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Helmand (; Pashto/Dari: هلمند) or Hillmand〔 is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 districts, encompassing over 1,000 villages, and roughly 879,500 settled people.〔 Lashkar Gah serves as the provincial capital. Helmand was part of the ''Greater Kandahar'' region until made into a separate province by the Afghan government in the 20th century. The province has a domestic airport, located in the city of Lashkar Gah and is heavily used by NATO-led forces. The British Camp Bastion and U.S. Camp Leatherneck are located a short distance northwest of Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region of the province, providing water for irrigation. The Kajaki Dam, which is one of Afghanistan's major reservoirs, is located in the Kajaki district. Helmand is believed to be one of the world's largest opium-producing regions, responsible for around 80% of the world's total production.〔 〕〔 〕 This is believed to be more than the whole of Burma, which is the second largest producing nation after Afghanistan. The region also produces the following: tobacco, sugar beets, cotton, sesame, wheat, mung beans, maize, nuts, sun flowers, onions, potato, tomato, cauliflower, peanut, apricot, grape, and melon.〔 ==History== The Helmand river valley is mentioned by name in the Avesta (Fargard 1:13) as ''Haetumant'', one of the early centers of the Zoroastrian faith, in pre-Islamic Afghan history. However, owing to the preponderance of non-Zoroastrians before the Islamization of Afghanistan – particularly Hindus and Buddhists – the Helmand and Kabul regions were also known as "White India" in those days.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 1. )〕 Some Vedic scholars (e.g. Kochhar 1999) also believe the Helmand valley corresponds to the Sarasvati area mentioned in the ''Rig Veda'' as the homeland for the Indo-Aryan migrations into India, ca. 1500 BC.〔Kochhar, Rajesh, 'On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī' in Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts, Routledge (1999), ISBN 0-415-10054-2.〕 The area was part of Arachosia and a frequent target for conquest because of its strategic location in Asia, which connects Southern, Central and Southwest Asia. It was inhabited by ancient peoples and governed by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids. It was invaded in 330 BC by Alexander the Great and became part of the Seleucid Empire. Later, it came under the influence of the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected a pillar there with a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic. The territory was referred to as part of Zabulistan and ruled by the sun-worshipping Zunbils before the Muslim Arabs arrived in the 7th century, who were led by Abdur Rahman bin Samara. It later fell to the Saffarids of Zaranj and saw the first Muslim rule. Mahmud of Ghazni made it part of the Ghaznavids in the 10th century, who were replaced by the Ghurids. After the destructions caused by Genghis Khan and his Mongol army in the 13th century, the Timurids established rule and began rebuilding Afghan cities. From about 1383 until his death in 1407, it was governed by Pir Muhammad, a grandson of Timur. By the early 16th century, it fell to Babur. However, the area was often contested by the Shia Safavids and Sunni Mughals until the rise of Mir Wais Hotak in 1709. He defeated the Safavids and established the Hotaki dynasty. The Hotakis ruled it until 1738 when the Afsharids defeated Shah Hussain Hotaki at what is now Old Kandahar. In 1747, it finally submitted to Ahmad Shah Durrani and since then remained part of the modern state of Afghanistan. Some fighting took place during the 19th century Anglo-Afghan wars between the British and the local Afghans. In 1880, the British assisted the forces of Abdur Rahman Khan in re-establishing Afghan rule over the warring tribes. The area stayed calm for 100 years until the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Helmand was the center of the USAID program in the 1960s to develop the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) – it became known locally as "little America". The program laid out tree-lined streets in Lashkar Gah, built a network of irrigation canals and constructed a large hydroelectric dam. The development program was abandoned when pro-Soviet Union forces seized power in 1978, although much of the province is still irrigated by the HAVA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Helmand Province」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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