Afghanistan (meaning "land of the Afghans /Pashtuns " or "Afghan land") has been a strategically important location throughout history. The land served as "a gateway to India, impinging on the ancient Silk Road, which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China". Sitting on many trade and migration routes, Afghanistan may be called the 'Central Asian roundabout'Afghanistan Beyond the Fog of Nation Building: Giving Economic Strategy a Chance. S. Frederick Starr since routes converge from the Middle East, from the Indus Valley through the passes over the Hindu Kush, from the Far East via the Tarim Basin, and from the adjacent Eurasian Steppe. Tents of Afghan nomads in the northern Badghis province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago. Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others at Darra-e Kur in 1966 where 800 stone implements were recovered along with a fragment of Neanderthal right temporal bone, suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 52,000 years ago. A cave called Kara Kamar contained Upper Paleolithic blades Carbon-14 dated at 34,000 years old. Farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world. Artifacts indicate that the indigenous people of Eastern Afghanistan were of Indic Origin who have been moved out from Iranic migrations . Urbanization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE.Baxter, Craig (1995) "Historical Setting" pp. 90–120, page 91, In Gladstone, Cary (2001) Afghanistan revisited Nova Science Publications, New York, Zoroastrianism predominated as the religion in the area; even the modern Afghan solar calendar shows the influence of Zoroastrianism in the names of the months. Other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism flourished later, leaving a major mark in the region. Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom from the Vedic period and its capital city located between the Hindukush and Sulaiman Mountains (mountains of Solomon),Gandara...Link although Kandahar in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical.W. Vogelsang, "Gandahar", in The Circle Of Ancient Iranian StudiesE. Herzfeld, "The Persian Empire: Studies on Geography and Ethnography of the Ancient Near East", ed. G. Walser, Wiesbaden 1968, pp. 279, 293–94, 336–38, 345
Afghanistan (meaning "land of the Afghans " or "Afghan land") has been a strategically important location throughout history. The land served as "a gateway to India, impinging on the ancient Silk Road, which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China". Sitting on many trade and migration routes, Afghanistan may be called the 'Central Asian roundabout'Afghanistan Beyond the Fog of Nation Building: Giving Economic Strategy a Chance. S. Frederick Starr since routes converge from the Middle East, from the Indus Valley through the passes over the Hindu Kush, from the Far East via the Tarim Basin, and from the adjacent Eurasian Steppe. Tents of Afghan nomads in the northern Badghis province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago. Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others at Darra-e Kur in 1966 where 800 stone implements were recovered along with a fragment of Neanderthal right temporal bone, suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 52,000 years ago. A cave called Kara Kamar contained Upper Paleolithic blades Carbon-14 dated at 34,000 years old. Farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world. Artifacts indicate that the indigenous people were small farmers and herdsmen, very probably grouped into tribes, with small local kingdoms rising and falling through the ages . Urbanization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE.Baxter, Craig (1995) "Historical Setting" pp. 90–120, page 91, In Gladstone, Cary (2001) Afghanistan revisited Nova Science Publications, New York, Zoroastrianism predominated as the religion in the area; even the modern Afghan solar calendar shows the influence of Zoroastrianism in the names of the months. Other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism flourished later, leaving a major mark in the region. Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom from the Vedic period and its capital city located between the Hindukush and Sulaiman Mountains (mountains of Solomon),Gandara...Link although Kandahar in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical.W. Vogelsang, "Gandahar", in The Circle Of Ancient Iranian StudiesE. Herzfeld, "The Persian Empire: Studies on Geography and Ethnography of the Ancient Near East", ed. G. Walser, Wiesbaden 1968, pp. 279, 293–94, 336–38, 345
D
/Pashtuns
R
of Eastern Afghanistan were of Indic Origin who have been moved out from Iranic migrations
were small farmers and herdsmen, very probably grouped into tribes, with small local kingdoms rising and falling through the ages