased to 

 reign in Afghanistan, but as the coins of Shahpoor, or Sapor II., and 

 those of his successors to Khosru Nusherwan, are frequently met 

 with, it i supposed that the country became subject to the Sassanian 

 dynasty in Persia towards the end of the 4th century. That 

 family probably kept possession of the country to the time when 

 they were overpowered by the successful invasion of the Arabs under 

 the caliphs. 



It appears further that though the Sassanian dynasty was deprived 

 by the Arabs of the western part of Iran, or the present kingdom of 

 Persia, some princes of that family still kept a footing in the eastern 

 ]> irt, or in Afghanistan, but their enfeebled power was unable to hold 

 out for a long time against the repeated invasions of the Turkoman 

 tribes, who were in possession of Turan. Some of these tribes settled 

 during the 7th and 8th centuries in Afghanistan. Among them 

 were the Afghans or AittVnnffi, mentioned for the first time by 

 iio year A.D. 681, who further notices that in the 

 9th century they inhabited the Goor or Ghor mountains. The 

 Afghans themselves maintain that they are descended from Afghan, 

 the son of Irmia or Berkia, son of Saul, king of Israel, and all their 

 histories of their nation begin with narrating the transactions of the 

 Jews, from Abraham down to the captivity. After the captivity they 

 allege that part of the children of Afghan withdrew to the mountains 

 of Ghor, and part to the neighbourhood of Mecca in Arabia. After 

 their settlement in these mountains had been effected, they appear 

 gradually to have been converted to the Islam faith, but Ebn Haukal 

 mentions that in the 10th century the bulk of the nation had not 

 yet embraced that creed, though some Mohammedans were found 

 among them. In the 9th century a Turkoman family, the 

 Samanidcrf, succeeded in establishing a regular government in 

 Afghanistan, which lasted to 976. A dispute about the succession to 

 t.lif Uin.il*: deprived the Samanides of the possession of the country, 

 whii -li was taken possession of by Subuktageen. 



OEOO. D1V. VOL. I. 



Subuktageen must be considered as the founder of that dynasty 

 which is known by the name of Ghuzneevides, from the circumstance 

 of their residing in the town of Ghuznee. Subuktageen had already 

 made some incursions into the Panjab and with success, and his son 

 Mahmood, more especially named the Ghuzneevide, is considered the 

 first Mohammedan emperor of Hindustan. He undertook twelve 

 expeditions against the Hindoos, and laid the country waste as far 

 as the plains of Bengal and the peninsula of Guzerat, but he did not 

 establish a settled government in any part of the conquered countries. 

 Like most of the wars of the nomadic tribes, his expeditions must be 

 considered rather as predatory incursions than as well-conducted 

 conquests. He plundered the country, and obliged the princes to 

 pay a sum of money to withdraw his army. Those princes whose 

 dominions were contiguous to the territories of Mahmood were 

 subjected to a regular tribute. His son Massood and his successors 

 soon lost their influence over the countries east of the Indus, and the 

 dynasty of the Ghuzneevides was overthrown in 1186 by the Afghans. 



The Afghans inhabiting the mountains of Ghor had been much 

 oppressed by the government of the Ghuzneevides, and rebelled in 

 1186, under their chief Mohamed, who not only overturned the 

 existing government in Afghanistan, but also established his dominion 

 over the northern districts of Hindustan, where the Afghan family of 

 Ghor maintained its power up to 1288. Meanwhile Gengis Khan had 

 begun his uninterrupted course of victories and conquests, and about 

 1224 his armies appeared in Afghanistan, and took Candahar and 

 other cities. But it appears that the Moguls did not settle permanently 

 in Afghanistan before 1242, when they established there the kingdom 

 of Zagatai, in which Cabul was included. The Moguls did not extend 

 their conquest into Hindustan, but many of them went there to serve 

 in the armies of the princes of the family of Ghor. The Afghans, 

 especially those of the tribe of the Ghiljies, served also as mercenary 

 troops. When the disorders in the Indian government began to 

 increase through family discord and disputes about the succession to 

 the throne, the mercenaries began to contend for supremacy, and the 

 Ghiljies succeeded in putting an end to the dynasty of Ghor in Delhi, 

 and taking their place under Feroze (1288). 



It appears that the descendants of Gengis Khan, or at least a Mogul 

 family, kept possession of Afghanistan to 1394, when Timur invaded 

 the country on his famous expedition to Hindustan. Though he 

 abandoned Hindustan as soon as he had conquered it, he annexed 

 Afghanistan to his empire of Samarkand, and it seems that princes of 

 his house were governors of this country up to the tune of Baber, 

 who took possession of Cabul in 1504, which remained his chief 

 residence up to 1526, when he overthrew the Afghan dominion in 

 Delhi, and established himself at Agra. Thus Afghanistan became a 

 province of the Mogul empire of Hindustan, and remained so until it 

 was conquered by Shah Abbas the Great, in about 1626, and annexed 

 to the kingdom of Persia. It was retaken some years afterwards, 

 but again conquered by Shah Abbas II. in 1645. As long as the 

 government of Persia acted with rigour, and treated the Afghans 

 with justice, the peace of the country was not disturbed. But under 

 the weak reign of Shah Sultan Hussein disorders crept into every 

 branch of the administration, and a governor of Candahar committed 

 some acts of injustice against the chief of the Ghiljie tribe, Meer Veis, 

 who killed the governor and revolted against the government (1709). 

 Candahar was besieged by a numerous army, which however was 

 unable to take the town (1713). After the death of Meer Veis, his 

 son Meer Mahmood took the power into his hands, assembled a large 

 army, and invaded Persia (1716). Not meeting with any resistance, 

 he advanced to Ispahan, and besieged it in 1722. After a siege of 

 several months, in which the inhabitants suffered all the horrors of 

 famine, Ispahan was forced to capitulate. Sultan Shah Hussein 

 resigned his crown to the conqueror, and with Meer Mahmood an 

 Afghan family ascended the throne of Persia. Mahmood soon after- 

 wards became mad, and died in 1725. His cousin Meer Ashruf took 

 his place. But the whole of the Persian empire had not been occupied 

 by the Afghans. The provinces surrounding the Caspian Sea on the 

 south and west were still in possession of Thamasp, a son of Shah 

 Hussein, who however was already reduced to great straits, when 

 Nadir Koolly, better known as Nadir Shah, entered into his service. 

 He vanquished Meer Ashruf in two battles in 1729, and entered 

 Ispahan. Ashruf lost a third battle near Persepolis in 1730, and was 

 soon afterwards slain. Nadir Shah then conquered Caudahar and 

 the rest of Afghanistan, and, invading Hindustan in 1739, he took 

 Delhi, but contented himself with the immense booty he got there, 

 and turned his arms against the Uzbecks in Bokhara and Khiva, and 

 the Turks. In 1747 he was murdered in his tent, and one of his 

 generals, Ahmed Khan, became the founder of the Durance dynasty. 



Directly after the assassination of Nadir Shah, Ahmed Khan, 

 accompanied by 2000 or 3000 horse, repaired to Candahar, where he 

 found a great sum of money sent from Hindustan as a tribute to 

 Nadir Shah, and by seizing it he found himself enabled to gain the 

 good-will of his countrymen, the Afghans, of whom the Duranees, 

 Beloochees, and the Hazarehs assisted at his coronation as king of 

 Afghanistan : the Ghiljies kept aloof. Having settled the country 

 and assembled an army, he began a course of conquest, which only 

 terminated shortly before his death. In 1748 he reduced the Ghiljies 

 to obedience and made himself master of the valley of the Cabul River, 



