Greater Khorasan

Greater Khorasan

Khorasan, also written as Khurasan, (Persian: خراسان بزرگ or خراسان کهن‎) is a historical region lying in the northeast of Persia that has been mentioned in various sources in the past. "In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the term "Khurassan" frequently had a much wider denotation, covering also parts of Central Asia and Afghanistan; early Islamic usage often regarded everywhere east of western Persia, sc. Djibal or what was subsequently termed 'Irak 'Adjami, as being included in a vast and ill-defined region of Khurasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and Sind." Before Islamization of the region, the inhabitants of Khorasan had mostly practiced Zoroastrianism but at different stages there were also various adherents of Manichaeism, Sun worshippers (Mithraism), Nestorianism, Paganism, Shamanism, Buddhism and a small number of Jews too.

Khorasan in its proper sense comprised principally the cities of Mashhad, Nishapur, Sabzevar and Kashmar (now in Iran), Balkh and Herat (now in Afghanistan), Merv, Nisa and Abiward (now in Turkmenistan), Samarqand and Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan). Some believe that at certain times Khorasan covered a much wider area, which included Transoxiana, Soghdiana, Sistan, and extending to the boundaries of India. However, when the Arabs first arrived to the area south of the Hindu Kush to defeat the Zunbils they recognized it as Hind (Sind) due to its cultural connection with Greater India. Sources from the 14th to the 16th century report that Kandahar, Zabulistan, Ghazni, Kabulistan, and Afghanistan formed a frontier between Khorasan and Hindustan.

In the Islamic period, Persian Iraq and Khorasan were the two important territories. The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Damghan. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs and Timurids divided their empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions. The adjective Greater is added these days to distinguish the historical region from the Khorasan province of Iran, which roughly encompasses the western half of the historical Khorasan.