Gold in Afghanistan: As I Suspected!

The news that there are massive deposits in mineral wealth in Afghanistan and that it could be turned into one of the world's richest mining centers does not surprise me at all. One of my favorite video games to play is the Europa Barbarorum mod of Rome: Total War, and my favorite faction to play is Baktria.

The key to playing Baktria, which is the name of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom that sprawled over the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world covering the regions Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BCE, is to build a gold mine. The major cities of Backtria all have the potential to build rich gold mines, and in the description section of these buildings you can see the research that people put into the game as a whole. You see, in Bactria and Sogdiana, which is today Afghanistan, there are considerable gold deposits, that were mined even in antiquity.

In ancient times, there were productive gold mines in Bactria, that produced much of the wealth that created an empire that was able to battle the Seleucids, Persians, and invaders from the East, and eventually crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered parts of India. It must have taken extensive wealth to build an empire in this area, and what made ancient empires rich was usually mineral wealth, so I always suspected at the size and extent and wealth that was generated by the gold mines in this region.

Herodotus wrote about the occurrence of gold near the Bactria and how it was mined by ants. The Persian Emperor Darius wrote about how 'gold was brought from Bactria.' Pliny may have mentioned it as well. The biggest problem is that archeology just hasn't been done in this area of the world, so although there are scattered references to the past mineral riches in Afghanistan, there is nothing solid. It was because of that vagueness that I've been bumming around on the internet recently, trying to track down more information on the gold that I suspected lay hidden in the hills and mountains of Afghanistan.

And now, it turns out, I was right! Just wanted to point that out to anyone who cared.