Editing Hazarajat (section)

== Geography ==
Until the 1880s, the Hazarajat was completely autonomous and the central government of Kabul had not yet succeeded in governing the region.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mousavi |first=Sayed Askar |url= |title=The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study |publisher=Curzon Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-7007-0630-5 |location= |page=65 |language=en}}</ref>

===Topography===
[[File:AH-64 Apache in Daykundi-2012.jpg|thumb|200px|An [[AH-64 Apache]] helicopter shoots [[Flare (countermeasure)|flares]] over a valley to support members of the [[ANA Commando Brigade|8th Commando Kandak]] and coalition special operations forces during a firefight in [[Kajran district]], [[Daykundi Province]]]]
[[File:Bamyan collage.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Bamyan Province]]]]
The Hazarajat lies in the [[central Afghan highlands]], among the [[Koh-e 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 [[Bamyan Province|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 {{convert|15,000|feet}} and {{convert|17,000|feet}}. 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 [[Markazi Bihsud District|Behsud]].<ref name="Iranica"/><ref name="Central Afghanistan 1955, pp. 313">[[Wilfred Thesiger]] "The Hazaras of Central Afghanistan", The Geographical Journal 71/3, 1955, pp. 313.</ref>

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".<ref>W. Barthold, ''An Historical Geography of Iran'', Princeton, 1984, p. 51.</ref> 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.<ref>W. Barthold, ''An Historical Geography of Iran'', Princeton, 1984, p. 52.</ref>

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 {{convert|7,500|feet}}, surrounded by the Hindu Kush to the north and Koh-i Baba to the south.<ref name="Iranica"/> The Hazarajat was considered{{when|date=March 2022}} part of the larger geographic region of [[Greater Khurasan|Khurasan]] ([[Kushan Empire|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.<ref name="Iranica"/>

===Climate===
Hazarajat is mountainous,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XfgLAAAAYAAJ&q=author:+%22Minorsky%22 Anonymous, Ḥodud al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, London, 1937; reprinted, 1982, p. 105].</ref> 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=l5JiewAACAAJ&q=geographie+de+l%E2%80%99Afghanistan Johannes Humlum, ''La geographie de l'Afghanistan'', Copenhagen, 1959, p. 64] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520203632/https://books.google.com/books?id=l5JiewAACAAJ&q=geographie+de+l%E2%80%99Afghanistan |date=2023-05-20 }}.</ref> [[Bamyan]] is the colder part of the region, with severe winters.<ref>Ebn Ḥawqal, Ke-tāb ṣurat al-arż, trs. J. H. Kramers and G. Wiet as Configuration de la terre, II, Paris, 1964, p. 227.</ref>

[[File:Cold Country.jpg|thumb|Winters in central Afghanistan can be brutally cold with temperatures as low as {{convert|-20|C|1}}]]

Hazarajat is the source of the rivers that run through [[Kabul River|Kabul]], [[Arghandab River|Arghandab]], [[Helmand River|Helmand]], [[Hari (Afghanistan)|Hari]], [[Murghab River|Murghab]], [[Balkh River|Balkh]], and [[Kunduz River|Kunduz]]; during the spring and summer months it has some of the greenest pastures in Afghanistan.<ref>[[Ḥamd-Allah Mostawfi]], Nozhat al-qolub, tr. Guy Le Strange, London 1919, p. 212</ref> [[Band-e Amir|Natural lakes]], green valleys and caves are found in Bamyan.<ref>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=w1eaQgAACAAJ&q=the+hazaras+of+afghanistan S. A. Mousavi, ''The Hazaras of Afghanistan'', London, 1998, p. 71].
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