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Afghan
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40Mil BC |
The entire Tibetan Plateau underwent major uplifting. Vast ranges rose from the Himalayas on the east to Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Iran’s Elburz mountains on the west. Links: China, India, Tibet, Iran, Afghan, HistoryBC 
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50000 BC 20000 BC |
Archaeologists have identified evidence of stone age technology in Aq Kupruk, and Hazar Sum. Plant remains at the foothill of the Hindu Kush mountains indicate, that North Afghanistan was one of the earliest places to domestic plants and animals. Links: Afghan
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3000 BC 2000 BC |
Bronze might have been invented in ancient Afghanistan around this time. True urban centers rose in two main sites in Afghanistan--Mundigak, and Deh Morasi Ghundai. Mundigak (near modern day Kandahar) had an economic base of wheat, barley, sheep and goats. Also, evidence indicates that Mudigak could have been a provincial capital of the Indus valley civilization. Ancient Afghanistan was a crossroads between Mesopotamia, and other Civilizations. Links: Afghan
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2500 BC |
Aryan followers of King Yama crossed the Oxus River from Central Asia into Tajikistan and created a new calendar with the new year (Now Roz, Now-Ruz) marked by spring. Links: Afghan
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2000 BC 500 BC |
Aryan tribes lived in Aryana (Ancient Afghanistan). The City of Kabul is thought to have been established during this time. Rig Veda may have been created in Afghanistan around this time. Evidence of early nomadic iron age in Aq Kapruk IV. Links: Afghan
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1500 BC 1200 BC |
The Persian prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) founded the religion known as Zoroastrianism. The principal beliefs included the existence of a supreme deity called Ahura Mazda and a cosmic struggle between the spirit of good, Spenta Mainyu, and the spirit of evil, Angra Mainyu. Later adherents to Zoroastrianism are represented by the Parsees of India and the Gabars of Iran. Links: Afghan
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1000 BC |
A Pashtun legend later held that about this time King Saul’s son, Jeremiah, had a daughter named Afghana whose descendants made their way to Central Asia. Links: Afghan
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600 BC |
Zoroaster introduced a new religion in Bactria (Balkh), also known as ancient Afghanistan. Zoroastrianism is a Monotheistic religion. [see 1500-1200BCE] Links: Afghan More
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522 BC |
Zoroaster died during nomadic invasion near Balkh. Links: Afghan
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522 BC 486 BC |
Darius the Great expanded the Achaemenid (Persian) empire to its peak, when it took most of Afghanistan, including Aria (Herat), Bactriana (Balk, and present-day Mazar-i-Shariff), Margiana (Merv), Gandhara (Kabul, Jalalabad and Peshawar), Sattagydia (Ghazni to the Indus river), Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta), and Drangiana (Sistan). The Persian empire was plagued by constant bitter and bloody tribal revolts from Afghans living in Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta). Links: Persia, Afghan
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329 BC 326 BC |
After conquering Persia, Alexander the Great invaded Afghanistan. He conquered Afghanistan, but failed to really subdue its people. Constant revolts plagued Alexander. Links: Afghan
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326 BC 325 BC |
Revolts plagued Alexander and he left little more behind than a city with his Afghan name, Kandahar. Links: Afghan
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323 BC |
Greeks ruled Bactria (Northern Afghanistan) Links: Afghan
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170 BC 160 BC |
The Bactrian-Parthian era of Afghanistan. Links: Afghan
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37 |
Some 20,000 pieces of jewelry and other objects were buried about this time with a warrior-prince and 5 women in northern Afghanistan. In 1978-79 a team led by Russian archeologist Viktor Sarianidi discovered their 6 sealed tombs at a site called Tillya Tepe (hill of gold). The findings became known as the “Golden Hoard of Bactria.” Links: Afghan, Archeology, Bactria
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50 |
Kushan ruled over Afghanistan under King Kanishka. Graeco-Buddhist Gandharan culture reach its height. Links: Afghan
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200 400 |
A giant statue of Buddha was made at Bamiyan (Bamian) some 100 miles west of Kabul. It was destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Links: Afghan
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220 |
Kushan empire fragmented into petty dynasties. Links: Afghan
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250 300 |
The smaller Buddha at Bamiyan (Bamian), 114 feet high, dated to about this time. It was a gigantic magnification of a Gandhara image. It was destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Links: Afghan
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400 |
Invasion of the White Huns. They destroyed the Buddhist culture, and left most of the country in ruins. Links: Afghan
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400 600 |
The large Buddha at Bamiyan, 170 feet tall, was constructed. It was an enlargement of an Indian Buddha of the Gupta period. Links: Afghan
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425 550 |
Independent Yaftalee ruled in Afghanistan. Links: Afghan
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550 |
Persians reasserted control over all of what is now Afghanistan. Revolts by various Afghan tribes followed. Links: Afghan
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629 |
A Chinese pilgrim reported seeing a 1000-foot reclining Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. By 2004 the sleeping Buddha had not been seen for several hundred years. [see 632] Links: Afghan
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632 |
Hiuan-tsang, an Chinese pilgrim, visited the great Buddhas of Bamiyan. Links: China, Afghan
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652 |
Arabs introduced Islam. Links: Afghan
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727 |
Houei-tch’ao, a Korean pilgrim, visited the great Buddhas of Bamiyan. Links: Afghan
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781 |
Yakib ben Laith, a Saffarid prince from an eastern Iranian dynasty, stripped the sanctuaries of Bamiyan of their metal idols. Links: Afghan
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962 1030 |
Islamic era was established with the Ghaznavid Dynasty. Links: Afghan
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962 1140 |
Under the Ghaznavid Dynasty Afghanistan became the center of Islamic power and civilization. Links: Afghan
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971 1030 |
Machmud of Ghazni, ruler of Afghanistan. He made annual invasions to northern India where he pillaged temples, captured slaves, and transported his goods back by elephant. His library had a large collection of erotic manuscripts and he shared his palace with 400 poets. Links: Afghan
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980 |
Ibn Sina (Afghan scientist) was born in Balkh. Links: Afghan
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1019 |
Machmud of Ghazni, a kingdom in central Asia, invaded India and took so many captives that the prices of slaves plummeted for several years. He invade India annually for 25 years. Links: Afghan
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1030 |
Mahmud Ghazni died. Conflicts between various Ghaznavid rulers arose and as a result the empire started to crumple. Links: Afghan
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1140 |
Ghorid leaders from central Afghanistan captured and burned Ghazni, then moved on to conquer India. Links: Afghan
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1207 Sep 30 |
Jalal ud-din Rumi (Jelaluddin Rumi, d.1273), Persian poet and mystic was born in the area of Balkh, Afghanistan. He later fled the Mongol invasions with his family to Konya (Iconium), Anatolia. His work “Mathwani” (Spiritual Couplets) filled 6 volumes and had a great impact on Islamic civilization. He founded the Mevlevi order of Sufis, later known as the “whirling dervishes.” In 1998 a film was made about the Sufi poet’s influence on the 20th century. In 1998 Kabir Helminski edited “The Rumi Collection” with translation by Robert Bly and others. His work also included the “Shams I-Tabriz” in which he dismissed the terminology of Jew, Christian and Muslim as “false distinctions.” The poet Rumi was also known as Mowlana. Links: Poet, Persia, Afghan
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1219 1221 |
Genghis Khan invaded Afghanistan. Destruction of irrigation systems by Genghis Khan turned fertile soil into permanent deserts. Links: Afghan
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1221 |
Genghis Khan razed the city of Bamiyan and exterminated its inhabitants. Links: Afghan
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1273 Mar |
Polo crossed Afghan Turkistan. Links: Afghan
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1332 1370 |
Descendants of earlier Ghorid rulers reasserted control over Afghanistan. Links: Afghan
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1369 1405 |
Timur (aka Timur Lang or Timur Lenk or Tamerlane, so-named because of a lame leg) ruled from Samarkand. Links: Afghan
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1370 1404 |
Timour-i-Lang (Tamerlane) ruled over Afghanistan. Afghan resistance was active. Links: Afghan
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1394 |
Tamerlane conquered all of Afghanistan. Links: Afghan
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1451 |
An Afghan named Buhlul invaded Delhi, and seized the throne. He founded the Lodi dynasty. Links: Afghan
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1504 |
Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, captured Kabul in Afghanistan and maintained control to 1519. Links: Afghan
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1520 1579 |
Bayazid Roshan, an Afghan intellectual, lived. He revolted against the power of the Moghul government. Links: Afghan
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1526 Apr 21 |
Mongol Emperor Babur annihilated Indian Army of Ibrahim Lodi. Babar, King of Kabul, established in this year the Mughal dynasty at Delhi. Links: Afghan
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1540 May 17 |
Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongol Emperor Humayun at Kanauj. Links: Afghan
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1579 |
Roshan was killed in a battle with the Moghuls, but his struggle for independence continued. Links: Afghan
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1581 |
Akbar, Mughal Emperor of India, conquered Afghanistan. Links: Afghan
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1613 1689 |
Khushhal Khan Khattak (d.1690), Afghan warrior-poet, was born. He initiated a national uprising against the foreign Moghul government. Links: Poet, Afghan
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1622 |
Safavid Persia ruled Kandahar. Links: Afghan
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1678 1707 |
Aurangzeb was the 1st Muslim ruler to fire his cannon at the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan. Links: Afghan
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1690 |
Khushal Khan Khattak (b.1613), Pushtun poet, died. He wrote in Pashtu during the reign of the Mongol emperors in the seventeenth century. He lived in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. He was a renowned fighter who became known as the Afghan Warrior Poet. Links: Poet, Afghan
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1708 |
Mir Wais, a forerunner of Afghan independence, made Kandahar independent of Safavid Persia that had ruled it since 1622. Links: Afghan
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1715 |
Mir Wais died peacefully, and lies in a mausoleum outside of Kandahar. Links: Afghan
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1721 |
Abdul Qadir Bedil (b.1644), Afghanistan Sufi poet, died. In 2000 Afghan cab drivers in Washington DC began meeting to discuss his work in a program called “An Evening of Sufism.” Links: Poet, Afghan
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1722 Mar 8 |
Afghan monarch Mir Mahmud occupied Persia. Links: Afghan
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1722 Oct 12 |
Shah Sultan Husayn surrendered the Persian capital of Isfahan to Afghan rebels after a seven month siege. Mir Wais' son, Mir Mahmud of Afghanistan, had invaded Persia and occupied Isfahan. At the same time, the Durranis revolted, and terminated the Persian occupation of Herat. Links: Afghan
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1725 Apr 25 |
Mir Mahmud was mysteriously killed after going mad. Afghans started to lose control of Persia. Links: Afghan
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