Badakhshan , historical region of NE Afghanistan , something like includes the northern reaches of the Hindu Kush and mostly drained by the Kowkcheh River. Mountain glaciers and glacial lakes are found at the higher elevations of the region.
The name Badakhshan first appears in Chinese writings of the 7th and 8th centuries Display , before which the area was successively ruled by Hephthalites, Turks and Arabs. From the 13th century ruled a local after several changes of ownership dynasty, those of Alexander the Great descended until the Timurids took over in the 15th century. In 1584 the Uzbeks conquered Badakhshān and it remained under local Uzbek Mīr ("leaders") until 1822, when Morād Beg of Kondūz overran it. In 1859, Badakhshān became a tributary of Kābul , and its Autonomy ended in 1881. A British-Russian Agreement (1895) described the Panj River as part of the Russian-Afghan border between Afghan Badakhshān and Russian Badakhshān in the Pamirs . After the Russian Revolution (1917) this Pamir region became the Autonomous Territory Gorno-Badakhshān , part of Tajik SSR (post-1991 Tajikistan). In 1979 Soviet military intervention, Afghan cities Feyẕābād and Eshkāshem, were conquered by Afghan guerrillas, and in 1980 the Soviets established a military command in Feyẕābād.
Farming is the main occupation in Badakhshān. Irrigation in the valleys allows for the cultivation of rice, wheat, corn, and cotton, while the hills produce barley and legumes. It also grows grapes, fruit trees, and nuts, and raises livestock for wool and hides. Several minerals exist in the region, including untapped sulfur deposits and Gems , below lapis lazuli quarried in Shar Shākh for more than 4,000 years.