MAZĀR-E ŠARIF, the largest city of northern Afghanistan. The religious origins of the urban area. On the northern slope of…

KERMAN ii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY THE NAME OF KERMAN In the early Achaemenid period, the name of Kerman (for most recent…

KĀRIZ, underground irrigation canals, also called qanāt. The Classical, Eastern (e.g., Khorasan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan), and Middle Persian form kārēz (<...

KĀRIZ, underground irrigation canals, also called qanāt. The Classical, Eastern (e.g., Khorasan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan), and Middle Persian form kārēz (<...

BŪŠEHR  i. THE CITY Geographic conditions and the origins of the military harbor. The city is situated at the northern…

KERMAN ii. Historical Geography THE NAME OF KERMAN In the early Achaemenid period, the name of Kerman (for most recent…

KASHAN ii. Historical Geography Geographic foundations and the origins of the urban area. To the northeast of the well-watered mountain…

KĀRIZ ii. TECHNOLOGY (1) Grade. The technology of kārēz exploits a difference in grade between a tunnel and the groundwater…

KĀRIZ v. KĀRĒZ IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY AND THEIR PROSPECTS In 1990 it was estimated that the kārēz technique…

KANDAHAR i. Historical Geography to 1979 The Kandahar oasis. South of Afghanistan’s central mountains, a broad alluvial cone, with a…

KALĀT-E NĀDERI (lat 37°00′05′′ N, long 59°45′27′′ E), an elevated, isolated plateau in the mountains of Khorasan, some 150 km north…

KĀRIZ iii. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS (1) Water supply. The absolute discharge is measured in cubic meter per hour (m³/hr)…

FĀRS i. Geography Evolution of the geographical concept. The name of Fārs is undoubtedly attested in Assyrian sources since the…

CITIES i. Geographical Introduction  There is a long history of settlement on Persian territory, where urban life was firmly established…

BOUNDARIES ii. With Russia West of the Caspian. The problem of drawing a stable territorial boundary between the Russian and…

KUŠK (also called Kušk Kohna; MacGregor, p. 542, uses the earlier spelling “Khūshk” [Ḵušk]), originally the name of a river…

FAMINES. Famines have been reported throughout Persian history by numerous authors and observers. According to a compilation made by Charles…

ECONOMY i. ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY The high plateau and its external relations. The heartland of the Iranian world, encompassing both Persia…

EARTHQUAKES. Persia and Afghanistan lie on the great alpine belt that extends from the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean through…

(OPers. drayah-, Mid. Pers. drayā, Av. zrayah-; sea, river) in Iranian culture. The role of the sea in Iranian culture evolved through a…

CHOLERA (Cholera asiatica, Cholera indica), epidemic intestinal disease of Indian origin caused by infectious bacteria. i. In Persia. ii. In…

CASPIAN SEA, actually a lake, the largest in the world (estimated surface area in 1986: 378,400 km², volume 78,600 km³;…

BOST, archeological site and town located near the confluence of the Helmand and Arḡandāb rivers in southwest Afghanistan. i. The…

KABUL ii. Historical Geography Before the period of war and unrest in Afghanistan that started in 1978, almost all the…

ISFAHAN i. GEOGRAPHY This entry will be divided into two sections: (1) Geography of the province. (2) Geography of the…

ISFAHAN ii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY: AN OVERVIEW SINCE ANCIENT TIMES The Isfahan oasis, as a prosperous area of agricultural life, eventually…

IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN Iranian culture is inseparable from the geographical space within which it was formed and crystallized,…

HAMADĀN iii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY The city of Hamadān lies at the extreme northwest of the series of major urban sites…

Geography iii. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY The significant Persian-speaking areas of the world are divided today into three states. One of them,…

GEOGRAPHY of Persia and Afghanistan. i. EVOLUTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE The concept of Iran and ancient Iranian geography (Justi; Spiegel,…

Geography ii. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY The primordial component of the land of Iran, since it was a sedentary world as opposed…

ḠAZNĪ (or Ḡazna, Ḡaznīn), province and city in southeastern Afghanistan, the latter situated 136 km south of Kabul at an…

GARMSĪR AND SARDSĪR (warm zones and cold zones), two terms identifying regional entities that form a major geographical contrast deeply…

KĀRIZ i. TERMINOLOGY As noted above, kārēz is the established term for underground irrigation channels in eastern Iran. For early…

TEHRAN, capital city of Iran. i. A PERSIAN CITY AT THE FOOT OF THE ALBORZ At the northern borders of…

KĀRIZ iv. ORIGIN AND DISSEMINATION Where, when, and how was this very complex technique first developed, and what were the…

AFGHANISTAN xiii. FORESTS AND FORESTRY Geographical extension and types of forests. The development of forests is limited in Afghanistan not…