The name Afghānistān (, ''Afġānistān'' ; ''Afġānistān'' ) means "land of the Afghans", the name "Afghan" originally referred to a member of the

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

. which originates from the

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

'' Afghan''. Historically, Pashtuns were referred to as Afghans, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan. The earliest reference to the name is found in the 10th-century

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

book known as '' Hudud al-'Alam''. The last part of the name, '' -stān'' is a Persian

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

for "place". In the early 19th century, Afghan politicians adopted the name ''Afghanistan'' for the entire Durrani Empire after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties with Qajarid Persia and

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. The first time the word Afghanistan was officially used was during signing of Treaty of Gandamak, after defeat of Afghan Emir Yaqoob Khan during Second Anglo-Afghan War.

Afghan dynasties

According to ''Ta'rikh-i Yamini'' (author being secretary of Mahmud of Ghazni), Afghans enrolled in Sabuktigin's Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th century as well as in the later Ghurid Kingdom (1148–1215). From the beginning of the Turko-Afghan Khalji dynasty in 1290, Afghans are becoming more recognized in history among the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The later Lodi dynasty and

Sur dynasty The Sur Empire was an empire ruled by the Afghan (ethnonym), Afghan-origin Sur dynasty in North India, northern India for nearly 16 or 18 years, between 1538/1540 and 1556, with Sasaram (in modern-day Bihar) serving as its capital. It was fou ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

were both made up of Afghans, whose rule stretched to as far as what is now Bangladesh in the east. Other Afghan dynasties emerged during the 18th century, namely the Hotak dynasty and the Durrani Empire which covered huge swathes of Central and South Asia.

Early references to Afghanistan

The word ''Afghan'' is mentioned in the form of ''Abgan'' in the third century CE by the Sassanians and as ''Avagana'' (''Afghana'') in the 6th century CE by Indian astronomer Varahamihira. A people called the ''Afghans'' are mentioned several times in a 10th-century geography book, Hudud al-'Alam, particularly where a reference is made to a village: "Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live ''Afghans''." Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

, a famous Moroccan scholar visiting the region in 1333, writes: "We travelled on to

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 ...

, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called ''Afghans''. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman." The earliest mention of the term "''Afghanistan''" appears in the 13th century in Tarikh nama-i-Herat of Sayf ibn Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Herawi, mentioning it as a country between Khorasan and Hind, paying tributes to the country of Shamsuddin. Furthermore the name ''"Afghanistan"'' is mentioned in writing by the 16th century Mughal ruler Babur, referring to a territory south of Kabulistan. The name "Afghanistan" is also mentioned many times in the writings of the 16th century historian, Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Ferishta), and many others. The coined term of Afghanistan came into place in 1855, officially recognized by the British during the reign of Dost Mohammad Khan while he was forging his campaigns to re-unite Afghanistan following its 70 year civil war with the Barakzai- Durrani feud following the execution of Wazir Fateh Khan Barakzai.

Last Afghan empire

Afghan royal soldiers of the Durrani Empire

Regarding the modern

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

of Afghanistan, ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'', '' Encyclopædia Iranica'' and others explain that the

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

history of Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Hotak dynasty, which was established by Mirwais Hotak who is regarded as "Mirwais Neeka" ("Mirwais the grandfather"). The ''

Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...

'' states: M. Longworth Dames, G. Morgenstierne, R. Ghirshman, ''"Afghānistān"'', in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Online Edition British India eventually became what is now Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Modern names

Modern terms for ''Afghanistan'' and ''Afghan'' in relevant modern languages:

Notes

References

{{Asia topic, Name of History of Afghanistan

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 ...