14 Facts About Greater Khorasan

Greater Khorasan, or Khorasan, is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau between Western and Central Asia.

The name Greater Khorasan is Persian and means "where the sun arrives from" or "the Eastern Province".

Greater Khorasan is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the former Khorasan Province of Iran, which roughly encompassed the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan.

Greater Khorasan comprised the present territories of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and southern parts of Central Asia.

Greater Khorasan was first established as an administrative division in the 6th century by the Sasanians, during the reign of Kavad I or Khosrow I, which comprised the eastern and northeastern part of the empire.

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Greater Khorasan is believed to have been bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas, known as "the Gate of Greater Khorasan", from which it extended eastward to the mountains of central Afghanistan.

Under the Caliphs, Greater Khorasan was the name of one of the three political zones under their dominion .

Improper Greater Khorasan's boundaries extended to as far as Hazarajat and Kabul in the east, Baluchistan in the south, Transoxiana and Khwarezm in the north, and Damghan and Gorgan in the west.

However, the region of Greater Khorasan remained predominantly Zoroastrian but there were Manichaeists, sun worshippers, Christians, Pagans, Shamanists, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and others.

Since the Sasanian territories were more or less remained stable up to Islamic conquests, it can be concluded that Sasanian Greater Khorasan was bordered to the south by Sistan and Kerman, to the west by the central deserts of modern Iran, and to the east by China and India.

The last Sassanid king of Persia, Yazdgerd III, moved the throne to Greater Khorasan following the Arab invasion in the western parts of the empire.

However, the areas of Khorasan weren't conquered until c during the caliphate of Uthman .

Between the early 16th and early 18th centuries, parts of Greater Khorasan were contested between the Safavids and the Uzbeks.

Greater Khorasan artisans contributed to the spread of technology and goods along the ancient trade routes have been traced to this ancient culture, including art objects, textiles and zoomorphic metalworks.