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The Second Anglo-Afghan War was waged between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880. A consequence of the Great Game between Britain and Russia, the conflict was instigated by the latter sending an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul, despite the wishes and protestations of Sher Ali Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan. When a British demand for their own diplomatic mission was refused, the Second Anglo-Afghan War commenced.<br/><br/> The first phase of the invasion saw a string of British military victories that led to the Treaty of Gandamak, which saw Afghan foreign affairs given over to the British in exchange for internal sovereignty and military protection; British representatives were installed in Kabul to secure the deal. When the representatives were slaughtered by an uprising in 1879 however, the second phase of the war began, which once again saw the British reigning supreme and the ceding of further territories from Afghanistan.
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was waged between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880. A consequence of the Great Game between Britain and Russia, the conflict was instigated by the latter sending an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul, despite the wishes and protestations of Sher Ali Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan. When a British demand for their own diplomatic mission was refused, the Second Anglo-Afghan War commenced.<br/><br/> The first phase of the invasion saw a string of British military victories that led to the Treaty of Gandamak, which saw Afghan foreign affairs given over to the British in exchange for internal sovereignty and military protection; British representatives were installed in Kabul to secure the deal. When the representatives were slaughtered by an uprising in 1879 however, the second phase of the war began, which once again saw the British reigning supreme and the ceding of further territories from Afghanistan.
The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.
Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother.<br/><br/> Babur identified his lineage as Timurid and Chaghatay-Turkic, while his origin, milieu, training, and culture were steeped in Persian culture and so he was largely responsible for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, and for the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and historiographical results.
Afghanistan: 'The main street in the bazaar at Caubul in the fruit season', a lithograph by Louis Haghe (1806 - 1885) from an original sketch by James Atkinson (1780 - 1852). From <i>Sketches in Afghaunistan</i>, originally published in 1842. The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.
William Brydon CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842), famous for reportedly being the only member of an army of 4,500 men to reach safety in Jalalabad at the end of the long retreat from Kabul.<br/><br/> The British Army began its retreat from Kabul in January 1842, following the killing of the two British representatives there. The nearest British garrison was in Jalalabad, 90 miles (140 km) away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.<br/><br/> Under the command of Major-General William George Keith Elphinstone, 4,500 British and Indian soldiers plus 12,000 civilian camp followers including wives and children set out for Jalalabad on 6 January 1842, on the understanding that they had been offered safe passage. Afghan tribesmen intercepted them and proceeded to massacre them during the next seven days.
From 1861 to 1890 the Munich publishing firm of Braun and Schneider published plates of historic and contemporary costume in their magazine Munchener Bilderbogen.<br/><br/> These plates were eventually collected in book form and published at the turn of the century in Germany and England.
Hazara are a Persian-speaking people who mainly live in central Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are overwhelmingly Twelver Shia Muslims and make up the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, forming about 20% of the total population.
The lady in the lithograph, Shakar Lab or 'Sugar Lips', was the favourite wife of a Governor of Bamiyan and niece by marriage to Dost Mohammed.<br/><br/> As a great favour, Rattray was introduced to her at Kabul. Describing her as a 'Qizilbash Belle of the First Water', Rattray wrote: 'Afghaun ladies exercise more control over their husbands than is usual in Eastern countries'.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799.<br/><br/>He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
Qizilbash or Kizilbash (sometimes also Qezelbash or Qazilbash) is the name given to a wide variety of Shi'a militant groups that flourished in Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Kurdistan from the late 13th century onwards, some of which contributed to the foundation of the Safavid dynasty of Iran.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799. He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
About 30 kms from Kabul, Mes Aynak, is a trove of Buddhist monastery ruins, statues, and stupas attesting to the prolific role that Afghanistan played in the proliferation of Buddhism in Central and East Asia. Currently being excavated as a copper mine, rescue excavations began in 2009. Work was undertaken by the National Institute of Archaeology and the Delegation Archeologique Francaise en Afghanistan. Part of the monastic compound was excavated, leading to the discovery of a vaulted chapel, monks’ cells and storerooms.<br/><br/> Polychrome terracotta statues were also found, including a sleeping Buddha. A monastery complex has also been dug out, revealing hallways and rooms decorated with frescoes and filled with clay and stone statues of standing and reclining Buddhas, some as high as 10 ft (3m); more than 150 statues have been found so far though many remain in place.
About 30 kms from Kabul, Mes Aynak, is a trove of Buddhist monastery ruins, statues, and stupas attesting to the prolific role that Afghanistan played in the proliferation of Buddhism in Central and East Asia. Currently being excavated as a copper mine, rescue excavations began in 2009. Work was undertaken by the National Institute of Archaeology and the Delegation Archeologique Francaise en Afghanistan. Part of the monastic compound was excavated, leading to the discovery of a vaulted chapel, monks’ cells and storerooms.<br/><br/> Polychrome terracotta statues were also found, including a sleeping Buddha. A monastery complex has also been dug out, revealing hallways and rooms decorated with frescoes and filled with clay and stone statues of standing and reclining Buddhas, some as high as 10 ft (3m); more than 150 statues have been found so far though many remain in place.
Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother.<br/><br/> Babur identified his lineage as Timurid and Chaghatay-Turkic, while his origin, milieu, training, and culture were steeped in Persian culture and so he was largely responsible for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, and for the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and historiographical results.
Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ;´, literally: 'Book of Babur' or 'Letters of Babur'; alternatively known as Tuzk-e Babri) is the name given to the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as 'Turki' (meaning Turkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids.<br/><br/> Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, in AH 998 (1589-90 CE).
Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ;´, literally: 'Book of Babur' or 'Letters of Babur'; alternatively known as Tuzk-e Babri) is the name given to the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as 'Turki' (meaning Turkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids.<br/><br/> Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, in AH 998 (1589-90 CE).
The word Nautch is an anglicized version of nāc, a word found in Hindi and Urdu and several other languages of North India, derived from the Sanskrit, Nritya, via the Prakrit, Nachcha. A simple and literal translation of Nautch is 'dance' or 'dancing'.<br/><br/> The culture of the performing art of Nautch rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire, and the East India Company Rule. Over a period of time, the Nautch traveled outside the confines of the Imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the Nawabs and the Princely states, and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj, to the places of smaller Zamindars, and other places.<br/><br/> Some references use the terms Nautch and Nautch girls to describe Devadasis who used to perform Hindu ritual and religious dances in the Hindu temples of India. However, there is not much commonality between the Devadasis and the Nautch girls. The former performed dances in the precincts of the Hindu temples to please the temple deities, whereas Nautch girls performed for the pleasure of men.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The word Nautch is an anglicized version of nāc, a word found in Hindi and Urdu and several other languages of North India, derived from the Sanskrit, Nritya, via the Prakrit, Nachcha. A simple and literal translation of Nautch is 'dance' or 'dancing'.<br/><br/> The culture of the performing art of Nautch rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire, and the East India Company Rule. Over a period of time, the Nautch traveled outside the confines of the Imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the Nawabs and the Princely states, and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj, to the places of smaller Zamindars, and other places.<br/><br/> Some references use the terms Nautch and Nautch girls to describe Devadasis who used to perform Hindu ritual and religious dances in the Hindu temples of India. However, there is not much commonality between the Devadasis and the Nautch girls. The former performed dances in the precincts of the Hindu temples to please the temple deities, whereas Nautch girls performed for the pleasure of men.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799. He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun (Persian: نصیر الدین محمد همایون; full title: Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram, Jam-i-Sultanat-i-haqiqi wa Majazi, Sayyid al-Salatin, Abu'l Muzaffar Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun Padshah Ghazi, Zillu'llah; 7 March 1508 - 22 February 1556) was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556.<br/><br/> Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one. On the eve of his death in 1556, the Mughal empire spanned almost one million square kilometers.<br/><br/> He succeeded his father in India in 1530, while his half-brother Kamran Mirza, who was to become a rather bitter rival, obtained the sovereignty of Kabul and Lahore, the more northern parts of their father's empire. He originally ascended the throne at the age of 22 and was somewhat inexperienced when he came to power.<br/><br/> Humayun lost his Indian territories to the Pashtun noble, Sher Shah Suri, and, with Persian aid, regained them 15 years later. Humayun's return from Persia, accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen, signaled an important change in Mughal court culture, as the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language and literature.<br/><br/> Subsequently, in a very short time, Humayun was able to expand the Empire further, leaving a substantial legacy for his son, Akbar.
The Shahi (Devanagari: शाही), also called Shahiya dynasties ruled one of the middle kingdoms of India which included portions of the Kabulistan and the old province of Gandhara (now in northern Pakistan), from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century.<br/><br/> The kingdom was known as 'Kabul Shahi' (Kabul-shāhān or Ratbél-shāhān in Persian کابلشاهان یا رتبیل شاهان) between 565 and 879 CE when they had Kapisa and Kabul as their capitals, and later as Hindu Shahi.<br/><br/> The Shahis of Kabul / Gandhara are generally divided into the two eras of the so-called Buddhist-Shahis and the so-called Hindu-Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around 870 CE.