The Wakhan Corridor and The Great Game (1813-1907)

[DonRocks]

So what on earth is this?

"The Great Game" (also known as "The Tournament of Shadows") was the struggle between the British Empire (depicted by the lion) and the Russian Empire (depicted by the bear) over Afghanistan - or, more precisely, dominance over Central Asia with Afghanistan happening to simply *be there*.

This occurred from:

1813 (*): The Russo-Persian Treaty (the "Treaty of Gulistan") 

until:

1907: The Anglo-Russian Convention (the "Anglo-Russian Entente")

Ever heard of the Emirate of Bukhara? No? That's because it's gone now, a victim of "The Great Game," or more precisely, the Bolsheviks, but it was a nation from 1785 until 1920; today, it has been carved up into parts of *five* different countries, all five of which end in "-stan." See what happens when the best-laid plans go to waste? Before the U.S.S.R. fell, it was part of them - the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic for a time - answering to the Kremlin in Moscow before it was disassembled and chopped up into parts of other Soviet Republics.

(*) - This book uses 1856 - The Anglo-Persian War - as the starting point, and you can be assured the author knows more than I do:

"The Great Game, 1856-1907: Russo-British Relations in Central and East Asia" by Dr. R. Charles Weller on history.ac.uk (a review of the book written by Evgeny Sergeev)

So, what is this "Wakhan Corridor" thing?

If you look at a map of Afghanistan, do you see something "odd" in the northeast?

That blue "thing," clutching onto China like a lobster claw, and separating Tajikstan from Pakistan, is the Wakhan Corridor:

It's one hell of a region. Why does it exist? Because of The Great Game. Marco Polo traversed it (I just had a flashback to my childhood in the swimming pool). The Wakhan Corridor - particularly the Wakhan Corridor Nature Refuge - is one of the most beautiful places on earth; also one of the most dangerous. It's a real pisser that I'll surely never get to see it in person - I guess I can always dream. The easiest way to get in is from the North; the easiest way to get out is in a coffin.