Balkh

Balkh is a city in northern Afghanistan, with an estimated population of 148,972 people. It is the second largest city of Balkh Province and is within the jurisdiction of Balkh District. Balkh is located approximately 24 km (15 mi) to the northwest of Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately 74 km (46 mi) to the south of the Amu Darya or the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. Historically a hub of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, the ancient city was also known to the ancient Persians as Zariaspa and to the ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to the wider region of Bactria. Balkh was renowned as the capital of Bactria and later Tokharistan. Prior to the Mongol conquest, Balkh was one of the richest cities in Khorasan. It suffered severely due to the Mongol invasion in the 13th century and never recovered its former status, with nearby Mazar-i-Sharif slowly becoming the more important town in the locality. By the 14th century Balkh had become a part of Timurid Empire, and after the conquest by Shaybani Khan in 1506, continued to be ruled by the Uzbek dynasties for centuries, notably the Khanate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Kunduz, except for the brief Mughal and Afsharid interruptions, until it was captured by Dost Muhammad Khan in 1850 from the Uzbeks and incorporated into the Emirate of Afghanistan. The Italian explorer and writer Marco Polo described Balkh as "a noble city and a great seat of learning". Most of the town now consists of ruined buildings, situated some 12 km (7.5 mi) from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about 365 m (1,198 ft). The Green Mosque of Balkh is one of the few surviving monuments. While it is one of Afghanistan's ethnically diverse settlements, Tajiks account for the majority of...