page_title: Greater Khorasan
hierarchical_section_title: Greater Khorasan
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Lage von Dschibal auf Basis folgender Karte: 'Das Reich der Kalifen bis 945' aus Gustav Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas in 96 Karten mit erläuterndem Text Bielefeld [u.a.]: Velhagen &amp; Klasing 1886, S. 77.
context_page_description: Khorāsān, sometimes called Greater Khorasan, is a historical region which formed the northeast province of Greater Iran. The name signifies "the Land of the Sun" or "the Eastern Province."
  Khorasan comprised the present territories of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. The province was often subdivided into four quarters. Nishapur, Marv, Herat and Balkh were the centers, respectively, of the westernmost, northernmost, southernmost, and easternmost quarters. In the north, Khorasan stretched as far as the Oxus, and according to some descriptions, included Transoxiana. Along the north it extended westward to the Caspian coast. Early Islamic usage often regarded everywhere east of so-called Jibal or what was subsequently termed 'Iraq Ajami', as being included in a vast and loosely-defined region of Khorasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and Sindh. The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs and Timurids divided their empires into 'Iraqi' and 'Khorasani' regions.
context_section_description: Khorāsān (Middle Persian: Xwarāsān‎; Persian: خراسان‎, [xoɾɒːˈsɒːn] (listen)), sometimes called Greater Khorasan, is a historical region which formed the northeast province of Greater Iran. The name signifies "the Land of the Sun" or "the Eastern Province."
  Khorasan comprised the present territories of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. The province was often subdivided into four quarters. Nishapur (present-day Iran), Marv (present-day Turkmenistan), Herat and Balkh (present-day Afghanistan) were the centers, respectively, of the westernmost, northernmost, southernmost, and easternmost quarters. In the north, Khorasan stretched as far as the Oxus, and according to some descriptions, included Transoxiana (Bukhara and Samarqand in present-day Uzbekistan). Along the north it extended westward to the Caspian coast. Early Islamic usage often regarded everywhere east of so-called Jibal or what was subsequently termed 'Iraq Ajami' (Persian Iraq), as being included in a vast and loosely-defined region of Khorasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and Sindh. The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs and Timurids divided their empires into 'Iraqi' and 'Khorasani' regions. Khorasan is believed to have been bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas, known as "the Gate of Khorasan", from which it extended eastward to the mountains of central Afghanistan. Sources from the 10th-century onwards refer to areas in the south of the Hindu Kush as the Khorasan Marches, forming a frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan.
  Greater Khorasan is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the modern Khorasan Province of Iran (1906–2004), which roughly encompassed the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan.
caption: An 1886 map of the 10th century Near East showing Khorasan east of the province of Jibal
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