Herat, Western Afghanistan

Now the principal city of Northwest Afghanistan, Hear was founded by Alexander the Great, who built it around 328 BC on the site of the ancient city of Artakana. The Mongols invaded Afghanistan early in the 13th century, and both Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane (Timur), who added it to his empire in 1383, wreaked havoc upon the city. Herat, however, recovered and experienced a period of splendour under Timur's successor, Shah Rukh, who established the Timurid capital there (1404-1507). During the 16th and 17th centuries region owed allegiance to the Safavids of Persia (Iran), and even today the language spoken here is Dari, a dialect of Persian. For a time an independent Afghan kingdom, Herat became part of Afghanistan in 1861.

Herat is strategically located on the trade and migration route from the Mediterranean to Asia, in a valley just north of the Hari Rud, about 915 m above sea level. The city has long been known as a centre of art and learning. Mosques, minarets, shrines and other monuments testify to the glory of the days gone by, when art, literature and refinement attained a high degree of perfection. Herat is famous for its silks and carpets and is a trade centre for the fruits, hides, and wool produced in the surrounding agricultural area. It has a population of around 175000 and includes Tajiks, Turkmen and Uzbeks.

However, the city suffered during the Soviet occupation and with their so-called "War on Terrorism" Americans have been bombing the city, dropping cluster bombs, among other things. How much of what I photographed in late 1973 is still there? And what has happened to these people or their children?

	View of the Masjid-e-Jami	Masjid-e-Jami	Chai-kana, tea house	Preparing grain
	Father and daughter	Citadel of Herat	Decorated truck	Boys flying kites
	Open air shop	Offloading camel	Herat Street	Boys from Herat

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