Editing History of Afghanistan (section)

=== Achaemenid Empire ===
{{Main|Achaemenid Empire}}
{{see also|Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley}}

[[File:Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent according to Oxford Atlas of World History 2002.jpg|thumb|Much of the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire]]
[[File:Afghanistan region during 500 BC.jpg|thumb|[[Arachosia]], [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]] and [[Bactria]] were the ancient [[satrap]]s of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] that made up most of what is now Afghanistan during 500 BCE.]]
The area of modern Afghanistan fell to the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persians]] after it was conquered by [[Darius I of Persia]]. The land was divided into several provinces called [[satrapy|satrapies]], which were each ruled by a governor, or [[satrap]]. These ancient satrapies included: [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]]: The region of Aria was separated by mountain ranges from the [[Paropamisadae]] in the east, [[Parthia (satrapy)|Parthia]] in the west and [[Margiana]] and [[Hyrcania]] in the north, while a desert separated it from [[Carmania (satrapy)|Carmania]] and [[Drangiana]] in the south. It is described in a very detailed manner by [[Ptolemy]] and [[Strabo]]<ref>Prolemy, 6.17; [[Strabo]], 11.10.1</ref> and corresponds, according to that, almost to the [[Herat Province]] of today's Afghanistan; [[Arachosia]], corresponds to the modern-day [[Kandahar]], [[Lashkargah]], and [[Quetta]]. Arachosia bordered [[Drangiana]] to the west, [[Paropamisadae]] (i.e. [[Gandhara]]) to the north and to the east, and [[Gedrosia]] to the south. The inhabitants of Arachosia were [[Iranian peoples]], referred to as Arachosians or Arachoti.<ref name=Iranicaarticle>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schmitt|first=Rüdiger|title=Arachosia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|location=United States|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arachosia |date=10 August 2011}}</ref> It is assumed that they were called ''Pactyans'' by ethnicity, and that name may have been in reference to the ethnic [[Pashtuns|''Paṣtun'']] (Pashtun) [[Pashtun tribes|tribes]].<ref name="Houtsma-150">{{Cite book|title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936|last1=Houtsma|first1=Martijn Theodoor|volume=2|year=1987|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-08265-4|page=150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA150|access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref>

[[Bactria]] was the area north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Tian Shan, with the Amu Darya flowing west through the center ([[Balkh]]); [[Sattagydia]] was the easternmost regions of the Achaemenid Empire, part of its Seventh tax district according to Herodotus, along with Gandārae, Dadicae and Aparytae.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fleming |first1=David |title=Achaemenid Sattagydia and the geography of Vivana's campaigns (DB III, 54–75) |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |date=April 1982 |volume=114 |issue=2 |page=105 |jstor=25211309 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00159155|s2cid=130771356 }}</ref> It is believed to have been situated east of the Sulaiman Mountains up to the Indus River in the basin around Bannu. ([[Ghazni]]); and [[Gandhara]] which corresponds to modern day [[Kabul]], [[Jalalabad]], and [[Peshawar]].<ref>[[Louis Dupree (professor)|Dupree, Louis]]: ''Afghanistan (1973)'', pg. 274.</ref>