Kunduz: Difference between revisions
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|title=Settled Population of Kunduz province by Civil Division, Urban, Rural and Sex-2012-13 |accessdate=2014-01-12}}</ref> Ethnic [[Pashtunistan|Pashtun people]] make up the largest percent followed by [[Tajik people|Tajiks]], [[Uzbeks]], [[kho people|Khowar]], [[History of Arabs in Afghanistan|Arabs]] and a few others.<ref name="Afghanistan Analysts Network"/><ref name="nps">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.edu/Programs/CCS/Kunduz/Kunduz_Executive_2009.pdf |title=Kunduz Province |work=Program for Culture & Conflict Studies |publisher=[[Naval Postgraduate School]] |format=PDF |accessdate=2014-01-12}}</ref> |
|title=Settled Population of Kunduz province by Civil Division, Urban, Rural and Sex-2012-13 |accessdate=2014-01-12}}</ref> Ethnic [[Pashtunistan|Pashtun people]] make up the largest percent followed by [[Tajik people|Tajiks]], [[Uzbeks]], [[kho people|Khowar]], [[History of Arabs in Afghanistan|Arabs]] and a few others.<ref name="Afghanistan Analysts Network"/><ref name="nps">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.edu/Programs/CCS/Kunduz/Kunduz_Executive_2009.pdf |title=Kunduz Province |work=Program for Culture & Conflict Studies |publisher=[[Naval Postgraduate School]] |format=PDF |accessdate=2014-01-12}}</ref> |
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The [[History of Arabs in Afghanistan|Kunduz Arabs]] speak the Persian language rather than [[Arabic]], as it is the local language of the region. However, they claim a strong Arab identity, based on their tribes that originated in [[Arabia]]. This may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region. There are other such Arabs to the north and west, between [[Kholm, Afghanistan|Kholm]], [[Mazar-e Sharif]] and [[Shibarghan]].<ref>Thomas J. Barfield, The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition. 1982.</ref> |
The [[History of Arabs in Afghanistan|Kunduz Arabs]] speak the Persian language rather than [[Arabic]], as it is the local language of the people in this region. However, they claim a strong Arab identity, based on their tribes that originated in [[Arabia]]. This may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region. There are other such Arabs to the north and west, between [[Kholm, Afghanistan|Kholm]], [[Mazar-e Sharif]] and [[Shibarghan]].<ref>Thomas J. Barfield, The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition. 1982.</ref> |
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== Administration == |
== Administration == |
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Revision as of 17:23, 25 July 2015
Konduz
کندز | |
|---|---|
City | |
 | |
| Country |  Afghanistan |
| Province | Kunduz Province |
| District | Kunduz District |
| First mention | 329 BC |
| Elevation | 391 m (1,283 ft) |
| Population (2012)[1] | |
• Total | 304,600 |
| Time zone | UTC+4:30 (Afghanistan Standard Time) |
| Climate | BSk |
Kunduz (Template:Lang-ps; Template:Lang-fa) is a city in northern Afghanistan, which serves as the capital of Kunduz Province. It is sometimes spelled as Kundûz, Qonduz, Qondûz, Konduz, Kondûz, Kondoz, or Qhunduz.
Sitting in the Kunduz District, the population of the city is around 304,600.[1] It is about the 5th largest city of Afghanistan in terms of population.
Kunduz is located in the historical Tokharistan in the region of Bactria. It is linked by highways with Mazar-e Sharif to the west, Kabul to the south and Sher Khan Bandar to the north. Kunduz is located at an elevation of 391 meters above sea level.
Etymology
The name of the city is derived from Persian compound, kuhan/quhan diz, "old/ancient fort" or from Turkic konak/konut ("residence, palace, court, housing, established dwelling area, city, town, village"), from Proto-Turkic *kon-, "to settle down/to perch." Alternative derivations also include Turkic kündüz ("day, daylight"), from Proto-Turkic kün, "day/sun".
Interestingly, until the 1960s, the city served as the capital to the now-defunct province of Qataqan, itself meaning "Old/Ancient city" (from Turkic kata ("old/ancient') and Eastern Iranian (Sogdian) kand or Common Turkic kent, "fort", "town".
Climate
Kunduz has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is generally low except from January to April, with summers almost always rainless.
| Climate data for Kunduz | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.2 (70.2) |
25.0 (77.0) |
32.8 (91.0) |
38.9 (102.0) |
42.2 (108.0) |
46.2 (115.2) |
45.3 (113.5) |
44.2 (111.6) |
39.2 (102.6) |
39.4 (102.9) |
28.4 (83.1) |
21.6 (70.9) |
46.2 (115.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.3 (43.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
15.8 (60.4) |
23.0 (73.4) |
29.8 (85.6) |
37.3 (99.1) |
39.0 (102.2) |
36.9 (98.4) |
31.8 (89.2) |
24.5 (76.1) |
16.0 (60.8) |
9.7 (49.5) |
23.3 (73.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) |
4.4 (39.9) |
10.4 (50.7) |
17.2 (63.0) |
22.9 (73.2) |
29.3 (84.7) |
31.3 (88.3) |
29.2 (84.6) |
23.9 (75.0) |
16.9 (62.4) |
9.5 (49.1) |
4.4 (39.9) |
16.8 (62.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −2.4 (27.7) |
-0.0 (32.0) |
5.7 (42.3) |
11.6 (52.9) |
15.7 (60.3) |
20.9 (69.6) |
23.3 (73.9) |
21.5 (70.7) |
16.3 (61.3) |
10.6 (51.1) |
4.1 (39.4) |
0.0 (32.0) |
10.6 (51.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −22.7 (−8.9) |
−23.1 (−9.6) |
−11.8 (10.8) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
4.2 (39.6) |
12.5 (54.5) |
15.7 (60.3) |
12.6 (54.7) |
3.5 (38.3) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−20 (−4) |
−23.1 (−9.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 44.0 (1.73) |
56.5 (2.22) |
76.7 (3.02) |
54.4 (2.14) |
29.8 (1.17) |
0.1 (0.00) |
1.3 (0.05) |
0.3 (0.01) |
0.1 (0.00) |
7.3 (0.29) |
23.7 (0.93) |
28.4 (1.12) |
322.6 (12.68) |
| Average rainy days | 5 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 57 |
| Average snowy days | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 80 | 75 | 75 | 71 | 54 | 31 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 44 | 63 | 76 | 55 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 114.4 | 114.6 | 158.9 | 201.0 | 276.5 | 332.1 | 340.2 | 315.5 | 289.7 | 221.8 | 169.4 | 229.5 | 2,763.6 |
| Source: NOAA (1958-1983) [2] | |||||||||||||
History
| History of Afghanistan |
|---|
 The palace of the emir in 1839 |
| Timeline |
Kunduz is the site of the ancient city of Drapsaka. It was a great center of Buddhist learning and very prosperous during the 3rd century AD.
The city used to be called Walwalij[3] and the name Kuhandiz began to be used from the Timurid time.
In the 18-19th centuries it was the capital of a rather large eponymous, sometimes independent, sometimes autonomous Uzbek-Tajik khanate that in 1820s encompassed land from Khulm to the Pamir Mountains. It was part of The Great Game between the British and Russians. This khanate was finally destroyed by Afghanistan in 1859. Between one hundred and two-hundred thousand Tajiks and Uzbeks fled the conquest of their homeland by Russian Red Army and settled in northern Afghanistan.[4]
In the early 20th century, under the governance of Sher Khan Nasher, Kunduz became one of the wealthiest Afghan provinces. This was mainly due to Nasher's founding of the Spinzar Cotton Company, which continues to exist in post-war Afghanistan.
Kunduz is the most important agricultural province which produces wheat, rice, millet, and other products and obtained the nickname of "the hive of the country."
Kunduz is the centre for the north east provinces, and was the stronghold of the Taliban during its regime. It was the last major city held by the Taliban before its fall to US-backed Afghan Northern Alliance forces on November 26, 2001. The city is strategically important because it is the only way connecting Takhar province and Badakhshan provinces,[citation needed] which play a critical role in the existing government.
On 7 May 2015, ISIL-backed Taliban forces launched a major offensive in an attempt to retake the city.[5] Tens of thousands of inhabitants were displaced internally in Afghanistan by the fighting.[6][7][8]
Demography
The city of Kunduz has a population of about 304,600.[1] Ethnic Pashtun people make up the largest percent followed by Tajiks, Uzbeks, Khowar, Arabs and a few others.[4][9]
The Kunduz Arabs speak the Persian language rather than Arabic, as it is the local language of the people in this region. However, they claim a strong Arab identity, based on their tribes that originated in Arabia. This may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region. There are other such Arabs to the north and west, between Kholm, Mazar-e Sharif and Shibarghan.[10]
Administration
The city of Kunduz is divided into 6 districts: Khan Abad, Ali Abad, Char Dara, Dashti Archi, Qala -e-Zal and Imam Sahib. Kunduz has 9 representatives in the lower house and 2 in the upper house and has a provincial council. The most influential leader of Kunduz was Arif Khan, who was a governor of Kunduz Province and was shot dead in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan in the year 2000. Soon after the incident his brother Haji Omar Khan took his responsibility and was appointed as the Governor of Kunduz (2000-2001). In the Karzai administration, Haji Omar Khan was elected to be a representative of Kunduz Province in the Lower House (Wolasi Jirga) and at a time serve as an Advisor Minister to the President Hamid Karzai.
Notable people
- Sher Khan Nasher Loe Khan (Grand Khan) founder of Spinzar Cotton Company and founding father of Kunduz
- Gholam Serwar Nasher Khan (1922–1984), president of Spinzar Cotton Company
- Gholam Nabi Nasher Khan (1926–2010), parliamentarian
- Gholam Rabani Nasher Khan (1940–), member of the Loya Jirga
- Sayed Noorullah Murad (Afghan politician, member of federal cabinet, military commander & scholar) Imam Saheb district.
- Nizamulldin Nasher Khan (1960–), Governor of the Kunduz District
- Farhad Darya Nasher Khan (1962–), singer and composer
- Javed Ahmadi (1992-), player in the current Afghanistan national cricket team
- Haji Nazik Mir Khan, was a wealthy businessmen and tribal leader of the prominent Zakhel tribe in Kunduz
See also
- List of cities in Afghanistan
- Farhad Darya
- Sayed Noorullah Murad (Afghan politician, member of federal cabinet, military commander & scholer) Imam Saheb district.
- Arif Khan
- Kunduz airstrike
References
- ^ a b c "Settled Population of Kunduz province by Civil Division, Urban, Rural and Sex-2012-13" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ^ "Kunduz Climate Normals 1958-1983". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
- ^ http://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/voror/Personal/Islamic_Numismatics.html
- ^ a b Wörmer, Nils (2012). "The Networks of Kunduz: A History of Conflict and Their Actors, from 1992 to 2001" (PDF). Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. Afghanistan Analysts Network. p. 8. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ^ Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ^ "Afghans counter Taliban offensive in northern Kunduz province". BBC News.
- ^ "Taliban and Afghan Government Dispute Status of Kunduz". New York Times. 21 June 2015.
- ^ "Afghanistan: Taliban advance on key northern city". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "Kunduz Province" (PDF). Program for Culture & Conflict Studies. Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ^ Thomas J. Barfield, The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition. 1982.
Further reading
- Dupree, Nancy Hatch (1977): An Historical Guide to Afghanistan. 1st Edition: 1970. 2nd Edition. Revised and Enlarged. Afghan Tourist Organization.
- Thomas J. Barfield, The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan: Pastoral Nomadism in Transition. 1982.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
