Sultanate of Bactria

Bactria (/baektrie /),  officially the Sultanate of Bactria, is a kingdom located within South Asia and Central Asia. The country has a population of over 1 billion, making it the 2nd  most populous country in the world. Bactria is bordered by India in the south; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; China, Nepal, Bhutan and Burma in the east. Its territory covers 3,850,000 square kilometers, making it the 7th largest country in the world.

Human habitation in Bactria dates back to the Middle Paleothic Era, and the country's strategic location along the Silk Road connected it to the cultures of the Middle East and other parts of Asia. The land has historically been home to various peoples and has witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those by Alexander the Great, Mauryas, Muslim Arabs, Mongols, British and Soviets. It has been called by some as "unconquerable". The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khalijis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis and others have risen to form major empires with many coming out of the Indian region.

The political history of the modern state of Bactria began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century as Afghanistan. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between British India and the Russian Empire. Its border with British India, the Durand Line, was formed in 1893. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 the country was free of foreign influence, eventually becoming a monarchy under King Amanullah. During World War I, Afghanistan launched an invasion of the British Raj with aid from the Turks and Germans in an attempt to secure India. A decade long ceasefire took place with the Afghanis seizing the Indus River, however, during World War II, Muslim revolts in Northern India saw the Afghanistans form a nation stretching from Baluchistan to Bangladesh. Following the establishment of the Sultanate of Bactria, the country began to westernize following western ideals to become an industrial power whilst India quickly turned into a cesspit. Following the Islamic Revolution of Iran in the 70s, Bactria led an invasion of the theocracy to establish a monarchy following western ideals.

Bactria is a constitutional monarchy with Sunni Islam as an official state religion. It is a member of the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Bactria's economy is the world's 3rd largest, with a GDP of $10.124; the country fares not as well in terms of per-capita GDP (PPP), ranking 35th out of 184 countries in a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund.

Etymology
 The English name Bactria is derived from the Ancient Greek: Βακτριανή, a Hellenized version of the Bactrian endonym Bakhlo (βαχλο). Analogous names include Avestan: Bakhdi, Old Persian: Bakhtrish the Persian :  باختر ‎,  Bākhtar ‎, Uzbek:   Балх, Tajik :  Бохтар , Chinese :  大夏 ; pinyin: Daxia , and Sanskrit :  बाह्लीक ,  Bāhlika.

History
Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others suggest that humans were living in what is now Bactria at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world. An important site of early historical activities, many believe that Bactria compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites.

The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and often fought. It has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire and the Islamic Empire.

Many empires and kingdoms have also risen to power in Bactria, such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Kabul, Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khaljis, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, Hotak and Durrani dynasties that marked the political origins of the modern state.

Pre-Islamic period
Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the geographical area of Bactria has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west, and north. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages have been found in Bactria. Urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Bactria, making the ancient civilisation today part of Bactria. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Bactria. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Bactria as well.

 The religion Zoroastrianism  is believed by some to have originated in what is now Bactria between 1800 and 800 BCE, as its founder Zoroaster  is thought to have lived and died in Balkh. Ancient Eastern Iranian languages ma y have been spoken in the region around the time of the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenids overthrew the Medes  and incorporated Arachosia, Aria and Bactria  within its eastern boundaries. An inscription  on the tombstone of Darius I of Persia  mentions the Kabul Valley  in a list of the 29 countries that he had conquered. A fter 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Bactria; among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, and toward Europe via the area north of the Caspian Sea. The region at the time was referred to as Ariana.

Alexander the Great and his Macedonian forces arrived to Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier in the Battle of Gaugamela. Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the region until 305 BCE, when they gave much of it to the Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty. The Mauryans controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush until they were overthrown in about 185 BCE. Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest by the Greco-Bactrians. Much of it soon broke away from them and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. They were defeated and expelled by the Indo-Scythians in the late 2nd century BCE.

During the first century BCE, the Parthian Empire subjugated the region, but lost it to their Indo-Parthian vassals. In the mid-to-late first century CE the vast Kushan Empire, centered in Bactria, became great patrons of Buddhist culture, making Buddhism flourish throughout the region. The Kushans were overthrown by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE, though the Indo-Sassanids continued to rule at least parts of the region. They were followed by the Kidarite who, in turn, were replaced by the Hephthalites. By the 6th century CE, the successors to the Kushans and Hepthalites established a small dynasty called Kabul Shahi. Much of the northeastern and southern areas of the country remained dominated by Buddhist culture.