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Andkhui

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a town and khanate in Afghan Turkestan. The town (said to have been founded by Alexander the Great) stands between the northern spurs of the Paropamisus and the Oxus; it is loo m. due west of Balkh on the edge of the Turkman desert. The khanate is of importance as being one of the most northern in Afghanistan, on the Russian border. Until 1820 it was subject to Bokhara, but in that year Mahmud Khan besieged it for four months, took it by storm and left it a heap of ruins. To preserve himself from utter destruction the khan threw himself into the arms of the Afghans. The tract in which Andkhui stands is fertile, but proverbially unhealthy; the Persians account it "a hell upon earth" by reason of its scorching sands, brackish water, flies and scorpions. The population, estimated at 15,000, consists principally of Turkmans with a mixture of Uzbegs and a few Tajiks. The district was allotted to Afghanistan by the RussoAfghan boundary commission of 1885.