Fotos

Silk Road travel:
The several hamlets of Jamarj-e-Bala (Afghanistan, Badakhshan province) can be seen from the Tajik side of the Panj river. This village at 1660 m alt. is isolated and self-sustaining. As you can see, threshing is done with the help of oxen. At the lower right corner an irrigation ditch can be seen. Apple trees and Aspen are grown. What you don't see: it is 33°C warm and the mountains of the Hindukush are bone-dry for most of the year.

The villagers cannot cross the wild Panj river to reach the road on the Tajik side. Maybe this is easier to do in winter. The Afghanis share the same language (Tajik, closely related to Farsi in Iran) and religion (Ismailite Islam) with the inhabitants of the Tajik side of the Panj. The Panj river was not always the limit of an empire like it was for Alexander Makedon. During the reign of Shah Somoni of Bukhara (9th century) the Afghan and the Tajik parts of Badakhstan were united. At the time of the conquests by the Russian tsars, the Khanate of Bukhara still extended into the Pamir. The question comes up: did conquerors really bother about territories as inaccessible like the Panj valley?