Shibarghan
|
Sheberghan شبرغان |
|
|---|---|
| City | |
 Sheberghan
|
|
| Coordinates: 36°39′54″N 65°45′07.2″E / 36.66500°N 65.752000°ECoordinates: 36°39′54″N 65°45′07.2″E / 36.66500°N 65.752000°E | |
| Country |
 Afghanistan
|
| Province | Jowzjan Province |
| Elevation | 250 m (820 ft) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • City | 148,329 |
| • Urban | 175,599 |
| Time zone | Afghanistan Standard Time (UTC+4:30) |
Sheberghān or Shaburghān (Pastho, Persian: شبرغان), also spelled Shebirghan and Shibarghan, is the capital city of the Jowzjan Province in northern Afghanistan.
The city of Sheberghan has a population of 175,599. It has 4 districts and a total land area of 7,335 Hectar. The total number of dwellings in Sheberghan are 19,511.
Sheberghan is located along the Safid River banks, about 130 km (81 mi) west of Mazari Sharif on the national primary ring road Herat-Kandahar-Kabul-Mazari Sharif-Sheberghan-Maymana-Herat. Sheberghan airport is situated between Sheberghan and Aqchah.
City's name is corruption of the classical name, Shaporgân, "[king] Shapur town." The king is Shapur II or Saporis II, the Sassanian king of Persia. The city's name is similar to Peshawar, Beh Shapor, "the good deed of Shapor."
The city is the single most important Uzbek-dominated city in all of Afghanistan. But, although Uzbek is the mother language of a majority of the inhabitants, the city is multi-lingual. Large numbers of Tajiks, Hazaras, Pashtuns, and Arabs live in the city per se.
The Sheberghan "Arabs," however, are all Persian-speaking and have been so since time immemorial. However, they claim an Arab identity. There are other such Persian-speaking "Arabs" to the east, between Shebergan, Mazar-i Sharif, Kholm and Kunduz living in pockets. Their self-identification as Arabs is largely based on their tribal identity and may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.
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