Fayzabad, Badakhshan
Encyclopedia
See also: Faizabad (disambiguation)
Fayzabad (also spelled Feyzabad, Fazelabad or Faizabad) is the provincial capital and largest city in Badakhshan Province
, in northern Afghanistan
, with around 50,000 people. It is situated in Fayzabad District
and is at an altitude of 1,200 m. (3,937 ft.)
It is located in the northeast of Afghanistan, on the River Kokcha. It is the main commercial and administrative center of the Pamir region.
near where it exits from a gorge and before it reaches a large open plain.
, cotton cloth and goods, salt, sugar, tea, indigo
, and cutlery
are traded. It has been two years since the asphalted ring road of Afghanistan reached Fayzabad. The cost of the road connecting Taluqan and Fayzabad was about $US 200 million which was paid for by USAID.
Several varieties of cash crops are grown in the vicinity including barley, wheat and rice and there are a number of gardens and orchards. There has been some success in panning for gold
in the vicinity, beryl
can be found and there is a salt mine located nearby. The city also has a handicraft industry producing woolen goods and there are flour and rice mills. There is a working power station in the city and there is considerable potential for expansion of hydroelectric power.
, while there also minority communities of Pashtun, Uzbek
and Turkmen.
Nine languages are spoken in the city, including Dari
, Munjani, Wakhi
, Pashto
, Ishkashimi
, Yezgalami, Sur Quli, Shughni
and Roshani.
.
At that time the city replaced Munjan as the capital of Badakhshan
. Later, in 1768, Ahmad Durrani
took the robe to Kandahar
, and established the Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed
there in 1695 (A.D.). The Sáhibzádas of Samarkand
removed the relic of the prophet from the capital in 1734 (A.D.). His clothing which came from the Turkish Campaign, was taken by Temorlane to Samarkand. Whilst the relic was being conveyed to India it was captured by Mír Yár Beg who deposited it at Fayzabad.
Many visitors used to come to a shrine erected in the city. The Khoja
community of Badakhshán were made attendants at the shrine.
There are seven historical forts in and around the city, several of which are in ruins. These forts were built to help defend the city or the roads leading in and out.
In 1979 the town became a hotbed of guerrilla groups as Afghans sought to repel the Soviet invasion. Fayzabad was taken by Soviet forces in 1980 and became a base for the Soviet garrison.
Many NGOs who work in the Badakhshan province have placed their headquarters in the new part of the city. Near the city Germany
is leading the Provincial Reconstruction Team
. Danish
and Czech
teams had been a part of the PRT but the Czechs left in 2007 and the Danes in 2008. The camp is based at an old Russian air strip.
s.
Faizabad (disambiguation)
Faizabad, Fayzbad, Feyzabad, and Faizobod may refer to:Afghanistan* Fayzabad, Badakhshan, a city in Badakhshan province in Afghanistan* Feyzabad, Faryab, a city in Afghanistan* Feyzabad, Jowzjan, a city in Afghanistan...
Fayzabad (also spelled Feyzabad, Fazelabad or Faizabad) is the provincial capital and largest city in Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, consisting of 28 districts. It is located in the north-east of the country, between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya. It is part of the Badakhshan region.-Geography:...
, in northern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, with around 50,000 people. It is situated in Fayzabad District
Fayzabad District, Badakhshan
Fayzabad District is one of 30 districts that comprise Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. In 2005, several portions of the district were sub-divided to create several new districts within the province. The remaining portion is home to approximately 46,000 residents.Settlements in the district...
and is at an altitude of 1,200 m. (3,937 ft.)
It is located in the northeast of Afghanistan, on the River Kokcha. It is the main commercial and administrative center of the Pamir region.
Geography
The city is located on the right bank of the Kokcha RiverKokcha River
The Kokcha River is a river of northeastern Afghanistan. A tributary of the Amu Darya river, it flows through Badakhshan Province in the Hindu Kush range of Afghan Turkestan. The city of Feyzabad lies along the Kokcha. Near the village of Artin Jelow there is a bridge over the river.The Kokcha...
near where it exits from a gorge and before it reaches a large open plain.
Economy
Fayzabad has historically been relatively isolated from other parts of the country because of the lack of paved roads. There are two active bazaars in the city where items as diverse as cottonCotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, cotton cloth and goods, salt, sugar, tea, indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
, and cutlery
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
are traded. It has been two years since the asphalted ring road of Afghanistan reached Fayzabad. The cost of the road connecting Taluqan and Fayzabad was about $US 200 million which was paid for by USAID.
Several varieties of cash crops are grown in the vicinity including barley, wheat and rice and there are a number of gardens and orchards. There has been some success in panning for gold
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
in the vicinity, beryl
Beryl
The mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size. Terminated crystals are relatively rare...
can be found and there is a salt mine located nearby. The city also has a handicraft industry producing woolen goods and there are flour and rice mills. There is a working power station in the city and there is considerable potential for expansion of hydroelectric power.
Demographics
The majority of the inhabitants are TajiksTajiks
Tajik is a general designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people of Iranic origin, with traditional homelands in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan...
, while there also minority communities of Pashtun, Uzbek
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
and Turkmen.
Nine languages are spoken in the city, including Dari
Dari (Eastern Persian)
Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...
, Munjani, Wakhi
Wakhi language
Wakhi is an Indo-European language in the branch of Eastern Iranian language family and is intimately related to other Southeastern Iranian languages in the Pamir languages group.-Classification and Distribution:...
, Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, Ishkashimi
Ishkashimi language
The Ishkashimi language is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in Tajikistan, Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan and Chitral region of Pakistan....
, Yezgalami, Sur Quli, Shughni
Shughni language
Shughni is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. Its distribution is in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in Tajikistan and Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan....
and Roshani.
History
The city was called Jauz Gun until 1680 because of the number of nuts ("jauz"), grown in the area. The name was changed to Faizabad, which can be roughly translated as "abode of divine bounty, blessing, and charity", when the robe of Muhammed was delivered to the city. Tradition states that it was brought here by Muhammad Shaykh Ziya and Shaykh Niyaz after Wais Quran brought it to BalkhBalkh
Balkh , was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan...
.
At that time the city replaced Munjan as the capital of Badakhshan
Badakhshan
Badakhshan is an historic region comprising parts of what is now northeastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikistan. The name is retained in Badakhshan Province which is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the far northeast of Afghanistan, and contains the Wakhan Corridor...
. Later, in 1768, Ahmad Durrani
Ahmad Shah Durrani
Ahmad Shah Durrani , also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī and born as Ahmad Khān, was the founder of the Durrani Empire in 1747 and is regarded by many to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan.Ahmad Khan enlisted as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid kingdom and quickly rose...
took the robe to Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
, and established the Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed
Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed
The Shrine of the Cloak is located adjacent to the Friday Mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It contains a cloak that was once worn by Islam's Prophet Muhammad, which is widely considered as one of the holiest Islamic sites in Afghanistan, and even considered by some as the "heart of Afghanistan".The...
there in 1695 (A.D.). The Sáhibzádas of Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
removed the relic of the prophet from the capital in 1734 (A.D.). His clothing which came from the Turkish Campaign, was taken by Temorlane to Samarkand. Whilst the relic was being conveyed to India it was captured by Mír Yár Beg who deposited it at Fayzabad.
Many visitors used to come to a shrine erected in the city. The Khoja
Khoja
The Khojas are ethnic group of Shia Muslims. The word Khoja derives from Khwaja, a Persian title .In Pakistan, many Khojas migrated to and settled in the province of Sindh and especially in the city of Karachi. While in India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and...
community of Badakhshán were made attendants at the shrine.
There are seven historical forts in and around the city, several of which are in ruins. These forts were built to help defend the city or the roads leading in and out.
In 1979 the town became a hotbed of guerrilla groups as Afghans sought to repel the Soviet invasion. Fayzabad was taken by Soviet forces in 1980 and became a base for the Soviet garrison.
Many NGOs who work in the Badakhshan province have placed their headquarters in the new part of the city. Near the city Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
is leading the Provincial Reconstruction Team
Provincial reconstruction team
A Provincial Reconstruction Team is a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in late 2001 or...
. Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
teams had been a part of the PRT but the Czechs left in 2007 and the Danes in 2008. The camp is based at an old Russian air strip.
Public services
The city has several schools including an all-girls school. There is also a hospital which is considered the best in the province, and a police station. There is a guest house called Lapis Lazuli for expatriateExpatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s.