Jowzjan Province

{{pp|small=yes}} {{Short description|Province of Afghanistan}} {{Redirect|Jowzjan|the historical region|Guzgan|the university|Jowzjan University|the village in Iran|Jowzjan, Iran}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Jowzjan | official_name = Jowzan Province | native_name = {{nq|جوزجان}} | native_name_lang = prs | settlement_type = Province | image_skyline = Power plant outside of Sheberghan.jpg | image_alt = | image_caption = Landscape of Jowzjan | image_flag = | flag_alt = | image_seal = | seal_alt = | image_shield = | shield_alt = | nickname = | motto = | image_map = Jowzjan in Afghanistan.svg | map_alt = | map_caption = Map of Afghanistan with Jowzjan highlighted | pushpin_map = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|36.75|66.00|region:AF_type:adm1st|display=inline,title}} | coor_pinpoint = | coordinates_footnotes = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Afghanistan}} | established_title = | established_date = | founder = | seat_type = Capital | seat = Sheberghan | government_footnotes = | leader_party = Taliban | leader_title = Governor | leader_name = Gul Haidar Shafiq<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pajhwok.com/2023/05/04/governors-police-chiefs-appointed-in-major-reshuffle/ |title=Governors, security chiefs appointed in major reshuffle |work=Pajhwok Afghan News |date=4 May 2023 |access-date=2025-01-27}}</ref> | leader_title1 = Deputy Governor | leader_name1 = Maulvi Gul Mohammad<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pajhwok.com/ps/2022/03/04/%d9%be%d9%87-%db%8c%d9%88-%d8%b4%d9%85%db%8c%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%88%d8%8c-%d9%82%d9%88%d9%84-%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%af%d9%88-%da%ab%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%88-%d8%a7%d9%88-%d9%88%d9%84/|title=په یو شمیر وزارتونو، قول اردو ګانو او ولایتونو کې نوې ټاکنې وشوې|first=جاويد هميم|last=کاکړ|date=March 4, 2022|via=pajhwok.com}}</ref> | unit_pref = Metric | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 11798.3 | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_water_percent = | area_note = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | population_total = 613,481 | population_as_of = 2021 | population_footnotes = <ref name="nsia">{{Cite web |date=April 2021 |title=Estimated Population of Afghanistan 2021-22 |url=https://www.nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Estimated-Population-of-Afghanistan1-1400.pdf |access-date=June 29, 2021 |website=nsia.gov.af |publisher=National Statistic and Information Authority (NSIA) |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204559/https://www.nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Estimated-Population-of-Afghanistan1-1400.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> | population_density_km2 = auto | population_demonym = | population_note = | timezone1 = Afghanistan Time | utc_offset1 = +04:30 | timezone1_DST = | utc_offset1_DST = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 19xx | area_code = | area_code_type = | iso_code = AF-JOW | unemployment_rate = | blank_name_sec1 = Main languages | blank_info_sec1 = Dari Pashto Turkmen Uzbek | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Jowzjan''' (Pashto{{efn|{{IPA|ps|d͡ʒoz.d͡ʒɑn}}}}, Dari{{efn|{{IPA|prs|d͡ʒoːz.d͡ʒɑːn}}}}: جوزجان), also known as '''Jawzjan''' or '''Jozjan''', and historically known as '''Gowzgan''' or '''Guzgan''', is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province is divided into 11 districts and contains hundreds of villages. It has a population of about 613,481 residents,<ref name=nsia/> which is a multi-ethnic society. Sheberghan is the capital of Jowzjan province.

==Etymology== It is thought that the name is an Arabicized version of the Persian word gowzgān (گوزگان), "(Land of) Walnuts". As the Arabic language lacks the /g/ sound, in which it tends to be replaced with the /d͡ʒ/ sound.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Everett-Heath |first=John |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191882913.001.0001/acref-9780191882913;jsessionid=A5E3E9F270D8E347DE72DA464C240E7B |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names |date=2019-10-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-188291-3 |language=en-US |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191882913.001.0001}}</ref>

==History== {{Further|History of Afghanistan}} The province is named after the early medieval region and principality of Juzjan. In the earlier section of the 7th Century, the region of Jowzan was counted as part of Tokharistan. According to legal documents that date to the late 7th and early 8th centuries, the area was under the rule of a local family that used the country Gozgan as the dynastic name. Several are named, including Zhulad Gozgan, and Skag Gozgan, presumably one of his successors. The Kingdom of Rob, in which numerous documents in Bactrian language were found, was located to the southeast of the Kingdom of Guzgan. Between the early 16th century and mid-18th century, the area was ruled by the Khanate of Bukhara. It was conquered by Ahmad Shah Durrani and became part of the Durrani Empire in or about 1750, which formed to the modern state of Afghanistan.

===Recent history=== Between 1958<ref>[https://statoids.com/uaf.html Statoids: Provinces of Afghanistan]</ref> and 1964,<ref>[https://pahar.in/pahar/Books%20and%20Articles/Afghanistan/1979%20Historical%20and%20Political%20Gazetteer%20of%20Afghanistan%20Vol%204%20Mazar-i-Sharif%20s.pdf Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. 4], 1979</ref> the province of Sheberghan was carved out of the western parts of the province of Mazar-e Sharif, also known as Turkestan. On 30 April 1964, when Afghanistan was reorganised into 29 provinces, replacing the previous system of fewer but larger administrative units, the province was renamed to ''Jowzjan''.<ref>[https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1604&context=kabultimes ''Kabul Times''], 30 April 1964, p. 1.</ref>

Following a series of changing allegiances and falling out with Uzbek warlord Abdul Malik Pahlawan in 1997, the Taliban withdrew from the area, but in 1998 a contingent of 8,000 Taliban fighters pressed through neighboring Faryab, seizing Abdul Rashid Dostum's headquarters in Sheberghan.<ref name="Goodson2001">{{cite book|author=Larry P. Goodson|title=Afghanistan's endless war: state failure, regional politics, and the rise of the Taliban|url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good|url-access=registration|access-date=30 March 2011|year=2001|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98050-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good/page/79 79]–}}</ref> [[File:A platoon of Afghan Border Police wait for their graduation ceremony to begin at Regional Training Center Sheberghan.jpg|thumb|left|NATO-trained Afghan Border Force in Sheberghan]]

A Swedish-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which was based in Mazar-e-Sharif since about 2005 and responsible for four provinces including Jowzjan, established an office and some troops in the province. Security situation in the province has rapidly deteriorated in 2009 and 2010. A new Turkish PRT was also established in the province in the summer of 2010, providing security to the area which also covered Sar-e Pol. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANFS) began expanding in the last decade and gradually took over security from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border is maintained by the Afghan Border Force while law and order for the rest of the province is provided by the Afghan National Police.

Although it was regarded as a relatively secured place compared to some other provinces of Afghanistan, there was an increasing number of incidents particularly in Darzab, Qosh Tepa and Fayzabad districts. The Mazar-e-Sharif-Sheberghan highway (called Aqyol) had turned into a dangerous traveling route because of militants carrying out attacks, mainly against government forces.

In April 2012, construction of a mega power network with power pylons carrying 500 megawatts of electricity from neighboring Turkmenistan started in the province; the project is supported by Turkmenistan and Turkey. Initial work on the $390 million project had already been completed. Turkmenistan began installing power pylons over a distance of 374 kilometres on its soil toward the Afghanistan border.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wadsam.com/power-network-in-jawzjan/ |title=Power Network in Jawzjan | Wadsam |access-date=2012-08-07 |archive-date=2014-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113091539/http://www.wadsam.com/power-network-in-jawzjan/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The network supplies electricity to many areas in Jowzjan, Balkh, Sar-e Pol, Faryab and Kabul provinces.

==Geography== {{Further|Geography of Afghanistan|Demography of Afghanistan}} Jowzjan is situated in the northern part of Afghanistan, bordering Turkmenistan in the north, Balkh province in the east, Sar-e Pol province in the south and Faryab province in the west. Jowzjan province covers an area of 10,326 km2. More than one quarter of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain (29.4%), while more than two thirds of the area is made up of flat land (68.9%). It is one of the provinces known to contain petroleum and natural gas. Mining and agriculture are the main industries.

==Administrative divisions== 250px|thumb|Map of the districts of Jowzjan as of January 2004, prior to the redrawing of provincial and district boundaries later that year {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Districts of Jowzjan Province |- !District !Capital !Population !Area !Pop. density !Ethnicity and notes |- |Aqcha || || 87,265 || 611 || 143 || Predominantly Uzbek, few Pashtun. |- |Darzab || || 55,635 || 489 || 114 || Predominantly Uzbek, few Pashtun. |- |Fayzabad || || 47,032 || 824 || 57 || 50% Uzbek, 20% Turkmen, 20% Tajik, 10% Pashtun. |- |Khamyab || || 15,811 || 912 || 17 || Predominantly Turkmen. |- |Khaniqa || || 26,306 || 341 || 77 || Predominantly Uzbek, few Pashtuns. Used to belong to Aqcha District. |- |Khwaja Du Koh || || 30,424 || 2,042 || 15 || Mixed Uzbeks, Afsharid Turkmen and Tajik. |- |Mardyan || || 43,577 || 657 || 66 || Predominantly Pashtun, few Turkmen. |- |Mingajik || || 48,493 || 907 || 53 || Mixed Uzbek and Pashtun. |- |Qarqin || || 28,243 || 981 || 29 || Predominantly Turkmen. |- |Qosh Tepa || || 26,572 || 883 || 30 || Mixed Uzbek and Pashtun. Used to belong to Darzab District. |- |Sheberghan || Sheberghan || 192,724 || 1,951 || 99 || Majority Uzbek and Farsiwan, minority Pashtun and Hazara. |- bgcolor="#d3d3d3" |'''Jowzjan''' | |'''602,082''' |'''11,292''' |'''53''' |50.8% Uzbeks, 19.3% Pashtuns, 14.4% Tajiks 10.5% Turkmens (1.7% Afsharids), 4.8% Hazaras.{{refn|group=note|Note: "Predominantely" or "dominated" is interpreted as 99%, "majority" as 70%, "mixed" as 1/(number of ethnicities), "minority" as 30% and "few" or "some" as 1%.}} |} {{reflist|group=note}}

==Demographics== ===Population=== 2022 estimates suggest that Jowzjan has a population of around 613,481 residents.<ref name=nsia />

===Ethnicity, languages and religions=== The population belongs to the nation's various ethnic groups with the majority being ethnic Turkmen and Uzbeks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.umt.edu/mansfield/dclcp/Provinces/jowzjan.aspx |title=Jowzjan Province - Powerpoint Overview |publisher=The University of Montana |date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701044041/http://www.umt.edu/mansfield/dclcp/Provinces/jowzjan.aspx |archive-date=1 July 2012 |quote=Although it has a probable Uzbek majority, Jowzjan also has substantial numbers of Turkmen, Pashtuns and Tajiks.}}</ref> Approximately 39.5% of the population speaks Uzbek, 28.7% speaks Turkmen, 17.2% speak Pashto, 12.1% speaks Dari and 2.5% speaks other languages. Around 14.1% of the population lived below the national poverty line.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nynR_73lsuYC&pg=PA255|title = Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field|isbn = 9781849042260|last1 = Giustozzi|first1 = Antonio|date = August 2012| publisher=Hurst }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; width:100%; margin:0" |+ Estimated ethnolinguistic and -religious composition ! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Ethnicity ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Uzbek ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Turkmen ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Pashtun ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Tajik/ Farsiwan ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Hazara ! rowspan="2" style="width:4.6em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | Others ! rowspan="2" style="width:3em; background-color:#d8f3d8;" | ''Sources'' |- ! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#ddf;" | Period |} {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; width:100%; margin:0" |- style="background-color:#e6f2ff;" ! style="width:7.5em; background-color:#ddf;" | 2004–2021 (Islamic Republic) | style="width:4.6em;" | 40 – 50% | style="width:4.6em;" | 29 – 30% | style="width:4.6em;" | ≤17% | style="width:4.6em;" | 12 – 15% | style="width:4.6em;" | ≤5% | style="width:4.6em;" | ∅ | style="width:3em;" | |-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;" | 2020 EU<ref>{{cite web |date=2020 |title=Country Guidance: Afghanistan. Common analysis and guidance note |url=https://www.euaa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Country_Guidance_Afghanistan_2020_0.pdf |publisher=European Union Agency for Asylum |access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref> | 1st | 2nd | – | – | – | – |-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;" | 2018 UN<ref name="unama">{{cite web |last=Ramizpoor |date=2018 |title=Afghan People's Dialogue on Peace: Local Road Maps for Peace – Kabul and Surrounding Provinces |url=https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/afghan_peoples_dialogue_34_roadmaps_on_peace_english.pdf |publisher=United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan |access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref> | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅{{efn|incl. Arab.}} |-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;" | 2015 CSSF{{efn|Demographic information is based on data from 2015.}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=State of Families CSSF Report: Jowzjan, Afghanistan|url=https://profajames.com/state-of-families-cssf-report-jowzjan-afghanistan-2024/ |date=2024-02-25 |access-date=2025-11-25 }}</ref> | 50% | 30% | ∅ | 15% | 5% | ∅{{efn|incl. Aimaq, Baloch, Nuristani.}} |-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;" | 2015 CP<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kabul Province - Afghanistan National Drug Use Survey |url=https://www.colombo-plan.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Afghanistan-National-Drug-Use-Survey-2015-compressed.pdf |access-date=13 December 2025 }}</ref> | 40% | 29% | 17% | 12% | – | ∅{{efn|incl. Arab.}} |-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;" | 2011 USA<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Army Afghanistan Smart Book, Third Edition |url=https://info.publicintelligence.net/AfghanSmartBook.pdf |date=January 2011 |access-date=15 December 2025}}</ref> | 40% | 29% | 17% | 12% | – | – |-style="background-color:#E6E6E6;" | 2011 PRT<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan Provincial Reconstruction Team|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA550604.pdf |date=February 2011 |access-date=2025-11-25 }}</ref> | 39.5% | 28.7% | 17.2%{{efn|excl. Kochi.}} | 12.1% | – | – |} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; table-layout:fixed; margin:0" | '''Legend:''' <ul style="margin:0; padding-left:1.2em; list-style-position:inside;"> <li>'''∅:''' Ethnicity mentioned in source but not quantified</li> <li>'''–:''' Ethnicity not mentioned specifically</li> <li>'''Source abbreviations:''' {{font color|bg=#CCCCCC|text=Empirical sources: –}}, {{font color|bg=#E6E6E6|text=Government sources: CP – Colombo Plan, EU – European Union Agency for Asylum, PRT – Provincial Reconstruction Team of the United States government, UN – United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan}}, {{font color|bg=#FFFFFF|text=Editorial sources: CSSF – Center for the Scientific Study of Families, ISW – Institute for the Study of War, NPS – Naval Postgraduate School, UCD – University of California, Davis,{{efn|Produced at UCD as part of the ''Regional Rural Economic Regeneration Strategies'' subproject of the ''eAfghan Ag'' project, supported by USAID.<ref>[https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/221411481792470877/pdf/SFG2759-EA-P159291-Box396338B-PUBLIC-Disclosed-12-13-2016.pdf World Bank Group]</ref>}} USA – United States Army}}</li> </ul> |}

===Education=== {{Further|Education in Afghanistan}} The overall literacy rate (6+ years of age) fell from 31% in 2005 to 16% in 2011.<ref name="cimicweb.org"/> The overall net enrolment rate (6–13 years of age) increased from 40% in 2005 to 46% in 2011.<ref name="cimicweb.org"/> The primary school numbers in the province as of 2011 accounts for 116 (2011). [https://knoema.com/atlas/Afghanistan/Jowzjan]

===Health=== {{Further|Health in Afghanistan}} The percentage of households with clean drinking water increased from 24% in 2005 to 44% in 2011.<ref name="cimicweb.org">Archive, Civil Military Fusion Centre, {{cite web|url=https://www.cimicweb.org/AfghanistanProvincialMap/Pages/Jowzjan.aspx |title=Pages - Jowzjan |access-date=2014-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531142618/https://www.cimicweb.org/AfghanistanProvincialMap/Pages/Jowzjan.aspx |archive-date=2014-05-31 }}</ref> The percentage of births attended to by a skilled birth attendant increased from 9% in 2005 to 21% in 2011.<ref name="cimicweb.org"/>

==Notable people== * Zhulād of Gōzgān, ruler of the mid 7th century, in the region of Guzgan, then part of Tokharistan * Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani, 9th century Muslim scholar, student of ibn Hanbal * Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani, from the 11th century, the famous pupil of Avicenna, was from this region, hence his name * Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (born 1193), thirteenth-century chronicler of India * Abdul Rashid Dostum, Vice President of Afghanistan, is from Hodja Dukhu{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} village of this province * Qari Hekmat, leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Darzab District. * Abdul Salam Hanafi, Acting Second Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan.

==See also== * Al-Juzjani * Provinces of Afghanistan

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Jowzjan Province}} *{{YouTube|v36sg2SiKm4|Jawzjan Province Beauties}} *{{Cite news |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/provincial-192783 |title=Jowzjan to Establish Large-Scale Industrial Park on 1,000 Acres |work=TOLOnews |date=27 January 2025}}

{{Geographic location |Centre = Jowzjan Province |North = Lebap Province, {{flag|Turkmenistan}} |Northeast = |East = Balkh Province |Southeast = |South = Sar-e Pol Province |Southwest = |West = Faryab Province |Northwest = }}

Category:Jowzjan Province Category:Provinces of Afghanistan Category:Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan