Ghōr Province

Ghōr غور
Minaret of Jam, Shahrak District
Map of Afghanistan with Ghor highlighted
Coordinates (Capital): 34°N 65°E / 34°N 65°E / 34; 65Coordinates: 34°N 65°E / 34°N 65°E / 34; 65
Country	Afghanistan
Capital	Firuzkoh
Government
• Governor	Ghulam Nasir Khaze
Area
• Total	36,478.8 km2 (14,084.5 sq mi)
Population (2015)
• Total	700,296
• Density	19/km2 (50/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
ISO 3166 code	AF-GHO
Main languages	Hazaragi Dari Pashto

Ghōr (Pashto/Persian: غور‎‎), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in central Afghanistan, towards the north-west. The province contains ten districts, encompassing hundreds of villages, and approximately 657,200 settled people.Firuzkoh, (called Chaghcharan until 2014) serves as the capital of the province.

The name "Ghor" is a cognate to Avestan gairi-, Sanskrit giri- and Middle Persian gar, in modern Persian koh-, Sogdian gor-/gur-, in later developed Bactrian language as g´wrao- (also paravata), meaning "mountain", in modern Pashto as ghar-, in Pamir languages as gar- and ghalcca- ("mountain").

Mandesh is the historical name by which the mountain region of Ghor was called.

The inhabitants of Ghor were completely Islamized during the Ghurids era. Before the 12th century, the area was home to Hindus, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, and a small number of Jews. Remains of the oldest settlements discovered by Lithuanian archaeologists in 2007 and 2008 in Ghor date back to 5000 BC. Ruins of a few castles and other defense fortifications were also discovered in the environs of Chaghcharan. A Buddhist monastery hand-carved in the bluff of the river Harirud existed in the first centuries during the prevalence of Buddhism. The artificial caves revealed testimony of daily life of the Buddhist monks.