Badakhshan

Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Badakhshan lies within Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the southeastern part of the country. The music of Badakhshan is an important part of the region's cultural heritage.

The name "Badakhshan" (Persian: بدخشان, Badaxšân; Pashto: بدخشان; Tajik: Бадахшон, Badakhshon; Russian: Бадахшан) is derived from the Sasanian official title bēdaxš or badaxš, which may be from an earlier *pati-axša; the suffix -ān indicates that the country belonged, or had been assigned as a fief, to a person holding the rank of a badaxš.

Badakhshan has a diverse ethnolinguistic and religious community of Badakhshanites. Tajiks and Pamiris are in the majority while a very tiny minority of Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Hazaras are also found in some villages. There are also groups of speakers of several Pamir languages of the Eastern Iranian language group. During the 20th century within Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, the speakers of Pamir languages formed their own separate ethnic identity as Pamiris.^[when?] The Pamiri people were not officially recognized as a separate ethnic group in Tajikistan, but Tajikistan Pamiri movements and associations have been formed. The main religions of Badakhshan are Ismaili Islam and Sunni Islam; Nasir Khusraw propagated Ismailism there in 11th century. The people of this province have a rich cultural heritage and they have preserved unique ancient forms of music, poetry, and dance.^{[citation needed]}

Badakhshan was an important trading center during antiquity. The only then-known deposits of lapis lazuli were mined there as early as the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Badakhshan was an important region, crossed by the Silk Road. Its significance was its geo-economic role in the silk trade and ancient commodities transactions between the East and West.

Marco Polo wrote that Balas ruby could be found under the "Syghinan" (Shighnan) mountain in Badashan/Badakshan. "Balas" is derived from Balascia, the ancient name for Badakhshan, a region in Central Asia in the upper valley of the Panj River, one of the principal tributaries of the Oxus River. However, "Balascia" itself may be derived from the Sanskrit bālasūryaka, which translates as "crimson-coloured morning sun". Mines in the Gorno Badakhshan region of Tajikistan constituted for centuries the main source for red and pink spinels.

The excavations along the banks of the Amu Darya show evidence of trade with the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East in the 4th–3rd millennia BC.

Through the Khyber Pass, precious stones and rubies were transported to all corners of the Middle East for sale. Jewelry and clothing decorated with rubies from the 3rd millennium BC have been discovered in Southeast Asia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran, Indo-China, and even in Western countries. At that time, the presence of Badakhshan laurel^{[clarification needed]} in India (Mohenjo-Daro), Egypt (Necropolis of Thebes), and other places was proven. There was a special caravan route from Badakhshan to these civilizations, which introduced Badakhshan to the world in ancient times through these precious stones.

There is also evidence in Badakhshan from the Stone Age. In the Stone Age, construction of new clay huts in Badakhshan began. Later, in the Neolithic period, the tribes of the Middle East, including the Badakhshans, used wooden gates with their heels running over stone holes.^{[clarification needed]} Scientists also attribute the appearance of a window for smoke and light to the Neolithic period. Archaeologists call the Neolithic artifacts in Takharistan (Badakhshan) in the historical literature "Mountain Neolithic of Hissar culture". This civilization lasted from the 6th to the 3rd millennium BC.