Polity · 1828 CE – 1925 CE
Emirate of Afghanistan
امارت افغانستان · د افغانستان امارت · إمارة أفغانستان
- Peak recorded area
- 884,104 km²
- 1828 CE
- Data series
- 41
- 1828 CE–1925 CE
Overview
The Emirate of Afghanistan, known as the Principality of Kabul before 1834, and as the Emirate of Kabul until 1855, and also referred to as the Sublime State of Afghanistan, and the God-Given State of Afghanistan, was an emirate in Central Asia that encompassed present-day Afghanistan, as well as parts of present-day Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The emirate emerged from its predecessor, the Durrani Empire, after the Barakzai dynasty prevailed in Kabul.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
16 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 4 further extents, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 1925 CE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 14 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| City Pop Kandahar9 obs · 1738 CE–1900 CE | 31Kpersons1900 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| City Pop Kabul8 obs · 1750 CE–1900 CE | 70Kpersons1900 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| Population8 obs · 1700 CE–1920 CE | 12Kthousands1920 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Urban Population7 obs · 1919 CE–1925 CE | 0persons1925 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| City Pop Herat5 obs · 1800 CE–1845 CE | 21Kpersons1845 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| Urbanization Ratio4 obs · 1700 CE–1900 CE | 0.0626ratio1900 CE · Clio-Infra |
Economy
6 of 8 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita PPP126 obs · 1800 CE–1925 CE | 906.8int'l $ (inflation adj.)1925 CE · Gapminder |
| Income Inequality Gini3 obs · 1870 CE–1910 CE | 42.48gini (0-1)1910 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Agriculture Intensity | 6ordinal1890 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
| Subsistence Agriculture | 6ordinal1890 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
| Subsistence Fishing | 0ordinal1890 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
| Subsistence Gathering | 0ordinal1890 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
Military
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| CINC Score7 obs · 1919 CE–1925 CE | 0.0035CINC (share of world capability)1925 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption6 obs · 1920 CE–1925 CE | 0coal-ton equivalents1925 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production6 obs · 1920 CE–1925 CE | 0tons1925 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel6 obs · 1920 CE–1925 CE | 76Kpersons1925 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
Territory & resources
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Coal Production26 obs · 1900 CE–1925 CE | 0TWh1925 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Gas Production26 obs · 1900 CE–1925 CE | 0TWh1925 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
Governance
6 of 8 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Electoral Democracy Index137 obs · 1789 CE–1925 CE | 0.111index (0-1)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index137 obs · 1789 CE–1925 CE | 0.071index (0-1)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index137 obs · 1789 CE–1925 CE | 0.041index (0-1)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Rule Of Law Index137 obs · 1789 CE–1925 CE | 0.383index (0-1)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Polity2126 obs · 1800 CE–1925 CE | -6index (-10 to 10)1925 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Regime Type26 obs · 1900 CE–1925 CE | 0RoW index (0-3)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
Development
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index137 obs · 1789 CE–1925 CE | 0.262index (0-1)1925 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Tech Newspaper Circulation7 obs · 1919 CE–1925 CE | 0circulation1925 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Radios7 obs · 1919 CE–1925 CE | 0count1925 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Numeracy3 obs · 1900 CE–1920 CE | 53.49ABCC index1920 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Class Stratification | 2ordinal1890 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- Arabic, Pashto, Persian
- Currency
- Afghan rupee, afghani (AFN)
Memberships
- Turkey–Afghanistan Defense Pact (1921)Military alliance · member1921 CE – 1928 CE
- Iran–Afghanistan Non-Aggression Pact (1921)Historical alliance · member1921 CE – 1937 CE
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban PopulationChandler 1987 / Modelski 2003
Chandler, T. (1987). Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth; Modelski, G. (2003). World Cities: -3000 to 2000.
Compiled from published works (Chandler 1987; Modelski 2003)
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock)Ethnographic Atlas (D-PLACE 2.3)
Kirby, K.R. et al. (2016). D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS ONE 11(7).
CC BY 4.0
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
Our World in Data (2024). Energy dataset. Based on Energy Institute & Ember.
CC BY 4.0
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Emirate of Afghanistan is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.