Afghanistan
In his tragedy Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet, Voltaire described Mohammed as an "imposter", a " false prophet", a "fanatic" and a "hypocrite".[41][42] Nevertheless, according to Pierre Milza, the play was above all "a pretext to denounce the intolerance of the Christians - strictly observant Catholics, Jansenists, Protestants - and the horrors perpetrated in the name of Christ.[43] For Voltaire, Mohammed "was here only an armed Tartuffe".[44] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop Keyboard
Voltaire wrote in 1742 to César de Missy: "My play represents, under the name of Mahomet, the Jacobin prior putting a dagger into the hand of Jacques Clément".[45]
In 1748, after having read Henri de Boulainvilliers et Georges Sale,[46] he wrote again about Mohammed and Islam in an article "De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet"HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
(On the Quran and on Mohammed). In the article, Voltaire maintained that Mohammed was a "charlatan", but "sublime and bold"[47] and wrote that furthermore he was not an illiterate.[48]Drawing also on complementary information in the "Oriental Library" of Herbelot, Voltaire, according to René Pomeau, ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
had a "rather favourable judgement of the Quran" where he found, in spite of "the contradictions, the absurdities, the anachronisms", a "good ethic" and "and an accurate idea of divine power" and "especially admired the definition of God".[49] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Thus he "henceforward conceded" [49] that "if his book was bad for our times and for us, it was very good for his contemporaries, and his religion even more so. It must be admitted that he removed almost all of Asia from idolatry" and that "it was difficult for such a simple and wise religion, taught by a man who was always victorious, HP Pavilion ze4325 Laptop Keyboard
not to subjugate part of the earth". He considered that "its civil laws are good; its dogma is admirable in so far as it conforms with our own" but that "the means are frightful; deception and murder".[50] HP Pavilion DV6-1103ax Laptop Keyboard
Following Henri de Boulainvilliers, Voltaire saw in Islamic monotheism a more rational conception than that of the Christian Trinity.[51][original research?]
After later having judged that he had made Mohammed in his play "somewhat nastier than he really was",[52] it was in the biography of Mohammed written by Boulainvilliers that Voltaire borrowed, according to Rene Pomeau "the traits that revealed the great man in Mohammed".[53] TOSHIBA NB100-11G Laptop Keyboard
In his Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des Nations in which he consecrated, as a historian this time, several chapters to Islam,[54][55] Voltaire "held an almost entirely favourable judgement"[49] towards Mohammed, whom he called a "poet",[56] ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D Laptop Keyboard
as a "great man" who "changed the face of part of the world"[57][58] while taking a nuanced view of Mohammed's sincerity who imposed his faith by "necessary deceptions". He onsidered that is "the Muslims' legislator, a terrifying and powerful man, HP Pavilion DV7-4100 Laptop Keyboard
established his dogmas by his courage and by his weapons", his religion nevertheless became "indulgent and tolerant".[59]
However, Voltaire was fundamentally a Deist and clearly denounced Islam and monotheistic religions in general. Taking avantage of the definition of theism in his "Philosophical Dictionary", he put Islam and Christianity back to back with each other: HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
(the theist) believes that religion consists neither in the opinions of an unintelligible metaphysics, nor in vain apparatus, but in worship and in justice. To do good, that is his prayer; to be submitted to God, that is his doctrine. ACER Aspire 5535 Laptop Keyboard
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The Mohammedan calls to him 'Beware if you do not make your pilgrimage to Mecca!' 'Woe on you, says a recoller to him, if you do not make a journey to Notre-Dame de Lorette!' He laughs at Lorette and at Mecca, but he helps the poor and defends the oppressed.[60]
His statements about Mohammed also brought down on him the fury of the Jesuits and in particular Claude-Adrien Nonnotte[61][62] HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
In his Essai sur les mœurs, Voltaire also showed himself "full of praise for Muslim civilisation and for Islam as a rule of life".[49] He thus compared "the genius of the Arab people" to "the genius of the ancient Romans"[63] et écrit que « dans nos siècles de barbarie et d’ignorance, qui suivirent la décadence et le déchirement de l’Empire romain, HP Pavilion tx2510us Laptop Keyboard
nous reçûmes presque tout des Arabes : astronomie, chimie, médecine »[64][65] et que « dès le second siècle de Mahomet, il fallut que les chrétiens d’Occident s’instruisissent chez les musulmans ».[66] DELL 454RX Laptop Keyboard
Thus there are two representations of Mohammed in Voltaire, a religious one, according to which Mohammed is a prophet like the others, who exploits people's naivety and spreads superstition and fanaticism, but who preaches the unity of God, HP Mini 210-1109TU Laptop Keyboard
and the other a political one, according to which Mohammed was a great statesman like Alexander the Great and a great legislator who brought his contemporaries out of idolatry.[67] Thus according to Diego Venturino the figure of Mohammed is ambivalent in Voltaire, HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
who admires the legislator but hates the conqueror and the pontiff, who established his religion through violence.[68] For Dirk van der Cruysse the most nuanced image of Mohammed in the Essai sur les mœurs is fed in part by "the antipathy that Voltaire had towards the Jewish people". According to him, the "inadequacies of Judeo-Christian revelation" HP Mini 110-3506tu Laptop Keyboard
compared to the "dynamism of Islam" raised for Voltaire "a sincere but suspicious admiration". Van der Cruysse considers Voltaires discourse on Mohammed as "a tissue of admiration and badly-hidden bad faith", which looks less at the prophet himself than at the spectres Voltaire was fighting, i.e. the "fanatiism and intolerance of Christianity and Judaism".[69] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
Over the course of Voltaire's career his views of Islam evolved.[70][verification needed] In a 1740 letter to Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire ascribes to Muhammad a brutality that "is assuredly nothing any man can excuse" and suggests that his following stemmed from superstition and lack ofenlightenment.[71] HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
In a 1745 letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet."[72] DELL V109002CS1 Laptop Keyboard
Christopher Todd claims that Voltaire’s attack on fanaticism in Mahomet may have been pitched at the supposed enemy of Christianity, but there was a more immediate polemical purpose in his distortion of the Muhammad story. HP Pavilion dv5-1118tx laptop keyboard
He goes on to state that "Discerning critics saw it as a coded attack on the Catholic Church, cleverly disguised as a polemic against its principle religious enemy."[73] In a private letter to Frederick of Prussia, HP Pavilion dv6-3017tu laptop keyboard
he acknowledged that he had made Muhammad worse than he was: “Mahomet did not exactly weave the type of treason that forms the subject of this tragedy.”[74] His view was modified slightly for Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations.[75][76] HP Pavilion ze4325 laptop keyboard
According to René Pomeau, in the Essay on the Manners, Voltaire "carries almost entirely favorable judgment."[70][verification needed]
Catholic SONY VGN-FE41S laptop keyboard
In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 he wrote about Catholic Christianity of the time:
La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.[77] SONY VAIO PCG-FR415S laptop keyboard
("Ours [religion] is without doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most bloodthirsty that has ever infected the world".)
Hinduism
Despite the criticism of Abrahamic religions, Voltaire had a positive view of Hinduism,[78] the sacred text Vedas, were remarked by him as:- ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D laptop keyboard
The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East.[79]
He regarded Hindus, as "A peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of defending themselves."[80] Voltaire was himself supporter of Animal rights, HP Pavilion tx2510us laptop keyboard
he used the ancient times of Hinduism to land a devastating blow to the Bible's claims, he acknowledged that the Hindus' treatment of animals shown a shaming alternative to the immorality of European imperialists.[81] DELL 454RX laptop keyboard
Anti-semitism
According to the rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the most significant of Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire;[82] thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire philosophique dealt with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways.[83][84] FUJITSU Lifebook P1610 laptop keyboard
On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment,[82] also points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience.[85] Bertram Schwarzbach's far more detailed studies of Voltaire's dealings with Jewish people throughout his life concluded that he was anti-biblical, not anti-semitic. His remarks on the Jews and their "superstitions" were essentially no different from his remarks on Christians.[86] TOSHIBA P205-S6257 laptop keyboard
Telushkin states that Voltaire did not limit his attack to aspects of Judaism that Christianity used as a foundation, repeatedly making it clear that he despised Jews.[82] Arthur Hertzberg claims that Gay's second suggestion is also untenable, as Voltaire himself denied its validity when he remarked that he had "forgotten about much larger bankruptcies through Christians".[87] HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
Religious tolerance
In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? TSONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
he Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"[88]
Race and slavery
Voltaire rejected the Christian Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had separate origins.[89] TOSHIBA P205-S6257 laptop keyboard
Like other philosophes, such as Buffon, he divided humanity into varieties or races and attempted to explain the differences between these races. He wondered if blacks fully shared in the common humanity or intelligence of whites because of their participation in the slave trade.[90][91] HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
His most famous remark on slavery is found in Candide, where the hero is horrified to learn "at what price we eat sugar in Europe" after coming across a slave in French Guinea who has been mutilated for escaping, who opines that, SONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
if all human beings have common origins as the Bible taught, it makes them cousins, concluding that "no one could treat their relatives more horribly". Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about "whites and Christians [who] proceed to purchase negroes cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America".[92][93] ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D Laptop Keyboard
Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, IBM Thinkpad R40 laptop keyboard
although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses.[94] Voltaire long thought only an enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, FUJITSU Lifebook S7210 laptop keyboard
and that it was in the king's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), TOSHIBA Satellite A305D-S6835 laptop keyboard
which ends with a new conclusion: “It is up to us to cultivate our garden.” His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain ‘Demad’ in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text.[95] DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
He is remembered and honoured in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil rights (as theright to a fair trial and freedom of religion) and who denounced the hypocrisies and injustices of the Ancien Régime. HP G72-227WM laptop keyboard
He particularly had admiration for the ethics and government as exemplified by Confucius.[96]
Voltaire is also known for many memorable aphorisms, such as “Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer” (“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”), HP Pavilion dv6-3017tu laptop keyboard
contained in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work on The Three Impostors. But far from being the cynical remark it is often taken for, it was meant as a retort to the atheistic clique of d'Holbach, Grimm, DELL V119525BS1 laptop keyboard
and others.[97] He has had his detractors among his later colleagues. The Scottish Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle argued that "Voltaire read history, not with the eye of devout seer or even critic, but through a pair of mere anti-catholic spectacles."[98] TOSHIBA G83C0000E510 laptop keyboard
The town of Ferney, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life, is now named Ferney-Voltaire in honour of its most famous resident. His château is a museum. Voltaire's library is preserved intact in the National Library of Russia at Saint Petersburg, Russia. SONY VAIO VGN-CS31Z/Q laptop keyboard
In the Zurich of 1916, the theatre and performance group who would become the early avant-garde movement Dada named their theater The Cabaret Voltaire. A late-20th-century industrial music group then named themselves after the theater. Astronomers have bestowed his name to the Voltaire crater on Deimos and the asteroid 5676 Voltaire.[99] HP Mini 110-3107sa laptop keyboard
Besides, Voltaire was also known to have been an advocate for coffee, as he was purported to have drunk it 50–72 times per day. It has been suggested that high amounts of caffeine acted as a mental stimulant to his creativity.[100] SONY VAIO VGN-AR350E laptop keyboard
His great-grand-niece was the mother of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a famous philosopher and Jesuit priest.[101][102] His book Candide was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written, by Martin Seymour-Smith. HP Pavilion dv6-2130ee laptop keyboard
The dividing line between a mountain with multiple peaks and separate mountains is not always clear (see also Highest unclimbed mountain). A popular and intuitive way to distinguish mountains from subsidiary peaks is by their height above the highest saddle connecting it to a higher summit, Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
a measure calledtopographic prominence or re-ascent (the higher summit is called the "parent peak"). A common definition of a mountain is a summit with 300 m (980 ft) prominence. Alternatively, a relative prominence (prominence/height) is used (usually 7–8%) to reflect that in higher mountain ranges everything is on a larger scale. Acer eMachines G730Z laptop keyboard
The table below lists the highest 100 summits with at least 500 m (1,640 ft) prominence, approximating a 7% relative prominence. A drawback of a prominence-based list is that it may exclude well-known or spectacular mountains that are connected via a high ridge to a taller summit, like the Eiger orNuptse. Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
A few such peaks and mountains with nearly sufficient prominence are included but not numbered in this list.
It is very unlikely that all given heights are correct to the nearest metre; indeed, the sea level is often problematic to define when a mountain is remote from the sea. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Different sources often differ by many metres, and the heights given below may well differ from those elsewhere in this encyclopedia. As an extreme example, Ulugh Muztagh on the north Tibetan Plateau is often listed as 7,723 m (25,338 ft) to 7,754 m (25,440 ft), TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5153 laptop keyboard
but appears to be only 6,973 m (22,877 ft) to 6,987 m (22,923 ft). COMPAQ Presario CQ60-300SB laptop keyboard
Some mountains differ by > 100 m (330 ft) on different maps, while even very thorough current measurements of Mount Everest range from 8,840 m (29,003 ft) to 8,850 m (29,035 ft). These discrepancies serve to emphasize the uncertainties in the listed heights. SAMSUNG R20 Laptop Keyboard
Though some parts of the world, especially the most mountainous parts, have never been thoroughly mapped, it is unlikely that any mountains this high have been overlooked, because synthetic aperture radar can and has been used to measure altitudes of most otherwise inaccessible places. Still, SONY VAIO VGN-FS515B Laptop Keyboard
heights and/or prominences may be revised, so that the order of the list may change and even "new" mountains could enter the list over time. To be safe, the list has been extended to include all >7,200 m (23,622 ft) peaks. SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains above sea level are generally not the highest above the surrounding terrain. There is no precise definition of surrounding base, butMount McKinley, Mount Kilimanjaro and Nanga Parbat are possible candidates for the tallest mountain on land by this measure. ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
The bases of mountain islands are below sea level, and given this consideration Mauna Kea (4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level) is the world's tallest mountain and volcano, rising about 10,203 m (33,474 ft) from the Pacific Ocean floor. HP Pavilion dv6-2060ea Laptop Keyboard
Ojos del Salado has the greatest rise on Earth—13,420 m (44,029 ft) from the summit[citation needed] to the bottom of the Atacama Trench about 560 km (350 mi) away, though most of this rise is not part of the mountain. SONY VAIO VGN-CR323 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains are also not generally the most voluminous. Mauna Loa (4,169 m or 13,678 ft) is the largest mountain on Earth in terms of base area (about 2,000 sq mi or 5,200 km2) and volume (about 10,000 cu mi or 42,000 km3), HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
although, due to the intergrade of lava from Kilauea, Hualalai and Mauna Kea, the volume can only be estimated based on surface area and height of the edifice). IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop Keyboard
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the largest non-shield volcano in terms of both base area (245 sq mi or 635 km2) and volume (1,150 cu mi or 4,793 km3). Mount Logan is the largest non-volcanic mountain in base area (120 sq mi or 311 km2). HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains above sea level are also not those with peaks farthest from the centre of the Earth, because the figure of the Earth is not spherical. Sea level closer to the equator is several miles farther from the centre of the Earth. HP Compaq NC8430 Laptop Keyboard
The summit of Chimborazo, Ecuador's tallest mountain, is usually considered to be the farthest point from the Earth's centre, although the southern summit of Peru's tallest mountain, Huascarán, is another contender.[1] Both have elevations above sea level more than 2 km less than that of Everest. ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
Most mountains in the list are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges to the south and west of the Tibetan plateau. In fact, all 7,000 m (23,000 ft) peaks in the world are located in the centre of Asia (East Asia,Central Asia and South Asia) in a rectangle edged by Noshaq (7,492 m or 24,580 ft) on the Afghanistan-Pakistanborder in the West, Jengish Chokusu, GATEWAY MT6728 Laptop Keyboard
(Tuōmù'ěr Fēng) (7,439 m or 24,406 ft) on the Kyrgyzstan – Xinjiang border to the North, Gongga Shan (Minya Konka) (7,556 m or 24,790 ft) in Sichuan to the East, and Kabru (7,412 m or 24,318 ft) on the Sikkim (India) – Nepal border to the South. FUJITSU Lifebook T4210 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountain outside of Asia is Aconcagua (6,962 m or 22,841 ft), which one list has ranking 189th in the world amongst mountains with a 500 m or 1,640 ft prominence cutoff. [2]
The locations of the highest mountains are shown on the composite satellite image of High Asia below. The numbers refer to the ranking in the list. COMPAQ Presario CQ40-117TU Laptop Keyboard
For clarity, lower peaks with labels overlapping higher peaks are left out of the main image. The boxed regions are those with the highest density of summits and are enlarged in two separate images to show all peaks.
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The Mahabharat range also parallels the lower Shivalik or Churia Range (Outer Himalaya) to the south.
Southern slopes of the Mahabharat Range are steep and nearly uninhabited due to a major fault system called the 'Main Boundary Thrust". The crest and northern slopes slope gently enough to support upland pastures and terraced fields. TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5160 Laptop Keyboard
Nepal's densely populated Middle Hills begin along the crest, extending north through lower valleys and other "hills" until population thins out above 2,000 m and cereal-based agriculture increasingly gives way to seasonal herding and cold-tolerant crops such as potatoes. FUJITSU Amilo Mini Ui 3520 Laptop Keyboard
Most ethnic groups found along the Mahabharat Range and northward into the Middle Hills have Tibeto-Burman affinities including Nepalese origins of Newar,Magar, Gurung, Tamang, Rai and Limbu, however the most populous ethnic group is Indo-European Hindus called Paharis, FUJITSU Siemens M1010 Laptop Keyboard
mainly of the upper Brahman andKshatriya or Chhetri castes. Lower terrain south of the escarpment was historically malarial and inhabited by apparently aboriginal peoples with evolved immunity, notably the Tharu. HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The Mahabharat Range is an important hydrographic barrier crossed by relatively few rivers. Drainage systems have evolved candelabra configurations with numerous tributaries flowing south from the Himalaya through the Middle Hills, ACER Aspire 5315 Laptop Keyboard
gathering immediately north of the Mahabharat Range and cutting through in major gorges as the Karnali in the west, the Gandaki or Narayani in central Nepal, and the Kosi in the east.
With temperatures persisting around forty degrees celsius in the plains of India from April until the onset of the summer monsoon in June, SONY 148084721 Laptop Keyboard
but ten to fifteen degrees cooler atop the Mahabharat Range, Hill Stations were developed as alternate capitals and resorts for the hot season by India's Mughal andBritish rulers. There are no hill stations per se in Nepal, Sikkim or Bhutan since the capital cities are high enough to avoid extreme heat. TOSHIBA Satellite L550-ST5702 laptop keyboard
The Himalayas, or Himalaya, (/ˌhɪməˈleɪ.ə/ or /hɪˈmɑːləjə/; Sanskrit, hima (snow) + ālaya (dwelling), literally, "abode of the snow"[1]) is a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
The Himalayan range is home to the planet's highest peaks, including the highest, SONY VAIO VGN-CR220E laptop keyboard
Mount Everest. The Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres (23,600 ft) in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres (22,838 ft) tall.[2] The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in both Buddhism and Hinduism. HP Pavilion dv6-2060ea laptop keyboard
Besides the Greater Himalayas of these high peaks there are parallel lower ranges. The first foothills, reaching about a thousand meters along the northern edge of the plains, are called the Sivalik Hills or Sub-Himalayan Range. Further north is a higher range reaching two to three thousand meters known as the Lower Himalayan or Mahabharat Range. SONY VAIO VGN-CS215J/W laptop keyboard
The Himalayas abut or cross six countries: Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the first three countries having sovereignty over most of the range.[3] The Himalayas are bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by theIndo-Gangetic Plain. HP Pavilion DV6-1210sa laptop keyboard
Three of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, all rise near Mount Kailash and cross and encircle the Himalayas. Their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Lifted by the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian Plate,[4] the Himalayan range runs, west-northwest to east-southeast, in an arc 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river, HP Pavilion dv6-3045eo laptop keyboard
its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, just west of the great bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres (250 mi) in the west to 150 kilometres (93 mi) in the east.
The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the very high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. For example the extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure) combined with extreme cold allow extremophile organisms to survive.[5]
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The increase in temperature may shift various species to higher elevations. The oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some tree species, especially rhododendron, apple and Myrica esculenta. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres (16,080 ft) in Southeastern Tibet.[6] ACER Extensa 5635Z laptop keyboard
The Himalaya are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary andmetamorphic rock. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. SONY VAIO VGN-AR320E laptop keyboard
The Arakan Yoma highlands in Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal were also formed as a result of this collision.
During the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate was moving at about 15 cm per year. About 50 million years ago, ACER Extensa 5235 laptop keyboard
this fast moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoesthat fringed its edges. Packard Bell NEW95 laptop keyboard
Since both plates were composed of low density continental crust, they were thrust faulted andfolded into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the mantle along an oceanic trench.[4] An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone from this ancient ocean.[7] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5160 laptop keyboard
Today, the Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the plateau to continue to move upwards. The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. SONY VAIO VGN-NW51FB laptop keyboard
About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time. ACER KB.T3007.001 laptop keyboard
During the last ice age, there was a connected ice stream of glaciers between Kangchenjunga in the east and Nanga Parbat in the west.[8] In the west, the glaciers joined with the ice stream network in the Karakoram, and in the north, joined with the former Tibetan inland ice. ACER TravelMate 244LC laptop keyboard
To the south, outflow glaciers came to an end below an elevation of 1,000–2,000 metres (3,300–6,600 ft).[8][9] While the current valley glaciers of the Himalaya reach at most 20 to 32 kilometres (12 to 20 mi) in length, several of the main valley glaciers were 60 to 112 kilometres (37 to 70 mi) long during the ice age.[8] ACER Aspire 1660 Series laptop keyboard
The glacier snowline (the altitude where accumulation and ablation of a glacier are balanced) was about 1,400–1,660 metres (4,590–5,450 ft) lower than it is today. Thus, the climate was at least 7.0 to 8.3 °C (12.6 to 14.9 °F) colder than it is today.[10] ACER TravelMate 240LCi laptop keyboard
The Himalayas have the third largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic.[11] The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km3 (3000 cubic miles) of fresh water.[12]Its glaciers include the Gangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region), and Zemu(Sikkim). SONY VGN-FE31M Laptop Keyboard
Owing to the mountains' latitude near the Tropic of Cancer, the permanent snow line is among the highest in the world at typically around 5,500 metres (18,000 ft).[13] In contrast, equatorial mountains in New Guinea, HP 634139-001 Laptop Keyboard
the Rwenzoris andColombia have a snow line some 900 metres (2,950 ft) lower.[14] The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources of several large perennial rivers, most of which combine into two large river systems: HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
The western rivers combine into the Indus Basin, of which the Indus River is the largest. The Indus begins in Tibetat the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers and flows southwest through India and then through Pakistan to theArabian Sea. It is fed by the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej rivers, among others.
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Its main rivers are the Ganges, theBrahmaputra and the Yamuna, as well as other tributaries. The Brahmaputra originates as the Yarlung Tsangpo River in western Tibet, and flows east through Tibet and west through the plains of Assam. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra meet in Bangladesh, and drain into the Bay of Bengal through the world's largest river delta,the Sunderbans.[15] Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
The easternmost Himalayan rivers feed the Ayeyarwady River, which originates in eastern Tibet and flows south throughMyanmar to drain into the Andaman Sea.
The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He (Yellow River) all originate from parts of the Tibetan plateau that are geologically distinct from the Himalaya mountains, and are therefore not considered true Himalayan rivers. ASUS A3Ac Laptop Keyboard
Some geologists refer to all the rivers collectively as the circum-Himalayan rivers.[16] In recent years, scientists have monitored a notable increase in the rate of glacier retreat across the region as a result of global climate change.[17] HP G62-b36EO Laptop Keyboard
For example, Glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of the debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last few decades. Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
it potentially could mean disaster for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers of northern India during the dry seasons.[18] Some of the lakes present a danger of a glacial lake outburst flood. The Tsho Rolpa glacier lake in the Rolwaling Valley is rated as the most dangerous in Nepal.[19][20] FUJITSU CP270342-02 Laptop Keyboard
The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the size of the lakes diminishing with altitude. Tilicho lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world. HP Pavilion dv6-2119tx Laptop Keyboard
Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, and Yamdrok Tso, located in central Tibet, are amongst the largest with surface areas of 700 km², and 638 km², respectively. Other notable lakes include Gurudogmar lake, in North Sikkim, and Tsongmo lake, near the Indo-China border in Sikkim. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
The mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 metres.[21]
Afghanistan i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in Central Asia, South Asia, SONY 148084721 Laptop Keyboard
and is a part of the Greater Middle East.[8][9] It has a population of around 30 million inhabiting an area of approximately 652,000 km2(252,000 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered byPakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. Acer eMachines G640 laptop keyboard
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as the Middle Paleolithic. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.[10] Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East culture with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent,[11] SONY 148781311 laptop keyboard
the land has been home to various peoples through the ages[12] and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Arab Muslims, Genghis Khan, and in modern-era Western forces.[10] TSONY VAIO VGN-FS115M laptop keyboard
he land also served as a source from which theKushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Mughals, Durranis and others have risen to form major empires.[13]
Most of Afghanistan's history prior to the modern state of Afghanistan took place within the context of the various Persian Empires.[14] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 6477 laptop keyboard
The political history of the modern state of Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns - historically known as "Afghans" - when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandaharfollowed by the rise of the Durrani Empire in 1747.[15][16][17] HP G62-a84ER laptop keyboard
In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became abuffer state in the "Great Game" between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War, King Amanullah began a European style modernization of the country but was stopped by ultra-conservatives. During the Cold War, after the withdrawal of the British from neighboring India in 1947, IBM 42T4026 laptop keyboard
the United States and the Soviet Union began spreading influences in Afghanistan,[18] which led in 1979 to a bloody war between the US-backed mujahideen forces and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in which over a million Afghans lost their lives.[19][20] GATEWAY MT6730 laptop keyboard
This was followed by a 1990s civil war, the rise and fall of theextremist Taliban government, and the 2001–present war.[21] In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security in Afghanistan and assist the Karzai administration.[22] DELL Vostro PP37L laptop keyboard
Three decades of war made Afghanistan one of the world's most dangerous countries.[23] While the international community is rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani Network and Hezbi Islami[24] are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency,[25] which includes hundreds ofassassinations and suicide attacks.[26] TOSHIBA Satellite L670-117 laptop keyboard
According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 80% of civilian casualties in 2011 and 2012.[27][28] It suffers from several challenges, including being world's most corrupt country and is the World's largest source of refugees. SONY VAIO VGN-NW320F/T laptop keyboard
Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of the Indus River, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains.[34] Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan scholar visiting the region in 1333, writes: HP Pavilion DV7-3186cl laptop keyboard
"We travelled on to Kabul, 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. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman."[35] One prominent 16th-century Persian scholar explains extensively about the Afghans. For example, he writes:
"The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), HP Pavilion DV7-3100 laptop keyboard
and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns."[36]
—Firishta, 1560–1620 AD Packard Bell PEW91 laptop keyboard
It is widely acknowledged that the terms "Pashtun" and Afghan are synonyms,[31] something that is even mentioned in the 17th-century poetry of Khushal Khan Khattak: For example, he states: "Pull out your sword and slay any one, that says Pashtun and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans!"[37] DELL 0PVDG3 laptop keyboard
The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for "place". The name "Afghanistan" is described by the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs as well as by the later Persian scholar Firishta and Babur's descendants, referring to the traditional ethnic Pashtun territories between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus River.[38] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In the early 19th century, Afghan politicians decided to adopt the name Afghanistanfor the entire Afghan Empire after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties with Qajarid Persia and British India.[39] In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as: Lenovo 04W0872 laptop keyboard
"an extensive country of Asia ... between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab ... Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar."[40] ACER TravelMate 3250 laptop keyboard
The Afghan kingdom was sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Kabul, as mentioned by the British statesman and historian Mountstuart Elphinstone.[41]Afghanistan was officially recognized as a sovereign state by the international community after the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 was signed.[42][43] SONY VAIO VGN-SZ220 laptop keyboard
Despite having numerous rivers and reservoirs, large parts of the country are dry. The endorheic Sistan Basin is one of the driest regions in the world.[47]Aside from the usual rain falls, Afghanistan receives snow during winter in theHindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and the melting snow in the spring season enters the rivers, lakes, and streams.[48][49] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
However, two-thirds of the country's water flows into neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. The state needs more than US$2 billion to rehabilitate its irrigation systems so that the water is properly managed.[50] HP Pavilion dv6-2119tx laptop keyboard
The northeastern Hindu Kush mountain range, in and around the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan, is in ageologically active area where earthquakes may occur almost every year.[51] They can be deadly and destructive sometimes, Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard
causing landslides in some parts or avalanche during winter.[52] The last strong earthquakes were in1998, which killed about 6,000 people in Badakhshan near Tajikistan.[53] HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
This was followed by the 2002 Hindu Kush earthquakes in which over 150 people of various regional countries were killed and over 1,000 injured. The 2010 earthquake left 11 Afghans dead, over 70 injured and more than 2,000 houses destroyed. Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard
The country's natural resources include: coal, copper, iron ore, lithium, uranium, rare earth elements, chromite,gold, zinc, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, marble, precious and semi-precious stones, natural gas, and petroleumamong other things.[54][55] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
In 2010, US and Afghan government officials estimated that untapped mineral deposits located in 2007 by the US Geological Survey are worth between $900 bn and $3 trillion.[56][57][58]
At 652,230 km2 (251,830 sq mi),[59] SONY Vaio VGN-AW Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan is the world's 41st largest country,[60] slightly bigger than France and smaller than Burma, about the size of Texas in the United States. It borders Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far east. DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others suggest that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world.[61][62] An important site of early historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites.[63] HP 597635-001 Laptop Keyboard
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. HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Islamic Empire and the Sassanid Empire. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
Many kingdoms have also risen to power in what is now Afghanistan, such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans,Hephthalites, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, and finally theHotaki and Durrani dynasties that marked the political origins of the modern state. HP Pavilion DV6-1030ca Laptop Keyboard
After 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians.[61] These tribes later migrated further south to India, west to what is now Iran, and towards Europe via the area north of the Caspian.[65] The region as a whole was called Ariana.[61][66][67] ASUS A6R laptop keyboard
The ancient religion of Zoroastrianism is believed by some to have originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1800 and 800 BCE, as its founder Zoroaster is thought to have lived and died in Balkh.[68][69][70] HP 633183-001 laptop keyboard
Ancient Eastern Iranian languages may have been spoken in the region around the time of the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenid Persians overthrew the Medes and incorporated Afghanistan (Arachosia, SONY VAIO VGN-N27SH laptop keyboard
Aria and Bactria) within its boundaries. An inscription on the tombstone of King Darius I of Persia mentions the Kabul Valley in a list of the 29 countries that he had conquered.[71]
Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived to the area of Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier in the Battle of Gaugamela.[68] TOSHIBA Satellite m505-s4940 laptop keyboard
Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empirecontrolled the area until 305 BCE when they gave much of it to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty. HP Pavilion dv6-3040er laptop keyboard
"Alexander took these away from the Aryans and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them toSandrocottus (Chandragupta), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants."[72]
—Strabo, 64 BCE – 24 CE DELL Vostro 3450 laptop keyboard
The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush until about 185 BCE when they were overthrown.[73] Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest of the region by the Greco-Bactrians. TOSHIBA MP-06873US-9204 laptop keyboard
Much of it soon broke away from the Greco-Bactrians and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks were defeated and expelled by the Indo-Scythians in the late 2nd century BCE. SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
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 modern Afghanistan, became great patrons of Buddhist culture. SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard
The Kushans were defeated by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE. Although various rulers calling themselves Kushanshas (generally known as the Indo-Sassanids) continued to rule at least parts of the region, they were probably more or less subject to the Sassanids.[74] ACER Extensa 5635Z laptop keyboard
The late Kushans were followed by the Kidarite Huns[75] who, in turn, were replaced by the short-lived but powerful Hephthalites, as rulers.[76] The Hephthalites were defeated by Khosrau I in 557 CE, who re-established Sassanid power in Persia. ACER Aspire 5738ZG laptop keyboard
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However, in the 6th century CE, the successors to the Kushans and Hepthalites established a small dynasty in Kabulistan called Kabul Shahi. SONY Vaio VGN-AW190 laptop keyboard
Arab Muslims brought the message of Islam to Herat and Zaranj in 642 AD and began spreading eastward, some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted.[80] The people of Afghanistan was multi-religious, which included Zoroastrians,Buddhists, worshippers of the sun, Hindus, Christians, Jews, and others.[81] HP Pavilion DV7-3173nr laptop keyboard
The Zunbil and Kabul Shahi were defeated in 870 AD by the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanidsextended their Islamic influence into south of the Hindu Kush. It is reported that Muslims and non-Muslims still lived side by side in Kabul before the Ghaznavids rose to power.
"Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns, and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind."[82] DELL Vostro 3450 laptop keyboard
—Istahkrí, 921 AD
Afghanistan became one of the main centers in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age.[61][83] By the 11th century Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni had finally Islamized all of the remaining non-Muslim areas, with the exception of the Kafiristanregion. HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
The Ghaznavids were replaced by the Ghurids who expanded and advanced the already powerful empire. In 1219 AD, Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region. His troops are said to have annihilated the Khorasanian cities of Herat and Balkh as well as Bamyan.[84] HP G62-225NR Laptop Keyboard
The destruction caused by the Mongols depopulated major cities and forced many of the locals to revert to an agrarian rural society.[85] Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khilji dynasty controlled the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush, until the invasion of Timur who established the Timurid dynasty in 1370.[86] HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
During the Ghaznavid, Ghurid, and Timurid eras, Afghanistan produced many fine Islamic architectural monuments as well as numerous scientific and literary works.
Babur, a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, arrived from Fergana and captured Kabul from the Arghun dynasty, Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
and from there he began to seize control of the central and eastern territories of Afghanistan. He remained in Kabulistan until 1526 when he and his army invaded Delhi in India to replace the Afghan Lodi dynasty with the Mughal Empire. From the 16th century to the early 18th century, HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan was part of three regional kingdoms: theKhanate of Bukhara in the north, the Shi'a Safavids in the west and the remaining larger area was ruled by the Mughal Empire.
In 1738, Nader Shah and his Afsharid forces captured Kandahar from Shah Hussain Hotaki, at which point the incarcerated 16-year-old Ahmad Shah Durrani was freed and made the commander of Nader Shah's four thousand Abdali Afghans.[90] HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
From Kandahar they set out to conquer India, passing through Ghazni, Kabul, Peshawar, and Lahore, and ultimately plundering Delhi after the Battle of Karnal. Nader Shah and his army abandoned Delhi but took with them huge treasure, which included the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds.[91] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, the Afghans chose Ahmad Shah Durrani as their head of state. Regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan,[92][93][94] Durrani and his Afghan army conquered present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan,Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, along with Delhi in India.[40] He defeated the IndianMaratha Empire, one of his biggest victories was the 1761 Battle of Panipat. SONY VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Laptop Keyboard
In October 1772, Ahmad Shah Durrani died of a natural cause and was buried at a site now adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak in Kandahar. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah, who transferred the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. SONY VAIO VGN-FS315H Laptop Keyboard
After Timur Shah's death in 1793, the Durrani throne passed down to his son Zaman Shah followed by Mahmud Shah, Shuja Shah and others.
The Afghan Empire was under threat in the early 19th century by the Persians in the west and the British-backed Sikhs in the east. SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard
The western provinces of Khorasan and Kohistan were taken by the Persians in 1800. Fateh Khan, leader of the Barakzai tribe, had installed 21 of his brothers in positions of power throughout the empire. After his death, they rebelled and divided up the provinces of the empire between themselves. During this turbulent period, Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan had many temporary rulers until Dost Mohammad Khandeclared himself emir in 1826.[95] The Punjab region was lost to Ranjit Singh, who invaded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in 1834 captured the city of Peshawar.[96] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
In 1837, during the Battle of Jamrud near the Khyber Pass, Akbar Khan and the Afghan army killed Sikh Commander Hari Singh Nalwa.[97] By this time the British were advancing from the east and the first major conflict during the Great Game was initiated.[98] SONY VAIO VGN-N11M Laptop Keyboard
After the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, KingAmanullah Khan declared Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state. He moved to end his country's traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the international community and, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
following a 1927–28 tour of Europe and Turkey, introduced several reforms intended to modernize his nation. A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud Tarzi, an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's 1923 constitution, which made elementary education compulsory. The institution of slavery was abolished in 1923.[99] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditionalburqa for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah Khan was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to rebel forces led by Habibullah Kalakani. HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
Prince Mohammed Nadir Shah, Amanullah's cousin, in turn defeated and killed Kalakani in November 1929, and was declared King Nadir Shah. He abandoned the reforms of Amanullah Khan in favor of a more gradual approach to modernisation but was assassinated in 1933 by Abdul Khaliq, a Hazara school student.[100] HP G72-b62US Laptop Keyboard
Mohammed Zahir Shah, Nadir Shah's 19-year-old son, succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncle, who held the post of Prime Minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. HP 484748-001 Laptop Keyboard
Another of Zahir Shah's uncles, Shah Mahmud Khan, became Prime Minister in 1946 and began an experiment allowing greater political freedom, but reversed the policy when it went further than he expected. DELL Inspiron 1525 laptop keyboard
He was replaced in 1953 by Mohammed Daoud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud Khan sought a closer relationship with theSoviet Union and a more distant one towards Pakistan. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Afghanistan remained neutral and was neither a participant in World War II, nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War. However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the United States vied for influence by building Afghanistan's main highways, HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
airports and other vital infrastructure. In 1973, while King Zahir Shah was on an official overseas visit, Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup and became the first President of Afghanistan.
In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in Afghanistan in the Saur Revolution. HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
Within months, opponents of the communist government launched an uprising in eastern Afghanistan that quickly expanded into a civil war waged by guerrilla mujahideen against government forces countrywide. The Pakistanigovernment provided these rebels with covert training centers, while the Soviet Union sent thousands of military advisers to support the PDPA government.[101] HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
Meanwhile, increasing friction between the competing factions of the PDPA — the dominant Khalq and the more moderate Parcham — resulted in the dismissal of Parchami cabinet members and the arrest of Parchami military officers under the pretext of a Parchami coup. By mid-1979, the United States had started a covert program to assist the mujahideen.[102] SAMSUNG Q320 laptop keyboard
In September 1979, Khalqist President Nur Muhammad Taraki was assassinated in a coup within the PDPA orchestrated by fellow Khalq member Hafizullah Amin, who assumed the presidency. Distrusted by the Soviets, Amin was assassinated by Soviet special forces in December 1979. A Soviet-organized government, DELL Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard
led by Parcham's Babrak Karmal but inclusive of both factions, filled the vacuum. Soviet troops were deployed to stabilize Afghanistan under Karmal in more substantial numbers, although the Soviet government did not expect to do most of the fighting in Afghanistan. As a result, however, the Soviets were now directly involved in what had been a domestic war in Afghanistan.[103] ACER Aspire 4935 laptop keyboard
At the time some believed the Soviets were attempting to expand their borders southward in order to gain a foothold in the Middle East. The Soviet Union had long lacked a warm water port, and their movement south seemed to position them for further expansion towardPakistan in the East, and Iran to the West. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E Laptop Keyboard
American politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, feared the Soviets were positioning themselves for a takeover of Middle Eastern oil. Others believed that the Soviet Union was afraid Iran's Islamic Revolution and Afghanistan's Islamization would spread to the millions of Muslims in the USSR. TOSHIBA Satellite L300 Laptop Keyboard
The PDPA prohibited usury, made statements on women's rights by declaring equality of the sexes[104] and introducing women to political life.[104]
After the invasion, President Jimmy Carter announced what became known as the Carter Doctrine: that the US would not allow any other outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf. He terminated the Soviet Wheat Deal in January 1980, HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
which was intended to establish trade with USSR and lessen Cold War tensions. The grain exports had been beneficial to people employed in agriculture, and the Carter embargo marked the beginning of hardship for American farmers. HP Pavilion DV6-1040ev Laptop Keyboard
That same year, Carter also made two of the most unpopular decisions of his entire Presidency: prohibiting American athletes from participating in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and reinstating registration for the draft for young males. Following the Soviet invasion, the United States supported diplomatic efforts to achieve a Soviet withdrawal. HP Pavilion dv6-2020sa Laptop Keyboard
In addition, generous US contributions to the refugee program in Pakistan played a major part in efforts to assist Afghan refugees.
The Reagan administration increased arming and funding of the mujahideen as part of the Reagan Doctrine, thanks in large part to the efforts of Charlie Wilson and CIA officer Gust Avrakotos. Early reports estimated $6–20 billion[105] HP G62-a10EP Laptop Keyboard
but more recent reports suggest that up to $40 billion were provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.[106][107] This was in the forms of cash and weapons, which included over two thousand FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. HP G42-461TU Laptop Keyboard
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The 10-year Soviet war resulted in the deaths of over 1 million Afghans, mostly civilians.[19][20][108] About 6 million fled to Pakistan and Iran, and from there tens of thousands began emigrating to the European Union, United States, TOSHIBA Satellite 1800-921 Laptop Keyboard
Australia and other parts of the world.[109] Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties, the Soviets withdrew in 1989 but continued to support Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah until 1992.[110] SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran – as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other.[113] According to Human Rights Watch, Iran was backing the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari to "maximize Wahdat's military power and influence".[111][113][114] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction.[111][113] A publication by the George Washington University suggests "outside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas".[115] Conflict between the two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. SONY Vaio PCG-K23 laptop keyboard
Due to the sudden initiation of the war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability for the newly created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different armed factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project.[111][116] HP G72-b60SF laptop keyboard
Because of the chaos, some leaders increasingly had only nominal control over their (sub-)commanders.[117] For civilians there was little security from murder, rape and extortion.[117] TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5282 laptop keyboard
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An estimated 25,000 people died during the most intense period of bombardment by Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami and the Junbish-i Milli forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had created an alliance with Hekmatyar in 1994.[116] Half a million people fled Afghanistan.[117] Human Rights Watch writes: HP Mini 210-1080CA laptop keyboard
Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi or Burhanuddin Rabbani [the interim government], or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.[111] HP 530580-001 laptop keyboard
Southern and eastern Afghanistan was under the control of local commanders such as Gul Agha Sherzai and others. In 1994, the Taliban (a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a political-religious force.[118] Compaq Presario CQ71-403SA laptop keyboard
When the Taliban took control of the city in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders.[117] In 1994, the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan. Compaq Presario CQ71-235SA laptop keyboard
In late 1994, most of the militia factions (Hezb-i Islami, Junbish-i Milli and Hezb-i Wahdat) which had been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic State's Minister of Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud. Bombardment of the capital came to a halt.[116][119][120]The Islamic State government took steps to restore law and order.[121] DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Courts started to work again.[121] Massoud tried to initiate a nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting the Taliban to join the process but they refused as they did not believe in a democratic system.[122]
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[119][123] Amnesty International, referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995 report: "This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city."[119] HP Pavilion dv6-3106sl laptop keyboard
The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses which led analysts to believe the Taliban movement had run its course.[117] But Pakistan provided increased support to the Taliban.[113][124] TOSHIBA Satellite U300-ST3091 laptop keyboard
Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests.[113] On 26 September 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul.[125] Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
The Taliban seized Kabul on 27 September 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed on the parts of Afghanistan under their control their political and judicial interpretation of Islam issuing edicts especially targeting women.[126] DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
According to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), "no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment."[126] HP Mini 110-3103sl laptop keyboard
After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 27 September 1996, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two former enemies, created the United Front(Northern Alliance) against the Taliban that were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control of Massoud and those under the control of Dostum.[127] HP 405963-001 laptop keyboard
The United Front included beside the dominantly Tajik forces of Massoud and the Uzbek forces of Dostum, Hazara factions under the command of leaders such as Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Pashtun forces under the leadership of commanders such as Abdul Haq or Haji Abdul Qadir. SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
The Taliban defeated Dostum's Junbish forces militarily by seizing Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998. Dostum subsequently went into exile.
According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5163 laptop keyboard
committed systematic massacres against civilians.[128][129] UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001 and that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself."[128][129] HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
The Taliban especially targeted people of Shia religious or Hazara ethnic background.[128][129] Upon taking Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, 4,000–6,000 civilians were killed by the Taliban and many more reported tortured.[130][131] The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings.[128][129] Packard Bell Easynote TK81 laptop keyboard
Bin Laden's so-called 055 Brigade was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians.[132] The report by the UN quotes "eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people".[128][129] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and bin Laden against the forces of Massoud.[122][124][133][134] According to Pakistani Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid, "between 1994 and 1999, DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistanis trained and fought in Afghanistan" on the side of the Taliban.[135] In 2001 alone, there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals, many either from the Frontier Corps or army, fighting inside Afghanistan.[122] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
An estimated 8,000 Pakistani militants were recruited in madrassas filling the ranks of the estimated 25,000 regular Taliban force.[132] A 1998 document by theUS State Department confirms that "20–40 % of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani."[124] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
The document further stated that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[124] ACER V104730BS1 Laptop Keyboard
From 1996 to 2001 the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became a state within Afghanistan.[136] Bin Laden sent Arab recruits to join the fight against the United Front.[136][137] HP CT1A Laptop Keyboard
3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.[132] In total, of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and al-Qaeda soldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud in mid-2001, only 14,000 were Afghans.[122][132] HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
Ahmad Shah Massoud remained the only leader of the United Front in Afghanistan. In the areas under his control Massoud set up democratic institutions and signed the Women's Rights Declaration.[138] HP COMPAQ NX6325 Laptop Keyboard
Human Rights Watch cites no human rights crimes for the forces under direct control of Massoud for the period from October 1996 until the assassination of Massoud in September 2001.[139] As a consequence many civilians fled to the area of Ahmad Shah Massoud.[133][140] In total, estimates range up to one million people fleeing the Taliban.[141] DELL Vostro 1015 Laptop Keyboard
National Geographic concluded in its documentary "Inside the Taliban": "The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."[133]
In early 2001 Massoud addressed the European Parliament in Brussels asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.[141] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
He stated that the Taliban and al-Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan and bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.[142] FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
On this visit to Europe he also warned that his intelligence had gathered information about a large-scale attack on US soil being imminent.[143]
On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers inside Afghanistan and two days later about 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 attacks in the United States. The US government identified Osama bin Laden, TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the Al-Qaeda organization based in and allied to the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as the perpetrators of the attacks. From 1990 until this date over 400,000 Afghan civilians had already died in the wars in Afghanistan.[144] The Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden to US authorities and to disband al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan.[145] ACER TravelMate 6252 laptop keyboard
Bin Laden later claimed sole responsibility for the September 11 attacks and specifically denied any prior knowledge of them by the Taliban or the Afghan people.[146] In October 2001, SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
Operation Enduring Freedom was launched as a new phase of the war in Afghanistan in which teams of American and British special forces worked with ground forces of the United Front (Northern Alliance) to remove the Taliban from power and dispel Al-Qaeda.[147] ASUS V020462CS1 laptop keyboard
At the same time the US-led forces were bombing Taliban and al-Qaida targets everywhere inside Afghanistan with cruise missiles. These actions led to the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north followed by all the other cities, as the Taliban and al-Qaida fled over the porous Durand Lineborder into Pakistan. In December 2001, SONY Vaio VGN-AW120J laptop keyboard
after the Taliban government was toppled and the new Afghan government under Hamid Karzai was formed, theInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security to the Afghan people.[148][149] HP Pavilion DV7-2213tx laptop keyboard
While the Taliban began regrouping inside Pakistan, more coalition troops entered the escalating US-led war. Meanwhile, the rebuilding of war-torn Afghanistan kicked off in 2002.[150][151] The Afghan nation was able to build democratic structures over the years, and some progress was made in key areas such as governance, economy, health, education, transport, SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E laptop keyboard
and agriculture. NATO is training the Afghan armed forces as well its national police. ISAF and Afghan troops led many offensives against the Taliban but failed to fully defeat them. By 2009, a Taliban-led shadow government began to form in many parts of the country complete with their own version of mediation court.[152] ACER V104730BS1 laptop keyboard
After US President Barack Obama announced the deployment of another 30,000 soldiers in 2010 for a period of two years, Der Spiegel published images of the US soldiers who killed unarmed Afghan civilians.[153] ACER Aspire 7751G laptop keyboard
At the 2010 International Conference on Afghanistan in London, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he intends to reach out to the Taliban leadership (including Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar). Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Supported by NATO, Karzai called on the group's leadership to take part in a loya jirga meeting to initiate peace talks. These steps have resulted in an intensification of bombings, assassinations and ambushes.[154] TOSHIBA PK130BH2A00 laptop keyboard
Some Afghan groups (including the former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh and opposition leader Dr. Abdullah Abdullah) believe that Karzai plans to appease the insurgents' senior leadership at the cost of the democratic constitution, the democratic process and progress in the field of human rights especially women's rights.[155] Dr. Abdullah stated: TOSHIBA MP-09K53US6698 laptop keyboard
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, executive, legislative and judicial. The nation is currently led by Hamid Karzai as the President and leader since late 2001. The National Assembly is the legislature, abicameral body having two chambers, the House of the People and the House of Elders. Compaq Presario CQ35 laptop keyboard
The Supreme Court is led by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi, a former university professor who had been a legal advisor to the president.[172] The current court is seen as more moderate and led by more technocrats than the previous one, ACER Aspire 4810TZ-4011 Laptop Keyboard
which was dominated by fundamentalist religious figures such as Chief Justice Faisal Ahmad Shinwari who issued several controversial rulings, including seeking to place a limit on the rights of women. HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
According to Transparency International's corruption perceptions index 2010 results, Afghanistan was ranked as the third most-corrupt country in the world.[173] A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that bribery consumes an amount equal to 23% of the GDP of the nation.[174] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
A number of government ministries are believed to be rife with corruption, and while President Karzai vowed to tackle the problem in late 2009 by stating that "individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government",[175] tACER TravelMate 290 Laptop Keyboard
op government officials were stealing and misusing hundreds of millions of dollars through the Kabul Bank. Although the nation's institutions are newly formed and steps have been taken to arrest some,[176]the United States warned that aid to Afghanistan would be reduced to very little if the corruption is not stopped.[177] Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
The 2004 Afghan presidential election was relatively peaceful, in which Hamid Karzai won in the first round with 55.4% of the votes. However, the 2009 presidential election was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread electoral fraud.[178][179] DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
The vote, along with elections for 420 provincial council seats, took place in August 2009, but remained unresolved during a lengthy period of vote counting and fraud investigation.[180]
Two months later, under international pressure, a second round run-off vote between Karzai and remaining challengerAbdullah was announced, SONY VGN-FE21M Laptop Keyboard
but a few days later Abdullah announced that he is not participating in the 7 November run-off because his demands for changes in the electoral commission had not been met. The next day, officials of the election commission cancelled the run-off and declared Hamid Karzai as President for another 5-year term.[179] ACER TravelMate 2501LC Laptop Keyboard
In the 2005 parliamentary election, among the elected officials were former mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists, warlords, communists, reformists, and several Taliban associates.[181] In the same period, Afghanistan reached to the 30th nation in terms of female representation in parliament.[182] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
The last parliamentary election was held in September 2010, but due to disputes and investigation of fraud, the sworn in ceremony took place in late January 2011. After the issuance of computerized ID cards for the first time, ASUS F6VE Laptop Keyboard
which is a $101 million project that the Afghan government plans to start in 2012, it is expected to help prevent major fraud in future elections and improve the security situation.[183]
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In his tragedy Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet, Voltaire described Mohammed as an "imposter", a " false prophet", a "fanatic" and a "hypocrite".[41][42] Nevertheless, according to Pierre Milza, the play was above all "a pretext to denounce the intolerance of the Christians - strictly observant Catholics, Jansenists, Protestants - and the horrors perpetrated in the name of Christ.[43] For Voltaire, Mohammed "was here only an armed Tartuffe".[44] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop Keyboard
Voltaire wrote in 1742 to César de Missy: "My play represents, under the name of Mahomet, the Jacobin prior putting a dagger into the hand of Jacques Clément".[45]
In 1748, after having read Henri de Boulainvilliers et Georges Sale,[46] he wrote again about Mohammed and Islam in an article "De l’Alcoran et de Mahomet"HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
(On the Quran and on Mohammed). In the article, Voltaire maintained that Mohammed was a "charlatan", but "sublime and bold"[47] and wrote that furthermore he was not an illiterate.[48]Drawing also on complementary information in the "Oriental Library" of Herbelot, Voltaire, according to René Pomeau, ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
had a "rather favourable judgement of the Quran" where he found, in spite of "the contradictions, the absurdities, the anachronisms", a "good ethic" and "and an accurate idea of divine power" and "especially admired the definition of God".[49] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Thus he "henceforward conceded" [49] that "if his book was bad for our times and for us, it was very good for his contemporaries, and his religion even more so. It must be admitted that he removed almost all of Asia from idolatry" and that "it was difficult for such a simple and wise religion, taught by a man who was always victorious, HP Pavilion ze4325 Laptop Keyboard
not to subjugate part of the earth". He considered that "its civil laws are good; its dogma is admirable in so far as it conforms with our own" but that "the means are frightful; deception and murder".[50] HP Pavilion DV6-1103ax Laptop Keyboard
Following Henri de Boulainvilliers, Voltaire saw in Islamic monotheism a more rational conception than that of the Christian Trinity.[51][original research?]
After later having judged that he had made Mohammed in his play "somewhat nastier than he really was",[52] it was in the biography of Mohammed written by Boulainvilliers that Voltaire borrowed, according to Rene Pomeau "the traits that revealed the great man in Mohammed".[53] TOSHIBA NB100-11G Laptop Keyboard
In his Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des Nations in which he consecrated, as a historian this time, several chapters to Islam,[54][55] Voltaire "held an almost entirely favourable judgement"[49] towards Mohammed, whom he called a "poet",[56] ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D Laptop Keyboard
as a "great man" who "changed the face of part of the world"[57][58] while taking a nuanced view of Mohammed's sincerity who imposed his faith by "necessary deceptions". He onsidered that is "the Muslims' legislator, a terrifying and powerful man, HP Pavilion DV7-4100 Laptop Keyboard
established his dogmas by his courage and by his weapons", his religion nevertheless became "indulgent and tolerant".[59]
However, Voltaire was fundamentally a Deist and clearly denounced Islam and monotheistic religions in general. Taking avantage of the definition of theism in his "Philosophical Dictionary", he put Islam and Christianity back to back with each other: HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
(the theist) believes that religion consists neither in the opinions of an unintelligible metaphysics, nor in vain apparatus, but in worship and in justice. To do good, that is his prayer; to be submitted to God, that is his doctrine. ACER Aspire 5535 Laptop Keyboard
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The Mohammedan calls to him 'Beware if you do not make your pilgrimage to Mecca!' 'Woe on you, says a recoller to him, if you do not make a journey to Notre-Dame de Lorette!' He laughs at Lorette and at Mecca, but he helps the poor and defends the oppressed.[60]
His statements about Mohammed also brought down on him the fury of the Jesuits and in particular Claude-Adrien Nonnotte[61][62] HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
In his Essai sur les mœurs, Voltaire also showed himself "full of praise for Muslim civilisation and for Islam as a rule of life".[49] He thus compared "the genius of the Arab people" to "the genius of the ancient Romans"[63] et écrit que « dans nos siècles de barbarie et d’ignorance, qui suivirent la décadence et le déchirement de l’Empire romain, HP Pavilion tx2510us Laptop Keyboard
nous reçûmes presque tout des Arabes : astronomie, chimie, médecine »[64][65] et que « dès le second siècle de Mahomet, il fallut que les chrétiens d’Occident s’instruisissent chez les musulmans ».[66] DELL 454RX Laptop Keyboard
Thus there are two representations of Mohammed in Voltaire, a religious one, according to which Mohammed is a prophet like the others, who exploits people's naivety and spreads superstition and fanaticism, but who preaches the unity of God, HP Mini 210-1109TU Laptop Keyboard
and the other a political one, according to which Mohammed was a great statesman like Alexander the Great and a great legislator who brought his contemporaries out of idolatry.[67] Thus according to Diego Venturino the figure of Mohammed is ambivalent in Voltaire, HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
who admires the legislator but hates the conqueror and the pontiff, who established his religion through violence.[68] For Dirk van der Cruysse the most nuanced image of Mohammed in the Essai sur les mœurs is fed in part by "the antipathy that Voltaire had towards the Jewish people". According to him, the "inadequacies of Judeo-Christian revelation" HP Mini 110-3506tu Laptop Keyboard
compared to the "dynamism of Islam" raised for Voltaire "a sincere but suspicious admiration". Van der Cruysse considers Voltaires discourse on Mohammed as "a tissue of admiration and badly-hidden bad faith", which looks less at the prophet himself than at the spectres Voltaire was fighting, i.e. the "fanatiism and intolerance of Christianity and Judaism".[69] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
Over the course of Voltaire's career his views of Islam evolved.[70][verification needed] In a 1740 letter to Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire ascribes to Muhammad a brutality that "is assuredly nothing any man can excuse" and suggests that his following stemmed from superstition and lack ofenlightenment.[71] HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
In a 1745 letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet."[72] DELL V109002CS1 Laptop Keyboard
Christopher Todd claims that Voltaire’s attack on fanaticism in Mahomet may have been pitched at the supposed enemy of Christianity, but there was a more immediate polemical purpose in his distortion of the Muhammad story. HP Pavilion dv5-1118tx laptop keyboard
He goes on to state that "Discerning critics saw it as a coded attack on the Catholic Church, cleverly disguised as a polemic against its principle religious enemy."[73] In a private letter to Frederick of Prussia, HP Pavilion dv6-3017tu laptop keyboard
he acknowledged that he had made Muhammad worse than he was: “Mahomet did not exactly weave the type of treason that forms the subject of this tragedy.”[74] His view was modified slightly for Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations.[75][76] HP Pavilion ze4325 laptop keyboard
According to René Pomeau, in the Essay on the Manners, Voltaire "carries almost entirely favorable judgment."[70][verification needed]
Catholic SONY VGN-FE41S laptop keyboard
In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 he wrote about Catholic Christianity of the time:
La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.[77] SONY VAIO PCG-FR415S laptop keyboard
("Ours [religion] is without doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most bloodthirsty that has ever infected the world".)
Hinduism
Despite the criticism of Abrahamic religions, Voltaire had a positive view of Hinduism,[78] the sacred text Vedas, were remarked by him as:- ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D laptop keyboard
The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East.[79]
He regarded Hindus, as "A peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of defending themselves."[80] Voltaire was himself supporter of Animal rights, HP Pavilion tx2510us laptop keyboard
he used the ancient times of Hinduism to land a devastating blow to the Bible's claims, he acknowledged that the Hindus' treatment of animals shown a shaming alternative to the immorality of European imperialists.[81] DELL 454RX laptop keyboard
Anti-semitism
According to the rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the most significant of Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire;[82] thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire philosophique dealt with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways.[83][84] FUJITSU Lifebook P1610 laptop keyboard
On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment,[82] also points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience.[85] Bertram Schwarzbach's far more detailed studies of Voltaire's dealings with Jewish people throughout his life concluded that he was anti-biblical, not anti-semitic. His remarks on the Jews and their "superstitions" were essentially no different from his remarks on Christians.[86] TOSHIBA P205-S6257 laptop keyboard
Telushkin states that Voltaire did not limit his attack to aspects of Judaism that Christianity used as a foundation, repeatedly making it clear that he despised Jews.[82] Arthur Hertzberg claims that Gay's second suggestion is also untenable, as Voltaire himself denied its validity when he remarked that he had "forgotten about much larger bankruptcies through Christians".[87] HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
Religious tolerance
In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? TSONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
he Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"[88]
Race and slavery
Voltaire rejected the Christian Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had separate origins.[89] TOSHIBA P205-S6257 laptop keyboard
Like other philosophes, such as Buffon, he divided humanity into varieties or races and attempted to explain the differences between these races. He wondered if blacks fully shared in the common humanity or intelligence of whites because of their participation in the slave trade.[90][91] HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
His most famous remark on slavery is found in Candide, where the hero is horrified to learn "at what price we eat sugar in Europe" after coming across a slave in French Guinea who has been mutilated for escaping, who opines that, SONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
if all human beings have common origins as the Bible taught, it makes them cousins, concluding that "no one could treat their relatives more horribly". Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about "whites and Christians [who] proceed to purchase negroes cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America".[92][93] ACER 9J.N0F82.A1D Laptop Keyboard
Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, IBM Thinkpad R40 laptop keyboard
although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses.[94] Voltaire long thought only an enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, FUJITSU Lifebook S7210 laptop keyboard
and that it was in the king's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), TOSHIBA Satellite A305D-S6835 laptop keyboard
which ends with a new conclusion: “It is up to us to cultivate our garden.” His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain ‘Demad’ in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text.[95] DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
He is remembered and honoured in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil rights (as theright to a fair trial and freedom of religion) and who denounced the hypocrisies and injustices of the Ancien Régime. HP G72-227WM laptop keyboard
He particularly had admiration for the ethics and government as exemplified by Confucius.[96]
Voltaire is also known for many memorable aphorisms, such as “Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer” (“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”), HP Pavilion dv6-3017tu laptop keyboard
contained in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work on The Three Impostors. But far from being the cynical remark it is often taken for, it was meant as a retort to the atheistic clique of d'Holbach, Grimm, DELL V119525BS1 laptop keyboard
and others.[97] He has had his detractors among his later colleagues. The Scottish Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle argued that "Voltaire read history, not with the eye of devout seer or even critic, but through a pair of mere anti-catholic spectacles."[98] TOSHIBA G83C0000E510 laptop keyboard
The town of Ferney, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life, is now named Ferney-Voltaire in honour of its most famous resident. His château is a museum. Voltaire's library is preserved intact in the National Library of Russia at Saint Petersburg, Russia. SONY VAIO VGN-CS31Z/Q laptop keyboard
In the Zurich of 1916, the theatre and performance group who would become the early avant-garde movement Dada named their theater The Cabaret Voltaire. A late-20th-century industrial music group then named themselves after the theater. Astronomers have bestowed his name to the Voltaire crater on Deimos and the asteroid 5676 Voltaire.[99] HP Mini 110-3107sa laptop keyboard
Besides, Voltaire was also known to have been an advocate for coffee, as he was purported to have drunk it 50–72 times per day. It has been suggested that high amounts of caffeine acted as a mental stimulant to his creativity.[100] SONY VAIO VGN-AR350E laptop keyboard
His great-grand-niece was the mother of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a famous philosopher and Jesuit priest.[101][102] His book Candide was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written, by Martin Seymour-Smith. HP Pavilion dv6-2130ee laptop keyboard
The dividing line between a mountain with multiple peaks and separate mountains is not always clear (see also Highest unclimbed mountain). A popular and intuitive way to distinguish mountains from subsidiary peaks is by their height above the highest saddle connecting it to a higher summit, Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
a measure calledtopographic prominence or re-ascent (the higher summit is called the "parent peak"). A common definition of a mountain is a summit with 300 m (980 ft) prominence. Alternatively, a relative prominence (prominence/height) is used (usually 7–8%) to reflect that in higher mountain ranges everything is on a larger scale. Acer eMachines G730Z laptop keyboard
The table below lists the highest 100 summits with at least 500 m (1,640 ft) prominence, approximating a 7% relative prominence. A drawback of a prominence-based list is that it may exclude well-known or spectacular mountains that are connected via a high ridge to a taller summit, like the Eiger orNuptse. Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
A few such peaks and mountains with nearly sufficient prominence are included but not numbered in this list.
It is very unlikely that all given heights are correct to the nearest metre; indeed, the sea level is often problematic to define when a mountain is remote from the sea. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Different sources often differ by many metres, and the heights given below may well differ from those elsewhere in this encyclopedia. As an extreme example, Ulugh Muztagh on the north Tibetan Plateau is often listed as 7,723 m (25,338 ft) to 7,754 m (25,440 ft), TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5153 laptop keyboard
but appears to be only 6,973 m (22,877 ft) to 6,987 m (22,923 ft). COMPAQ Presario CQ60-300SB laptop keyboard
Some mountains differ by > 100 m (330 ft) on different maps, while even very thorough current measurements of Mount Everest range from 8,840 m (29,003 ft) to 8,850 m (29,035 ft). These discrepancies serve to emphasize the uncertainties in the listed heights. SAMSUNG R20 Laptop Keyboard
Though some parts of the world, especially the most mountainous parts, have never been thoroughly mapped, it is unlikely that any mountains this high have been overlooked, because synthetic aperture radar can and has been used to measure altitudes of most otherwise inaccessible places. Still, SONY VAIO VGN-FS515B Laptop Keyboard
heights and/or prominences may be revised, so that the order of the list may change and even "new" mountains could enter the list over time. To be safe, the list has been extended to include all >7,200 m (23,622 ft) peaks. SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains above sea level are generally not the highest above the surrounding terrain. There is no precise definition of surrounding base, butMount McKinley, Mount Kilimanjaro and Nanga Parbat are possible candidates for the tallest mountain on land by this measure. ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
The bases of mountain islands are below sea level, and given this consideration Mauna Kea (4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level) is the world's tallest mountain and volcano, rising about 10,203 m (33,474 ft) from the Pacific Ocean floor. HP Pavilion dv6-2060ea Laptop Keyboard
Ojos del Salado has the greatest rise on Earth—13,420 m (44,029 ft) from the summit[citation needed] to the bottom of the Atacama Trench about 560 km (350 mi) away, though most of this rise is not part of the mountain. SONY VAIO VGN-CR323 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains are also not generally the most voluminous. Mauna Loa (4,169 m or 13,678 ft) is the largest mountain on Earth in terms of base area (about 2,000 sq mi or 5,200 km2) and volume (about 10,000 cu mi or 42,000 km3), HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
although, due to the intergrade of lava from Kilauea, Hualalai and Mauna Kea, the volume can only be estimated based on surface area and height of the edifice). IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop Keyboard
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the largest non-shield volcano in terms of both base area (245 sq mi or 635 km2) and volume (1,150 cu mi or 4,793 km3). Mount Logan is the largest non-volcanic mountain in base area (120 sq mi or 311 km2). HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountains above sea level are also not those with peaks farthest from the centre of the Earth, because the figure of the Earth is not spherical. Sea level closer to the equator is several miles farther from the centre of the Earth. HP Compaq NC8430 Laptop Keyboard
The summit of Chimborazo, Ecuador's tallest mountain, is usually considered to be the farthest point from the Earth's centre, although the southern summit of Peru's tallest mountain, Huascarán, is another contender.[1] Both have elevations above sea level more than 2 km less than that of Everest. ACER Aspire 5742 Laptop Keyboard
Most mountains in the list are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges to the south and west of the Tibetan plateau. In fact, all 7,000 m (23,000 ft) peaks in the world are located in the centre of Asia (East Asia,Central Asia and South Asia) in a rectangle edged by Noshaq (7,492 m or 24,580 ft) on the Afghanistan-Pakistanborder in the West, Jengish Chokusu, GATEWAY MT6728 Laptop Keyboard
(Tuōmù'ěr Fēng) (7,439 m or 24,406 ft) on the Kyrgyzstan – Xinjiang border to the North, Gongga Shan (Minya Konka) (7,556 m or 24,790 ft) in Sichuan to the East, and Kabru (7,412 m or 24,318 ft) on the Sikkim (India) – Nepal border to the South. FUJITSU Lifebook T4210 Laptop Keyboard
The highest mountain outside of Asia is Aconcagua (6,962 m or 22,841 ft), which one list has ranking 189th in the world amongst mountains with a 500 m or 1,640 ft prominence cutoff. [2]
The locations of the highest mountains are shown on the composite satellite image of High Asia below. The numbers refer to the ranking in the list. COMPAQ Presario CQ40-117TU Laptop Keyboard
For clarity, lower peaks with labels overlapping higher peaks are left out of the main image. The boxed regions are those with the highest density of summits and are enlarged in two separate images to show all peaks.
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The Mahabharat range also parallels the lower Shivalik or Churia Range (Outer Himalaya) to the south.
Southern slopes of the Mahabharat Range are steep and nearly uninhabited due to a major fault system called the 'Main Boundary Thrust". The crest and northern slopes slope gently enough to support upland pastures and terraced fields. TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5160 Laptop Keyboard
Nepal's densely populated Middle Hills begin along the crest, extending north through lower valleys and other "hills" until population thins out above 2,000 m and cereal-based agriculture increasingly gives way to seasonal herding and cold-tolerant crops such as potatoes. FUJITSU Amilo Mini Ui 3520 Laptop Keyboard
Most ethnic groups found along the Mahabharat Range and northward into the Middle Hills have Tibeto-Burman affinities including Nepalese origins of Newar,Magar, Gurung, Tamang, Rai and Limbu, however the most populous ethnic group is Indo-European Hindus called Paharis, FUJITSU Siemens M1010 Laptop Keyboard
mainly of the upper Brahman andKshatriya or Chhetri castes. Lower terrain south of the escarpment was historically malarial and inhabited by apparently aboriginal peoples with evolved immunity, notably the Tharu. HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The Mahabharat Range is an important hydrographic barrier crossed by relatively few rivers. Drainage systems have evolved candelabra configurations with numerous tributaries flowing south from the Himalaya through the Middle Hills, ACER Aspire 5315 Laptop Keyboard
gathering immediately north of the Mahabharat Range and cutting through in major gorges as the Karnali in the west, the Gandaki or Narayani in central Nepal, and the Kosi in the east.
With temperatures persisting around forty degrees celsius in the plains of India from April until the onset of the summer monsoon in June, SONY 148084721 Laptop Keyboard
but ten to fifteen degrees cooler atop the Mahabharat Range, Hill Stations were developed as alternate capitals and resorts for the hot season by India's Mughal andBritish rulers. There are no hill stations per se in Nepal, Sikkim or Bhutan since the capital cities are high enough to avoid extreme heat. TOSHIBA Satellite L550-ST5702 laptop keyboard
The Himalayas, or Himalaya, (/ˌhɪməˈleɪ.ə/ or /hɪˈmɑːləjə/; Sanskrit, hima (snow) + ālaya (dwelling), literally, "abode of the snow"[1]) is a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
The Himalayan range is home to the planet's highest peaks, including the highest, SONY VAIO VGN-CR220E laptop keyboard
Mount Everest. The Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres (23,600 ft) in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres (22,838 ft) tall.[2] The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in both Buddhism and Hinduism. HP Pavilion dv6-2060ea laptop keyboard
Besides the Greater Himalayas of these high peaks there are parallel lower ranges. The first foothills, reaching about a thousand meters along the northern edge of the plains, are called the Sivalik Hills or Sub-Himalayan Range. Further north is a higher range reaching two to three thousand meters known as the Lower Himalayan or Mahabharat Range. SONY VAIO VGN-CS215J/W laptop keyboard
The Himalayas abut or cross six countries: Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the first three countries having sovereignty over most of the range.[3] The Himalayas are bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by theIndo-Gangetic Plain. HP Pavilion DV6-1210sa laptop keyboard
Three of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, all rise near Mount Kailash and cross and encircle the Himalayas. Their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Lifted by the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian Plate,[4] the Himalayan range runs, west-northwest to east-southeast, in an arc 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river, HP Pavilion dv6-3045eo laptop keyboard
its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, just west of the great bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres (250 mi) in the west to 150 kilometres (93 mi) in the east.
The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the very high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. For example the extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure) combined with extreme cold allow extremophile organisms to survive.[5]
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The increase in temperature may shift various species to higher elevations. The oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some tree species, especially rhododendron, apple and Myrica esculenta. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres (16,080 ft) in Southeastern Tibet.[6] ACER Extensa 5635Z laptop keyboard
The Himalaya are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary andmetamorphic rock. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. SONY VAIO VGN-AR320E laptop keyboard
The Arakan Yoma highlands in Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal were also formed as a result of this collision.
During the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate was moving at about 15 cm per year. About 50 million years ago, ACER Extensa 5235 laptop keyboard
this fast moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoesthat fringed its edges. Packard Bell NEW95 laptop keyboard
Since both plates were composed of low density continental crust, they were thrust faulted andfolded into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the mantle along an oceanic trench.[4] An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone from this ancient ocean.[7] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5160 laptop keyboard
Today, the Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the plateau to continue to move upwards. The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. SONY VAIO VGN-NW51FB laptop keyboard
About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time. ACER KB.T3007.001 laptop keyboard
During the last ice age, there was a connected ice stream of glaciers between Kangchenjunga in the east and Nanga Parbat in the west.[8] In the west, the glaciers joined with the ice stream network in the Karakoram, and in the north, joined with the former Tibetan inland ice. ACER TravelMate 244LC laptop keyboard
To the south, outflow glaciers came to an end below an elevation of 1,000–2,000 metres (3,300–6,600 ft).[8][9] While the current valley glaciers of the Himalaya reach at most 20 to 32 kilometres (12 to 20 mi) in length, several of the main valley glaciers were 60 to 112 kilometres (37 to 70 mi) long during the ice age.[8] ACER Aspire 1660 Series laptop keyboard
The glacier snowline (the altitude where accumulation and ablation of a glacier are balanced) was about 1,400–1,660 metres (4,590–5,450 ft) lower than it is today. Thus, the climate was at least 7.0 to 8.3 °C (12.6 to 14.9 °F) colder than it is today.[10] ACER TravelMate 240LCi laptop keyboard
The Himalayas have the third largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic.[11] The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km3 (3000 cubic miles) of fresh water.[12]Its glaciers include the Gangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region), and Zemu(Sikkim). SONY VGN-FE31M Laptop Keyboard
Owing to the mountains' latitude near the Tropic of Cancer, the permanent snow line is among the highest in the world at typically around 5,500 metres (18,000 ft).[13] In contrast, equatorial mountains in New Guinea, HP 634139-001 Laptop Keyboard
the Rwenzoris andColombia have a snow line some 900 metres (2,950 ft) lower.[14] The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources of several large perennial rivers, most of which combine into two large river systems: HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
The western rivers combine into the Indus Basin, of which the Indus River is the largest. The Indus begins in Tibetat the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers and flows southwest through India and then through Pakistan to theArabian Sea. It is fed by the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej rivers, among others.
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Its main rivers are the Ganges, theBrahmaputra and the Yamuna, as well as other tributaries. The Brahmaputra originates as the Yarlung Tsangpo River in western Tibet, and flows east through Tibet and west through the plains of Assam. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra meet in Bangladesh, and drain into the Bay of Bengal through the world's largest river delta,the Sunderbans.[15] Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
The easternmost Himalayan rivers feed the Ayeyarwady River, which originates in eastern Tibet and flows south throughMyanmar to drain into the Andaman Sea.
The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He (Yellow River) all originate from parts of the Tibetan plateau that are geologically distinct from the Himalaya mountains, and are therefore not considered true Himalayan rivers. ASUS A3Ac Laptop Keyboard
Some geologists refer to all the rivers collectively as the circum-Himalayan rivers.[16] In recent years, scientists have monitored a notable increase in the rate of glacier retreat across the region as a result of global climate change.[17] HP G62-b36EO Laptop Keyboard
For example, Glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of the debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last few decades. Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
it potentially could mean disaster for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers of northern India during the dry seasons.[18] Some of the lakes present a danger of a glacial lake outburst flood. The Tsho Rolpa glacier lake in the Rolwaling Valley is rated as the most dangerous in Nepal.[19][20] FUJITSU CP270342-02 Laptop Keyboard
The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the size of the lakes diminishing with altitude. Tilicho lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world. HP Pavilion dv6-2119tx Laptop Keyboard
Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, and Yamdrok Tso, located in central Tibet, are amongst the largest with surface areas of 700 km², and 638 km², respectively. Other notable lakes include Gurudogmar lake, in North Sikkim, and Tsongmo lake, near the Indo-China border in Sikkim. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
The mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 metres.[21]
Afghanistan i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in Central Asia, South Asia, SONY 148084721 Laptop Keyboard
and is a part of the Greater Middle East.[8][9] It has a population of around 30 million inhabiting an area of approximately 652,000 km2(252,000 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered byPakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. Acer eMachines G640 laptop keyboard
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as the Middle Paleolithic. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.[10] Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East culture with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent,[11] SONY 148781311 laptop keyboard
the land has been home to various peoples through the ages[12] and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Arab Muslims, Genghis Khan, and in modern-era Western forces.[10] TSONY VAIO VGN-FS115M laptop keyboard
he land also served as a source from which theKushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Mughals, Durranis and others have risen to form major empires.[13]
Most of Afghanistan's history prior to the modern state of Afghanistan took place within the context of the various Persian Empires.[14] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300 6477 laptop keyboard
The political history of the modern state of Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns - historically known as "Afghans" - when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandaharfollowed by the rise of the Durrani Empire in 1747.[15][16][17] HP G62-a84ER laptop keyboard
In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became abuffer state in the "Great Game" between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War, King Amanullah began a European style modernization of the country but was stopped by ultra-conservatives. During the Cold War, after the withdrawal of the British from neighboring India in 1947, IBM 42T4026 laptop keyboard
the United States and the Soviet Union began spreading influences in Afghanistan,[18] which led in 1979 to a bloody war between the US-backed mujahideen forces and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in which over a million Afghans lost their lives.[19][20] GATEWAY MT6730 laptop keyboard
This was followed by a 1990s civil war, the rise and fall of theextremist Taliban government, and the 2001–present war.[21] In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security in Afghanistan and assist the Karzai administration.[22] DELL Vostro PP37L laptop keyboard
Three decades of war made Afghanistan one of the world's most dangerous countries.[23] While the international community is rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani Network and Hezbi Islami[24] are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency,[25] which includes hundreds ofassassinations and suicide attacks.[26] TOSHIBA Satellite L670-117 laptop keyboard
According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 80% of civilian casualties in 2011 and 2012.[27][28] It suffers from several challenges, including being world's most corrupt country and is the World's largest source of refugees. SONY VAIO VGN-NW320F/T laptop keyboard
Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of the Indus River, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains.[34] Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan scholar visiting the region in 1333, writes: HP Pavilion DV7-3186cl laptop keyboard
"We travelled on to Kabul, 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. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman."[35] One prominent 16th-century Persian scholar explains extensively about the Afghans. For example, he writes:
"The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), HP Pavilion DV7-3100 laptop keyboard
and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns."[36]
—Firishta, 1560–1620 AD Packard Bell PEW91 laptop keyboard
It is widely acknowledged that the terms "Pashtun" and Afghan are synonyms,[31] something that is even mentioned in the 17th-century poetry of Khushal Khan Khattak: For example, he states: "Pull out your sword and slay any one, that says Pashtun and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans!"[37] DELL 0PVDG3 laptop keyboard
The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for "place". The name "Afghanistan" is described by the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs as well as by the later Persian scholar Firishta and Babur's descendants, referring to the traditional ethnic Pashtun territories between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus River.[38] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In the early 19th century, Afghan politicians decided to adopt the name Afghanistanfor the entire Afghan Empire after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties with Qajarid Persia and British India.[39] In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as: Lenovo 04W0872 laptop keyboard
"an extensive country of Asia ... between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab ... Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar."[40] ACER TravelMate 3250 laptop keyboard
The Afghan kingdom was sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Kabul, as mentioned by the British statesman and historian Mountstuart Elphinstone.[41]Afghanistan was officially recognized as a sovereign state by the international community after the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 was signed.[42][43] SONY VAIO VGN-SZ220 laptop keyboard
Despite having numerous rivers and reservoirs, large parts of the country are dry. The endorheic Sistan Basin is one of the driest regions in the world.[47]Aside from the usual rain falls, Afghanistan receives snow during winter in theHindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and the melting snow in the spring season enters the rivers, lakes, and streams.[48][49] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
However, two-thirds of the country's water flows into neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. The state needs more than US$2 billion to rehabilitate its irrigation systems so that the water is properly managed.[50] HP Pavilion dv6-2119tx laptop keyboard
The northeastern Hindu Kush mountain range, in and around the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan, is in ageologically active area where earthquakes may occur almost every year.[51] They can be deadly and destructive sometimes, Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard
causing landslides in some parts or avalanche during winter.[52] The last strong earthquakes were in1998, which killed about 6,000 people in Badakhshan near Tajikistan.[53] HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
This was followed by the 2002 Hindu Kush earthquakes in which over 150 people of various regional countries were killed and over 1,000 injured. The 2010 earthquake left 11 Afghans dead, over 70 injured and more than 2,000 houses destroyed. Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard
The country's natural resources include: coal, copper, iron ore, lithium, uranium, rare earth elements, chromite,gold, zinc, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, marble, precious and semi-precious stones, natural gas, and petroleumamong other things.[54][55] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
In 2010, US and Afghan government officials estimated that untapped mineral deposits located in 2007 by the US Geological Survey are worth between $900 bn and $3 trillion.[56][57][58]
At 652,230 km2 (251,830 sq mi),[59] SONY Vaio VGN-AW Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan is the world's 41st largest country,[60] slightly bigger than France and smaller than Burma, about the size of Texas in the United States. It borders Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far east. DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others suggest that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world.[61][62] An important site of early historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites.[63] HP 597635-001 Laptop Keyboard
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. HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Islamic Empire and the Sassanid Empire. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
Many kingdoms have also risen to power in what is now Afghanistan, such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans,Hephthalites, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, and finally theHotaki and Durrani dynasties that marked the political origins of the modern state. HP Pavilion DV6-1030ca Laptop Keyboard
After 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians.[61] These tribes later migrated further south to India, west to what is now Iran, and towards Europe via the area north of the Caspian.[65] The region as a whole was called Ariana.[61][66][67] ASUS A6R laptop keyboard
The ancient religion of Zoroastrianism is believed by some to have originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1800 and 800 BCE, as its founder Zoroaster is thought to have lived and died in Balkh.[68][69][70] HP 633183-001 laptop keyboard
Ancient Eastern Iranian languages may have been spoken in the region around the time of the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenid Persians overthrew the Medes and incorporated Afghanistan (Arachosia, SONY VAIO VGN-N27SH laptop keyboard
Aria and Bactria) within its boundaries. An inscription on the tombstone of King Darius I of Persia mentions the Kabul Valley in a list of the 29 countries that he had conquered.[71]
Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived to the area of Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier in the Battle of Gaugamela.[68] TOSHIBA Satellite m505-s4940 laptop keyboard
Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empirecontrolled the area until 305 BCE when they gave much of it to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty. HP Pavilion dv6-3040er laptop keyboard
"Alexander took these away from the Aryans and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them toSandrocottus (Chandragupta), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants."[72]
—Strabo, 64 BCE – 24 CE DELL Vostro 3450 laptop keyboard
The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush until about 185 BCE when they were overthrown.[73] Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest of the region by the Greco-Bactrians. TOSHIBA MP-06873US-9204 laptop keyboard
Much of it soon broke away from the Greco-Bactrians and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks were defeated and expelled by the Indo-Scythians in the late 2nd century BCE. SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
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 modern Afghanistan, became great patrons of Buddhist culture. SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard
The Kushans were defeated by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE. Although various rulers calling themselves Kushanshas (generally known as the Indo-Sassanids) continued to rule at least parts of the region, they were probably more or less subject to the Sassanids.[74] ACER Extensa 5635Z laptop keyboard
The late Kushans were followed by the Kidarite Huns[75] who, in turn, were replaced by the short-lived but powerful Hephthalites, as rulers.[76] The Hephthalites were defeated by Khosrau I in 557 CE, who re-established Sassanid power in Persia. ACER Aspire 5738ZG laptop keyboard
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However, in the 6th century CE, the successors to the Kushans and Hepthalites established a small dynasty in Kabulistan called Kabul Shahi. SONY Vaio VGN-AW190 laptop keyboard
Arab Muslims brought the message of Islam to Herat and Zaranj in 642 AD and began spreading eastward, some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted.[80] The people of Afghanistan was multi-religious, which included Zoroastrians,Buddhists, worshippers of the sun, Hindus, Christians, Jews, and others.[81] HP Pavilion DV7-3173nr laptop keyboard
The Zunbil and Kabul Shahi were defeated in 870 AD by the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanidsextended their Islamic influence into south of the Hindu Kush. It is reported that Muslims and non-Muslims still lived side by side in Kabul before the Ghaznavids rose to power.
"Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns, and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind."[82] DELL Vostro 3450 laptop keyboard
—Istahkrí, 921 AD
Afghanistan became one of the main centers in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age.[61][83] By the 11th century Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni had finally Islamized all of the remaining non-Muslim areas, with the exception of the Kafiristanregion. HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
The Ghaznavids were replaced by the Ghurids who expanded and advanced the already powerful empire. In 1219 AD, Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region. His troops are said to have annihilated the Khorasanian cities of Herat and Balkh as well as Bamyan.[84] HP G62-225NR Laptop Keyboard
The destruction caused by the Mongols depopulated major cities and forced many of the locals to revert to an agrarian rural society.[85] Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khilji dynasty controlled the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush, until the invasion of Timur who established the Timurid dynasty in 1370.[86] HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
During the Ghaznavid, Ghurid, and Timurid eras, Afghanistan produced many fine Islamic architectural monuments as well as numerous scientific and literary works.
Babur, a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, arrived from Fergana and captured Kabul from the Arghun dynasty, Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
and from there he began to seize control of the central and eastern territories of Afghanistan. He remained in Kabulistan until 1526 when he and his army invaded Delhi in India to replace the Afghan Lodi dynasty with the Mughal Empire. From the 16th century to the early 18th century, HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan was part of three regional kingdoms: theKhanate of Bukhara in the north, the Shi'a Safavids in the west and the remaining larger area was ruled by the Mughal Empire.
In 1738, Nader Shah and his Afsharid forces captured Kandahar from Shah Hussain Hotaki, at which point the incarcerated 16-year-old Ahmad Shah Durrani was freed and made the commander of Nader Shah's four thousand Abdali Afghans.[90] HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
From Kandahar they set out to conquer India, passing through Ghazni, Kabul, Peshawar, and Lahore, and ultimately plundering Delhi after the Battle of Karnal. Nader Shah and his army abandoned Delhi but took with them huge treasure, which included the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds.[91] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, the Afghans chose Ahmad Shah Durrani as their head of state. Regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan,[92][93][94] Durrani and his Afghan army conquered present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan,Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, along with Delhi in India.[40] He defeated the IndianMaratha Empire, one of his biggest victories was the 1761 Battle of Panipat. SONY VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Laptop Keyboard
In October 1772, Ahmad Shah Durrani died of a natural cause and was buried at a site now adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak in Kandahar. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah, who transferred the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. SONY VAIO VGN-FS315H Laptop Keyboard
After Timur Shah's death in 1793, the Durrani throne passed down to his son Zaman Shah followed by Mahmud Shah, Shuja Shah and others.
The Afghan Empire was under threat in the early 19th century by the Persians in the west and the British-backed Sikhs in the east. SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard
The western provinces of Khorasan and Kohistan were taken by the Persians in 1800. Fateh Khan, leader of the Barakzai tribe, had installed 21 of his brothers in positions of power throughout the empire. After his death, they rebelled and divided up the provinces of the empire between themselves. During this turbulent period, Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
Afghanistan had many temporary rulers until Dost Mohammad Khandeclared himself emir in 1826.[95] The Punjab region was lost to Ranjit Singh, who invaded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in 1834 captured the city of Peshawar.[96] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
In 1837, during the Battle of Jamrud near the Khyber Pass, Akbar Khan and the Afghan army killed Sikh Commander Hari Singh Nalwa.[97] By this time the British were advancing from the east and the first major conflict during the Great Game was initiated.[98] SONY VAIO VGN-N11M Laptop Keyboard
After the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, KingAmanullah Khan declared Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state. He moved to end his country's traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the international community and, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
following a 1927–28 tour of Europe and Turkey, introduced several reforms intended to modernize his nation. A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud Tarzi, an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's 1923 constitution, which made elementary education compulsory. The institution of slavery was abolished in 1923.[99] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditionalburqa for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah Khan was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to rebel forces led by Habibullah Kalakani. HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
Prince Mohammed Nadir Shah, Amanullah's cousin, in turn defeated and killed Kalakani in November 1929, and was declared King Nadir Shah. He abandoned the reforms of Amanullah Khan in favor of a more gradual approach to modernisation but was assassinated in 1933 by Abdul Khaliq, a Hazara school student.[100] HP G72-b62US Laptop Keyboard
Mohammed Zahir Shah, Nadir Shah's 19-year-old son, succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncle, who held the post of Prime Minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. HP 484748-001 Laptop Keyboard
Another of Zahir Shah's uncles, Shah Mahmud Khan, became Prime Minister in 1946 and began an experiment allowing greater political freedom, but reversed the policy when it went further than he expected. DELL Inspiron 1525 laptop keyboard
He was replaced in 1953 by Mohammed Daoud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud Khan sought a closer relationship with theSoviet Union and a more distant one towards Pakistan. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Afghanistan remained neutral and was neither a participant in World War II, nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War. However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the United States vied for influence by building Afghanistan's main highways, HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
airports and other vital infrastructure. In 1973, while King Zahir Shah was on an official overseas visit, Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup and became the first President of Afghanistan.
In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in Afghanistan in the Saur Revolution. HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
Within months, opponents of the communist government launched an uprising in eastern Afghanistan that quickly expanded into a civil war waged by guerrilla mujahideen against government forces countrywide. The Pakistanigovernment provided these rebels with covert training centers, while the Soviet Union sent thousands of military advisers to support the PDPA government.[101] HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
Meanwhile, increasing friction between the competing factions of the PDPA — the dominant Khalq and the more moderate Parcham — resulted in the dismissal of Parchami cabinet members and the arrest of Parchami military officers under the pretext of a Parchami coup. By mid-1979, the United States had started a covert program to assist the mujahideen.[102] SAMSUNG Q320 laptop keyboard
In September 1979, Khalqist President Nur Muhammad Taraki was assassinated in a coup within the PDPA orchestrated by fellow Khalq member Hafizullah Amin, who assumed the presidency. Distrusted by the Soviets, Amin was assassinated by Soviet special forces in December 1979. A Soviet-organized government, DELL Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard
led by Parcham's Babrak Karmal but inclusive of both factions, filled the vacuum. Soviet troops were deployed to stabilize Afghanistan under Karmal in more substantial numbers, although the Soviet government did not expect to do most of the fighting in Afghanistan. As a result, however, the Soviets were now directly involved in what had been a domestic war in Afghanistan.[103] ACER Aspire 4935 laptop keyboard
At the time some believed the Soviets were attempting to expand their borders southward in order to gain a foothold in the Middle East. The Soviet Union had long lacked a warm water port, and their movement south seemed to position them for further expansion towardPakistan in the East, and Iran to the West. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E Laptop Keyboard
American politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, feared the Soviets were positioning themselves for a takeover of Middle Eastern oil. Others believed that the Soviet Union was afraid Iran's Islamic Revolution and Afghanistan's Islamization would spread to the millions of Muslims in the USSR. TOSHIBA Satellite L300 Laptop Keyboard
The PDPA prohibited usury, made statements on women's rights by declaring equality of the sexes[104] and introducing women to political life.[104]
After the invasion, President Jimmy Carter announced what became known as the Carter Doctrine: that the US would not allow any other outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf. He terminated the Soviet Wheat Deal in January 1980, HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
which was intended to establish trade with USSR and lessen Cold War tensions. The grain exports had been beneficial to people employed in agriculture, and the Carter embargo marked the beginning of hardship for American farmers. HP Pavilion DV6-1040ev Laptop Keyboard
That same year, Carter also made two of the most unpopular decisions of his entire Presidency: prohibiting American athletes from participating in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and reinstating registration for the draft for young males. Following the Soviet invasion, the United States supported diplomatic efforts to achieve a Soviet withdrawal. HP Pavilion dv6-2020sa Laptop Keyboard
In addition, generous US contributions to the refugee program in Pakistan played a major part in efforts to assist Afghan refugees.
The Reagan administration increased arming and funding of the mujahideen as part of the Reagan Doctrine, thanks in large part to the efforts of Charlie Wilson and CIA officer Gust Avrakotos. Early reports estimated $6–20 billion[105] HP G62-a10EP Laptop Keyboard
but more recent reports suggest that up to $40 billion were provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.[106][107] This was in the forms of cash and weapons, which included over two thousand FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. HP G42-461TU Laptop Keyboard
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The 10-year Soviet war resulted in the deaths of over 1 million Afghans, mostly civilians.[19][20][108] About 6 million fled to Pakistan and Iran, and from there tens of thousands began emigrating to the European Union, United States, TOSHIBA Satellite 1800-921 Laptop Keyboard
Australia and other parts of the world.[109] Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties, the Soviets withdrew in 1989 but continued to support Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah until 1992.[110] SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran – as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other.[113] According to Human Rights Watch, Iran was backing the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari to "maximize Wahdat's military power and influence".[111][113][114] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction.[111][113] A publication by the George Washington University suggests "outside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas".[115] Conflict between the two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. SONY Vaio PCG-K23 laptop keyboard
Due to the sudden initiation of the war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability for the newly created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different armed factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project.[111][116] HP G72-b60SF laptop keyboard
Because of the chaos, some leaders increasingly had only nominal control over their (sub-)commanders.[117] For civilians there was little security from murder, rape and extortion.[117] TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5282 laptop keyboard
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An estimated 25,000 people died during the most intense period of bombardment by Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami and the Junbish-i Milli forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had created an alliance with Hekmatyar in 1994.[116] Half a million people fled Afghanistan.[117] Human Rights Watch writes: HP Mini 210-1080CA laptop keyboard
Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi or Burhanuddin Rabbani [the interim government], or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.[111] HP 530580-001 laptop keyboard
Southern and eastern Afghanistan was under the control of local commanders such as Gul Agha Sherzai and others. In 1994, the Taliban (a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a political-religious force.[118] Compaq Presario CQ71-403SA laptop keyboard
When the Taliban took control of the city in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders.[117] In 1994, the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan. Compaq Presario CQ71-235SA laptop keyboard
In late 1994, most of the militia factions (Hezb-i Islami, Junbish-i Milli and Hezb-i Wahdat) which had been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic State's Minister of Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud. Bombardment of the capital came to a halt.[116][119][120]The Islamic State government took steps to restore law and order.[121] DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Courts started to work again.[121] Massoud tried to initiate a nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting the Taliban to join the process but they refused as they did not believe in a democratic system.[122]
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[119][123] Amnesty International, referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995 report: "This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city."[119] HP Pavilion dv6-3106sl laptop keyboard
The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses which led analysts to believe the Taliban movement had run its course.[117] But Pakistan provided increased support to the Taliban.[113][124] TOSHIBA Satellite U300-ST3091 laptop keyboard
Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests.[113] On 26 September 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul.[125] Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
The Taliban seized Kabul on 27 September 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed on the parts of Afghanistan under their control their political and judicial interpretation of Islam issuing edicts especially targeting women.[126] DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
According to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), "no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment."[126] HP Mini 110-3103sl laptop keyboard
After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 27 September 1996, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two former enemies, created the United Front(Northern Alliance) against the Taliban that were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control of Massoud and those under the control of Dostum.[127] HP 405963-001 laptop keyboard
The United Front included beside the dominantly Tajik forces of Massoud and the Uzbek forces of Dostum, Hazara factions under the command of leaders such as Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Pashtun forces under the leadership of commanders such as Abdul Haq or Haji Abdul Qadir. SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
The Taliban defeated Dostum's Junbish forces militarily by seizing Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998. Dostum subsequently went into exile.
According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5163 laptop keyboard
committed systematic massacres against civilians.[128][129] UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001 and that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself."[128][129] HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
The Taliban especially targeted people of Shia religious or Hazara ethnic background.[128][129] Upon taking Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, 4,000–6,000 civilians were killed by the Taliban and many more reported tortured.[130][131] The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings.[128][129] Packard Bell Easynote TK81 laptop keyboard
Bin Laden's so-called 055 Brigade was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians.[132] The report by the UN quotes "eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people".[128][129] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and bin Laden against the forces of Massoud.[122][124][133][134] According to Pakistani Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid, "between 1994 and 1999, DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistanis trained and fought in Afghanistan" on the side of the Taliban.[135] In 2001 alone, there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals, many either from the Frontier Corps or army, fighting inside Afghanistan.[122] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
An estimated 8,000 Pakistani militants were recruited in madrassas filling the ranks of the estimated 25,000 regular Taliban force.[132] A 1998 document by theUS State Department confirms that "20–40 % of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani."[124] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
The document further stated that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[124] ACER V104730BS1 Laptop Keyboard
From 1996 to 2001 the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became a state within Afghanistan.[136] Bin Laden sent Arab recruits to join the fight against the United Front.[136][137] HP CT1A Laptop Keyboard
3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.[132] In total, of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and al-Qaeda soldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud in mid-2001, only 14,000 were Afghans.[122][132] HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
Ahmad Shah Massoud remained the only leader of the United Front in Afghanistan. In the areas under his control Massoud set up democratic institutions and signed the Women's Rights Declaration.[138] HP COMPAQ NX6325 Laptop Keyboard
Human Rights Watch cites no human rights crimes for the forces under direct control of Massoud for the period from October 1996 until the assassination of Massoud in September 2001.[139] As a consequence many civilians fled to the area of Ahmad Shah Massoud.[133][140] In total, estimates range up to one million people fleeing the Taliban.[141] DELL Vostro 1015 Laptop Keyboard
National Geographic concluded in its documentary "Inside the Taliban": "The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."[133]
In early 2001 Massoud addressed the European Parliament in Brussels asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.[141] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
He stated that the Taliban and al-Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan and bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.[142] FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
On this visit to Europe he also warned that his intelligence had gathered information about a large-scale attack on US soil being imminent.[143]
On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers inside Afghanistan and two days later about 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 attacks in the United States. The US government identified Osama bin Laden, TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the Al-Qaeda organization based in and allied to the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as the perpetrators of the attacks. From 1990 until this date over 400,000 Afghan civilians had already died in the wars in Afghanistan.[144] The Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden to US authorities and to disband al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan.[145] ACER TravelMate 6252 laptop keyboard
Bin Laden later claimed sole responsibility for the September 11 attacks and specifically denied any prior knowledge of them by the Taliban or the Afghan people.[146] In October 2001, SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
Operation Enduring Freedom was launched as a new phase of the war in Afghanistan in which teams of American and British special forces worked with ground forces of the United Front (Northern Alliance) to remove the Taliban from power and dispel Al-Qaeda.[147] ASUS V020462CS1 laptop keyboard
At the same time the US-led forces were bombing Taliban and al-Qaida targets everywhere inside Afghanistan with cruise missiles. These actions led to the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north followed by all the other cities, as the Taliban and al-Qaida fled over the porous Durand Lineborder into Pakistan. In December 2001, SONY Vaio VGN-AW120J laptop keyboard
after the Taliban government was toppled and the new Afghan government under Hamid Karzai was formed, theInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security to the Afghan people.[148][149] HP Pavilion DV7-2213tx laptop keyboard
While the Taliban began regrouping inside Pakistan, more coalition troops entered the escalating US-led war. Meanwhile, the rebuilding of war-torn Afghanistan kicked off in 2002.[150][151] The Afghan nation was able to build democratic structures over the years, and some progress was made in key areas such as governance, economy, health, education, transport, SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E laptop keyboard
and agriculture. NATO is training the Afghan armed forces as well its national police. ISAF and Afghan troops led many offensives against the Taliban but failed to fully defeat them. By 2009, a Taliban-led shadow government began to form in many parts of the country complete with their own version of mediation court.[152] ACER V104730BS1 laptop keyboard
After US President Barack Obama announced the deployment of another 30,000 soldiers in 2010 for a period of two years, Der Spiegel published images of the US soldiers who killed unarmed Afghan civilians.[153] ACER Aspire 7751G laptop keyboard
At the 2010 International Conference on Afghanistan in London, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he intends to reach out to the Taliban leadership (including Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar). Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Supported by NATO, Karzai called on the group's leadership to take part in a loya jirga meeting to initiate peace talks. These steps have resulted in an intensification of bombings, assassinations and ambushes.[154] TOSHIBA PK130BH2A00 laptop keyboard
Some Afghan groups (including the former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh and opposition leader Dr. Abdullah Abdullah) believe that Karzai plans to appease the insurgents' senior leadership at the cost of the democratic constitution, the democratic process and progress in the field of human rights especially women's rights.[155] Dr. Abdullah stated: TOSHIBA MP-09K53US6698 laptop keyboard
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, executive, legislative and judicial. The nation is currently led by Hamid Karzai as the President and leader since late 2001. The National Assembly is the legislature, abicameral body having two chambers, the House of the People and the House of Elders. Compaq Presario CQ35 laptop keyboard
The Supreme Court is led by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi, a former university professor who had been a legal advisor to the president.[172] The current court is seen as more moderate and led by more technocrats than the previous one, ACER Aspire 4810TZ-4011 Laptop Keyboard
which was dominated by fundamentalist religious figures such as Chief Justice Faisal Ahmad Shinwari who issued several controversial rulings, including seeking to place a limit on the rights of women. HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
According to Transparency International's corruption perceptions index 2010 results, Afghanistan was ranked as the third most-corrupt country in the world.[173] A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that bribery consumes an amount equal to 23% of the GDP of the nation.[174] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
A number of government ministries are believed to be rife with corruption, and while President Karzai vowed to tackle the problem in late 2009 by stating that "individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government",[175] tACER TravelMate 290 Laptop Keyboard
op government officials were stealing and misusing hundreds of millions of dollars through the Kabul Bank. Although the nation's institutions are newly formed and steps have been taken to arrest some,[176]the United States warned that aid to Afghanistan would be reduced to very little if the corruption is not stopped.[177] Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
The 2004 Afghan presidential election was relatively peaceful, in which Hamid Karzai won in the first round with 55.4% of the votes. However, the 2009 presidential election was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread electoral fraud.[178][179] DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
The vote, along with elections for 420 provincial council seats, took place in August 2009, but remained unresolved during a lengthy period of vote counting and fraud investigation.[180]
Two months later, under international pressure, a second round run-off vote between Karzai and remaining challengerAbdullah was announced, SONY VGN-FE21M Laptop Keyboard
but a few days later Abdullah announced that he is not participating in the 7 November run-off because his demands for changes in the electoral commission had not been met. The next day, officials of the election commission cancelled the run-off and declared Hamid Karzai as President for another 5-year term.[179] ACER TravelMate 2501LC Laptop Keyboard
In the 2005 parliamentary election, among the elected officials were former mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists, warlords, communists, reformists, and several Taliban associates.[181] In the same period, Afghanistan reached to the 30th nation in terms of female representation in parliament.[182] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
The last parliamentary election was held in September 2010, but due to disputes and investigation of fraud, the sworn in ceremony took place in late January 2011. After the issuance of computerized ID cards for the first time, ASUS F6VE Laptop Keyboard
which is a $101 million project that the Afghan government plans to start in 2012, it is expected to help prevent major fraud in future elections and improve the security situation.[183]
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