Hazarajat (), also known as Hazaristan (), is a mostly mountainous region in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Kuh-e Baba mountains in the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. It is the homeland of the Hazara people who make up the majority of its population. Hazarajat denotes an ethnic and religious zone.
Hazarajat is primarily made up of the provinces of Bamyan, Daykundi and large parts of Ghor, Ghazni, Uruzgan, Parwan, Maidan Wardak and more. The most populous towns in Hazarajat are Bamyan, Yakawlang (Bamyan), Nili (Daykundi), Lal wa Sarjangal (Ghor), Sang-e-Masha (Ghazni), Gizab (Uruzgan) and Behsud (Maidan Wardak). The Kabul, Arghandab, Helmand, Farah, Hari, Murghab, Balkh and Kunduz rivers originate from Hazarajat.
Etymology and usage
The name "Hazara" first appears in the 16th-century book Baburnama, written by Mughal Emperor Babur. When the famous geographer Ibn Battuta arrived in Khurasan in 1333, he traveled across the country but did not record any place by the name of Hazaristan.
The Hazara people and surrounding peoples use the names "Hazarajat" or "Hazaristan" to identify the historic Hazara lands. "Hazarajat" is a compound of "Hazara" and the Dari suffix "jat", which is used to make words associated with land in the south, central and west Asia.
Geography
Topography
The Hazarajat lies in the central Afghan highlands, among the Koh-i Baba mountains and the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. Its boundaries have historically been inexact and shifting. Its physical limitations, however, are roughly marked by the Bā-miān Basin to the north, the headwaters of the Helmand River to the south, Firuzkuh to the west, and the Unai Pass to the east. The regional terrain is mountainous and extends to the Safid Kuh and the Siāh Kuh mountains, where the highest peaks reach between and . Both sides of the Kuh-e Bābā range contain a succession of valleys. The north face of the range descends steeply, merging into low foothills and small semi-arid plains, while the south face stretches towards the Helmand Valley and the mountainous district of Behsud.
Northwestern Hazarajat encompasses the district of Ghor, long known for its mountain fortresses. The 10th-century geographer Estakhri wrote that mountainous Ghor was "the only region surrounded by Islamic territories and yet inhabited by infidels". The long resistance of the inhabitants of Ghor to the adoption of Islam indicates the region's inaccessibility; according to some travelers, the entire region is comparable to a fortress raised in the upper Central Asian highlands: from every approach, tall and steep mountains have to be traversed to reach the area. The language of the inhabitants of Ghor differed so much from that of the people of the plains that communication between the two required interpreters.
The northeastern part of the Hazarajat is the site of ancient Bamyan, a center of Buddhism and a key caravanserai on the Silk Road. The town stands at a height of , surrounded by the Hindu Kush to the north and Koh-i Baba to the south. The Hazarajat was considered part of the larger geographic region of Khurasan (Kushan), the porous boundaries of which encompassed the vast region between the Caspian Sea and the Oxus River, thus including much of present-day Northern Iran and Afghanistan.
Climate
Hazarajat is mountainous, and a series of mountain passes extend along its eastern edge. One of them, the Salang Pass, is blocked by snow six months out of the year. Another, the Shibar Pass, at a lower elevation, is blocked by snow only two months out of the year. Bamyan is the colder part of the region, with severe winters.
Hazarajat is the source of the rivers that run through Kabul, Arghandab, Helmand, Hari, Murghab, Balkh, and Kunduz; during the spring and summer months it has some of the greenest pastures in Afghanistan. Natural lakes, green valleys and caves are found in Bamyan.
History
The area was ruled successively by the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Mauryas, Kushans, and Hephthalites before the Saffarids Islamized it and made it part of their empire. It was taken over by the Samanids, followed by the Ghaznavids and Ghurids before falling to the Delhi Sultanate. In the 13th century, it was invaded by Genghis Khan and his Mongol army. In the following decades, the Qarlughids emerged to create a local dynasty that offered a few decades of self-rule. Later, the area became part of the Timurid dynasty, the Mughal Empire and the Durrani Empire. The subjugation of the Hazarajat, particularly the mountain fortresses of Bamyan, proved difficult for the invaders at their conquest of the region. "adopted the language of the vanquished".