The land served as "a gateway to India, center of the ancient Silk Road in central Asia, connecting china to western Asia and Europe, which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China". Īfghanistan (meaning "land of the Afghans" or "Afghan land") has been a strategically important location throughout history. Since then, many empires have established capitals in Afghanistan, including the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Indo-Sassanids, Kabul Shahi, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Hotakis and Durranis. Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived at what is now Afghanistan in 330 BCE after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire during the Battle of Gaugamela. The Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up to large parts of Afghanistan in the north. The written recorded history of the land presently constituting Afghanistan can be traced back to around 500 BCE when the area was under the Achaemenid Empire, although evidence indicates that an advanced degree of urbanized culture has existed in the land since between 30 BCE.
Its history is tied to that of other countries in its region, mostly Pakistan, India, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The history of Afghanistan as a state began in 1823 as the Emirate of Afghanistan after the fall of the predecessor, the Afghan Durrani Empire, considered the founding state of modern Afghanistan. Present-day location of Afghanistan in Asia