Afghan Rug
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An Afghan rug (or Afghan carpet) is a type of handwoven floor-covering textile traditionally made in the northern and western areas of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, mainly by Afghan Turkmens and
Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...
. The industry is being expanded to all 34
provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...
. Afghan rugs have won a number of international awards. The most notable Afghan rugs market in Afghanistan is in the affluent Shahr-e Naw area of
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
. The cities of
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
,
Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...
and
Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
in
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
as well as
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
in the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
are also notable for Afghan rugs markets.


History

Weaving rugs in Afghanistan is an ancient tradition and business, which probably existed for thousands of years. In 2008, 2013, and 2014 Afghan rugs won international awards at an international exhibition held every year in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Around 1.2 million people are involved in the rug business in Afghanistan. Others have put the number at around 2 million people. Afghanistan exported over 800,000 square meters of Afghan rug in 2021, which generated about $30 million dollars. Over $8 million worth of Afghan rugs have been exported in the first six months of 2024 to Turkey, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Uzbekistan. Some Afghan rugs are woven by the
Afghan diaspora Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that domicile (law), reside and work (human activity), work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and Afghan identity card, citizens of Afghanistan who have immigration, immigrated to other coun ...
in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. And some Afghan rugs have been sent to Pakistan, where they are given the label "Made in Pakistan" and then exported to other countries. The Soviet invasion and subsequent wars affected production, both in terms of scale and down quality. According to official figures, as reflected by Parsons, more than 17,000 m2 were exported to Afghanistan in 1979, meaning between 8,000 and 9,000 carpets and rugs. In 1983 exports declined to about 13,000 m2, by 1988 less than 15,000 remained to be returned. In the 1980s, the company sold a lot of old carpets, rugs, and rugs to Afghan families, meaning it was mostly bought by non-residents.


Types and varieties

One of the most exotic and distinctive of all
oriental rug An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in "Orient, Oriental countries" for home use, local sale, and export. Oriental carpets can be knotted-pile carpet, pile woven or Kilim, ...
s is the '' Shindand'' or ''
Adraskan Adraskan ( Persian: ادرسکن) is a historical town in western Afghanistan near the Harut River. It was mentioned in 13th and 14th century geographies as one of four prominent towns in the district of Sabzwar, the Green Place, which, now c ...
'' (named after local Afghan towns), woven in the
Herat Province Herat ( Dari: هرات) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...
, in western Afghanistan. Strangely elongated human and animal figures are their signature look. The carpet can be sold across Afghanistan with the most based in
Mazar-e Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the List of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh prov ...
. Another staple of Afghanistan is Baluchi rugs, most notably Baluchi
prayer rug A prayer rug or prayer mat is a piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used by Muslims, some Christians, especially in Orthodox Christianity and some followers of the Baháʼí Faith during prayer. In Islam, a prayer mat is placed between th ...
s. They are made by Afghanistan's ethnic
Baloch people The Baloch ( ) or Baluch ( ; , plural ) are a nomadic, Pastoralism, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranian, Western Iranic Balochi language and is native to the Balochistan region of South Asia, South and Western Asia, encompas ...
in the south-western part of the country. Various vegetable and other
natural dye Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berry, berries, Bark (botany), bark, leaf, leaves, and wood—and other biological sourc ...
s are used to produce the rich colors. The rugs are mostly of medium sizes. Many patterns and colors are used, but the traditional and most typical is that of the
octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
al elephant's foot (
Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...
) print, often with a red background. The weavers also produce other trappings of the nomadic lifestyle, including tent bags and ceremonial pieces. Ahcha carpets are woven by the Erazi people in 2 provinces: Samangan and Kunduz. All of these rugs use scribble wool, which is dyed in shades of red, brown, indigo, and black. Usually Ahcha carpets are red, sometimes at the special request of customers are made in other tones, so for example, the central field is made in a color range from light brown to golden yellow shades or also with a dark blue central field and light yellow patterns. Some modern rugs use green for pattern details. In addition to Ahcha rugs, various Bezeheri patterns are also woven in Kunduz (the eastern carpet-producing province of Afghanistan). These common motifs include rows of stylized flowers or flower-shaped hexagons on a central field that run together in the center and are framed by decorated crochet and ram's horn patterns. The center field is usually light red, the pattern is dark red and orange with blue, green, white or black color borders (edging) to better highlight details.


See also

* Culture of Afghanistan *
Economy of Afghanistan The economy of Afghanistan is listed as the 124th largest in the world in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and 102nd largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). With a population of around 41 million people, Af ...
* Turkmen rug


References


External links

* ( Ariana Television, May 19, 2023) *
Afghan Rug Pop Up Brings Awareness—and Rugs—to the U.S.
(Andrea Lillo, Nov. 4, 2019) {{Rugs and carpets