Support HistoryMaps

Settings

Dark Mode

Voice Narration

3D Map

MapStyle
HistoryMaps Last Updated: 02/01/2025

© 2025 HM


AI History Chatbot

Ask Herodotus

Play Audio

Instructions: How it Works


Enter your Question / Request and hit enter or click the submit button. You can ask or request in any language. Here are some examples:


  • Quiz me on the American Revolution.
  • Suggest some books on the Ottoman Empire.
  • What were the causes of the Thirty Year's War?
  • Tell me something interesting about the Han Dynasty.
  • Give me the phases of the Hundred Years’ War.
herodotus-image

Do you have a question about History?


ask herodotus

History of Afghanistan

Achaemenid Empire in Afghanistan

© Johnny Shumate

History of Afghanistan

Achaemenid Empire in Afghanistan

550 BCE Jan 1 - 331 BCE
Bactra, Afghanistan
Achaemenid Empire in Afghanistan
Achaemenid Persians and Median © Johnny Shumate

Following its conquest by Darius I of Persia, Afghanistan was absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire and segmented into satrapies governed by satraps. Key satrapies included Aria, roughly aligning with present-day Herat Province, bordered by mountain ranges and deserts separating it from neighboring regions, extensively documented by Ptolemy and Strabo. Arachosia, corresponding to areas around modern Kandahar, Lashkar Gah, and Quetta, neighbored Drangiana, Paropamisadae, and Gedrosia. Its residents, the Iranian Arachosians or Arachoti, are speculated to have links to the ethnic Pashtun tribes, historically referred to as Paktyans.


Bactriana, positioned north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs, and south of the Tian Shan with the Amu Darya river coursing west through Balkh, was a significant Achaemenid territory. Sattagydia, described by Herodotus as part of the empire's Seventh tax district alongside Gandārae, Dadicae, and Aparytae, likely extended east of the Sulaiman Mountains to the Indus River, near today's Bannu. Gandhara, matching the areas of contemporary Kabul, Jalalabad, and Peshawar, further delineated the empire's extensive reach.

Page Last Updated: 10/13/2024

Support HistoryMaps

There are several ways to support the HistoryMaps Project.

Shop Now
Donate
Say Thanks