Greater KhorasanGreater Khorāsān, or Khorāsān (Xwarāsān; xoɾɒːˈsɒːn) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau between Western and Central Asia. The name Khorāsān is Persian (from Bactrian Miirosan) meaning "where the sun arrives from" or "the Eastern Province". The name was first given to the eastern province of Persia (Ancient Iran) during the Sasanian Empire and was used from the late Middle Ages in distinction to neighbouring Transoxiana.
Abbasid RevolutionThe Abbasid Revolution (ath-thawra al-ʿAbbāsiyya), also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment (حركة رجال الثياب السوداء ḥaraka rijāl ath-thiyāb as-sawdāʾ), was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in Islamic history, by the third, the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517 CE). Coming to power three decades after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyads were an Arab empire ruling over a population which was overwhelmingly non-Arab.
TransoxianaTransoxiana or Transoxania ("Land beyond the Oxus") is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Turkmenistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. Geographically, it is the region between the rivers Amu Darya to its south and the Syr Darya to its north. Historically known in Persian as (فرارود, fæɾɒːˈɾuːd̪ – 'beyond the [Amu] river'), (Фарорӯд), and (Варазрӯд), the area had been known to the ancient Iranians as Turan, a term used in the Persian national epic Shahnameh.
MawlaMawlā (مَوْلَى, plural mawālī مَوَالِي), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the term originally applied to any form of tribal association. In the Quran and hadiths it is used in a number of senses, including 'Lord', 'guardian', 'trustee', and 'helper'. After Muhammad's death, this institution was adapted by the Umayyad dynasty to incorporate new converts to Islam into Arab-Muslim society and the word mawali gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab Muslims in the early Islamic caliphates.
History of IranThe history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the Indus river and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Steppe in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in the south. Central to this area is Iran, commonly known until the mid-20th century as Persia in the Western world. Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC.
MervMerv ( Merw, Мерв, مرو; مرو, Marv), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria (Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and Marw al-Shāhijān, was a major Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today's Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium BC until the 18th century AD. It changed hands repeatedly throughout history. Under the Achaemenid Empire, it was the centre of the satrapy of Margiana.
NishapurInfobox settlement | official_name = Neyshabur | native_name = | settlement_type = City | other_name = Raēvant (), Abarshahr (), Shadiyakh () | image_skyline = Nishapur, officially romanized as Neyshabur, (; from Middle Persian "New-Shapuhr", meaning: "The New City of Shapur", "The Fair Shapur", or "The Perfect built of Shapur") is the second-largest city of Razavi Khorasan Province in the Northeast of Iran.
BalkhBalkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya river and the Uzbekistan border. Its population was recently estimated to be 138,594. Balkh was historically an ancient place of religions, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and one of the wealthiest and largest cities of Greater Khorasan, since the latter's earliest history. The city was known to Persians as Zariaspa and to the Ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria (Greeks called the city also Zariaspa).