Helmand River

"Hirmand" redirects here. For the administrative subdivision of Iran, see Hirmand County.
"Helmund" redirects here. For the province in Afghanistan, see Helmand Province.
Helmand
The Helmand and Boghra Canal
Helmand and Boghra Canal beyond it
Helmand drainage basin
Map of the Helmand drainage basin
Location
CountriesAfghanistan and Iran
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationHindu Kush mountains
Mouth 
 • location
Hamun Lake
Length1,150 km (710 mi)
Basin sizeSistan Basin
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftArghandab River
 • rightKhash River
Chagay River
Map

The Helmand river (Pashto/Dari: هیرمند / هلمند; Ancient Greek: Ἐτύμανδρος, Etýmandros; Latin: Erymandrus), also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand, is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin.[1] It originates in the Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern part of Maidan Wardak Province, where it is separated from the watershed of the Kabul River by the Unai Pass. The Helmand feeds into the Hamun Lake on the border of Afghanistan and Iran.

Etymology

The name comes from the Avestan Haētumant, literally "dammed, having a dam", which referred to the Helmand River and the irrigated areas around it.[2] The word Haetumant is cognate with Sanskrit Setumatī meaning "one which has a dam."[3][4]

Geography

Helmand River basin map

The Helmand stretches for 1,150 km (710 mi). It rises in the northeastern part of Maidan Wardak Province in the Hindu Kush mountains, about 40 km[5] west of Kabul (34°34′N 68°33′E / 34.567°N 68.550°E / 34.567; 68.550), flowing southwestward through Daykundi Province and Uruzgan Province. After passing through the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, it enters the desert of Dasht-e Margo, and then flows to the Sistan marshes and the Hamun-i-Helmand lake region around Zabol at the Afghan-Iranian border (31°9′N 61°33′E / 31.150°N 61.550°E / 31.150; 61.550). A few smaller rivers such as Tarnak and Arghandab flow into Helmand.[6]

This river, managed by the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority, is used extensively for irrigation, although a buildup of mineral salts has decreased its usefulness in watering crops. For much of its length, the Helmand is free of salt.[7] Its waters are essential for farmers in Afghanistan, but it feeds into the Hamun Lake and is also important to farmers in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province.

A number of hydroelectric dams have created artificial reservoirs on some of the Afghanistan's rivers including the Kajaki Dam on the Helmand River. The chief tributary of the Helmand river, the Arghandab River (confluence at 31°27′N 64°23′E / 31.450°N 64.383°E / 31.450; 64.383), also has a major dam, north of Kandahar.

History

The Helmand valley region is mentioned by name in the Avesta (Fargard 1:13) as the Aryan land of Haetumant, one of the early centres of the Zoroastrian faith in areas that are now Afghanistan. However, by the late first millennium BC and early first millennium AD, the preponderance of communities of Hindus and Buddhists in the Helmand and Kabul valleys led to Parthians referring to it as India.[8][9][10][11] From 1758 to 1842, the Helmand formed the northern borders of the Brahui Khanate of Kalat.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "History of Environmental Change in the Sistan Basin 1976 - 2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  2. ^ Jack Finegan. Myth & Mystery: An Introduction to the Pagan Religions of the Biblical World. Baker Books, 1997. ISBN 0-8010-2160-X, 9780801021602
  3. ^ Etymology wiktionary.org
  4. ^ Wiktionary
  5. ^ "HELMAND RIVER i. GEOGRAPHY – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  6. ^ "Helmand River | river, Central Asia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  7. ^ "Helmand River". www.cawater-info.net. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  8. ^ "Parthian Stations".
  9. ^ Vendidad 1, at Avesta.org
  10. ^ Beyond is Arachosia, 36 schoeni. And the Parthians call this White India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus. As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians.
  11. ^ Avesta, translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898)
  12. ^ Dashti, Naseer (2012). The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State. Trafford. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-4669-5896-8.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helmand River.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Helmund".