Badakhshan', a territory of Central Asia, lying between 36° and 38° N. lat., and 69° and 72° E. long., with the chain of the Hindu Kush on the S., and the Oxus, or Amu Darya, on the N. It is drained by the Kokcha, a head-stream of that river, and is famous throughout the East as a picturesque hill-country diversified with woods, rich pasture, and fertile, well-cultivated valleys, its surface varying from 500 to 15,600 feet above sea-level. Eastern travellers speak with rapture of its orchards, its fruits, flowers, and nightingales. It is rich too in mineral wealth—iron, rubies, and lapis-lazuli. Marco Polo was here in 1272-73; and Captain John Wood in the winter of 1837-38. Matveyeff saw part of the country in 1878. Faizabad (q.v.) is the capital. The inhabitants are largely Tajiks, an Aryan race speaking Persian. They are Mohammedans—Shiites in the mountains, and Sunnites in the plains. Their number is estimated at 100,000. The people of Badakhshan seem to have been always under the immediate rule of their own chiefs, at the head of whom is the Amir. They have generally, however, formed part of some great Asiatic empire. Thus, in the 18th century, Badakhshan belonged to the empire of Nadir Shah, after whose death it became subject to the Afghans. In 1823, however, the Uzbegs, under Murad Beg, taking advantage of the disturbed state of Afghanistan, defeated the tribes of Badakhshan in a pitched battle; and two years after, their subjection was completed. The conquerors treated them most harshly, demolishing their towns, and either selling them as slaves, or carrying them off to people the unhealthy swamps of Kunduz. On Murad's death in 1845, Badakhshan passed to another Uzbek. The Afghans, however, soon reasserted their claims, and in 1859 were about to annex Badakhshan, when the Amir agreed to pay an annual tribute. In 1863 Jahander Shah, the Amir of Badakhshan, was superseded by Mahommed Shah. This gave rise to a struggle which ended in Jahander's nephews acquiring dominion by means of Afghan help. In 1873 England and Russia discussed and agreed upon a frontier between Badakhshan and Afghanistan. In September 1887 the Amir strictly prohibited Russians from entering the country. Badakhshan is sometimes made to include Wakhan, on the Upper Oxus, between Badakhshan proper and the Pamir Steppe (see PAMIR, and the map at AFGHANISTAN). See Yule's Marco Polo (1871); Wood's Journey to the Source of the Oxus (new ed. 1872); and Vambéry's Central Asia (1874).