Ghaznī or Ghaznai, also historically known as Ghaznīn or Ghazna, is a city in
Afghanistan with a population of over 150,000 people. It is located in the
central-east part of the country. Situated on a plateau at 7,280 feet
above sea level, the city serves as the capital of Ghazni Province. It is linked
by a highway with Kandahar to the southwest, Kabul to the northeast, and
Gardez and Khost to the east. The foundation stone of Ghazni Airport was
laid in April 2012 which now serves Ghazni and other nearby eastern Afghan
provinces. Like other cities in Afghanistan, Ghazni
is very old and has witnessed many military invasions. During the
pre-Islamic period, the area was inhabited by various tribes who
practiced different religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. Arab Muslims
introduced Islam to Ghazni in the 7th century; they were followed by the 9th
century Islamic conquest of the Saffarids from Zarang in the west.
Sabuktigin made Ghazni the capital of the Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th
century. The city was destroyed by one of the Ghurid rulers, but later rebuilt.
It fell to a number of regional powers, including the Timurids and the Delhi
Sultanate, until it became part of the Hotaki dynasty, which was followed by
the Durrani Empire or modern Afghanistan.
During the First Anglo-Afghan War in the 19th century, Ghazni was partially
destroyed by British-Indian forces. The city is currently being rebuilt by the
Government of Afghanistan in remembrance of the Ghaznavid and Timurid era when it
served as a major center of Islamic civilisation. The Afghan National
Security Forces have established bases and check-points to deal with the
Taliban insurgency. History
Ghazni was founded some time in antiquity as a small market town and is
mentioned by Ptolemy. In the 6th century BC, the city was conquered by the
Achaemenid king Cyrus II and incorporated into the Persian empire.
The city was subsequently incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great
in 329 BC, and called Alexandria in Opiana.
Ghazni was a thriving Buddhist centre up until the 7th century. In 683 AD, Arab
armies brought Islam to the region, but many refused to accept the new religion.
Yaqub Saffari from Zaranj conquered the city in the late 9th century. It later
became the dazzling capital of the Ghaznavid Empire, which encompassed much
of northern India, Persia and Central Asia. Many iconoclastic campaigns were
launched from Ghazni into India, resulting in the destruction of ancient
temples, libraries and palaces. The Ghaznavids took Islam to India and
returned with fabulous riches taken from Indian princes and temples. Although the
city was sacked in 1151 by the Ghorid Ala'uddin, it soon became their
secondary capital in 1173, and subsequently flourished once again.
Between 1215 and 1221, Ghazni was ruled by the Khwarezmid Empire, during which
time it was destroyed by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan's son Ögedei
Khan. In the first decades of the 11th
century, Ghazni was the most important centre of Persian literature. This was
the result of the cultural policy of the Sultan Mahmud, who assembled a circle of
scholars, philosophers, and poets around his throne in support of his claim to
royal status in Iran. The noted Moroccan travelling scholar,
Ibn Battuta, visiting Ghazni in 1333 wrote:
Ghazni City is famous for its minarets built on a stellar plan. They date from
the middle of the twelfth century and are the surviving elements of the mosque
of Bahramshah. Their sides are decorated with intricate geometric patterns. Some
of the upper sections of the minarets have been damaged or destroyed. The most
important mausoleum located in Ghazni City is that of Sultan Mahmud. Others
include the Tombs of poets and scientists, such as the Tomb of Al
Biruni. The only ruins in Old Ghazni retaining a semblance of architectural
form are two towers, about 43 m high and 365 m apart. According to inscriptions,
the towers were constructed by Mahmud of Ghazni and his son. For more than eight
centuries the “Towers of Victory” monuments to Afghanistan’s greatest
empire have survived wars and invasions, the two toffee-colored minarets, adorned
with terra-cotta tiles were raised in the early 12th century as monuments to
the victories of the Afghan armies that built the empire. By the time the
Ghurids had finalized the Ghaznavid removal from Ghazni, the city was a
cultural center of the eastern Islamic world.
The Buddhist site at Ghazni is known as Tapar Sardar and consists of a stupa on
a hilltop, surrounded by a row of smaller stupas. Nearby, an 18-metre long
Parinirvana Buddha was excavated in the late 'sixties and early 'seventies. It
is believed to have been built in the 8th Century AD as part of a monastery
complex. In the 1980s, a mud brick shelter was created to protect the
sculpture, but the wood supports were stolen for firewood and the shelter
partially collapsed. In 2001, the Taliban blew the Buddha up, believing it
to be idolatrous. During the First Anglo-Afghan War, the
city was stormed and taken over by the British forces on July 23, 1839 in the
Battle of Ghazni. The Civil war in Afghanistan and the continued conflict
between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance during the 1990s put the relics
of Ghazni in jeopardy. Ghazni's strategic position, both economically
and militarily, assured its revival, albeit without its dazzling former
grandeur. Through the centuries the city has figured prominently as the
all-important key to the possession of Kabul.
After the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the United States armed forces built a
base in Ghazni. They have been involved in rebuilding projects and protecting
the local population against Taliban insurgents. In the meantime, they are
also training the Afghan Local Police Afghan National Police and Afghan
National Army. In 2010, the United States established the Lincoln Learning
Center in Ghazni. The Lincoln learning centers in Afghanistan serve as
programming platforms offering English language classes, library facilities,
programming venues, Internet connectivity, educational and other
counseling services. A goal of the program is to reach at least 4,000
Afghan citizens per month per location. Climate
Ghazni has a cold semi-arid climate. Like other high-altitude cities of
eastern and central Afghanistan, it has cold winters and warm summers.
Precipitation is low and mostly falls in winter and spring.
Demography The population of Ghazni is around
157,600. It is a multi-ethnic society, with approximately 50% being Tajik, 25%
Pashtun, and 25% Hazara. There may also be small number of Sikhs and Hindus.
Infrastructure = Transportation=
In April 2012, Ghazni Governor Musa Khan Akbarzada laid the foundation stone of
the Ghazni Airport. The city sits next to Afghanistan's main
highway that runs between Kabul and Kandahar in the south. There are roads
leading to Gardez and in the east and other nearby villages as well as to
towns in Hazarajat in the northwest. = Education=
The city has a number of public schools. Jahan Maleeka School is an all-girls
school with over 5,000 students and 150 teachers. Naswan Shaher Kohna School is
another all-girls school and has over 3000 students. In May 2010, the U.S.
government established the Lincoln Learning Center which, like U.S. public
libraries, which provides free access to information about the United States via
multimedia, book collections, the Internet and programming for the general
public. = Resources=
Ghazni City is in an area of extreme drought.
In 2007, one of the gates on a 50-year-old dam on the Jikhai River
broke, bringing up concerns among the inhabitants of Ghazni city about the
water supply. The dam serves as a good source of irrigation water to Ghazni
City and the surrounding agricultural areas. Nearby rivers have a history of
flooding and causing severe damage and death, though efforts have begun to
remedy this. Notables from Ghazni
Hajweri Ghaznawi Hassan Ghaznavi
Mahmud of Ghazni Mullah Faiz Mohammad Katib
Farrukhi Sistani, Manuchehri Damaghani, Abul-fazl Bayhaqi
Hakim Sanai, poet, theologian and Sufi mystic
Sadiq Ali Khan Tanoli, father of Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, and Akbar Khan
Points of interest Citadel
Minarets of Ghazni Palace of Sultan Mas'ud III
Tomb of Sebuktigin Mausoleum of Sultan Mahmud.
Mausoleum of Sanai Museum of Islamic Art
Tapa Sardar Excavations Twin towns – Sister cities
Hayward, California Giżycko, Poland
See also Ghazni Province
Mahmud of Ghazni Iconoclasm
References and footnotes This article incorporates text from a
publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. Encyclopædia
Britannica. Cambridge University Press. Further reading
Published in the 19th century G. T. Vigne. "Ghuzni". A Personal
Narrative of a Visit to Ghuzni, Kabul and Afghanistan. London: G. Routledge.
OCLC 6388460. Edward Balfour. "Ghazni". Cyclopaedia of
India. London: B. Quaritch. Published in the 21st century
C. Edmund Bosworth, ed.. "Ghazna". Historic Cities of the Islamic World.
Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. "Ghazna". Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic
Art & Architecture. Oxford University Press. 2009.
External links Map of Ghazni district
Ghazni.org 1911 encyclopedia entry
The City Of Ghazni at the Wayback Machine
"Ghazni". Islamic Cultural Heritage Database. Istanbul: Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture.
ArchNet.org. "Ghazni". Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT School of
Architecture and Planning.