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Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (سَكستان, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (سِجِستان), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly corresponding to the then Achaemenid region of Drangiana and extending southwards of the Helmand River not far off from the city of Alexandria in Arachosia.N. Rüdiger Schmitt. [1]. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Originally Published: December 15, 1995. Largely desert, the region is bisected by the Helmand River, which empties into the Hamun Lake, located in Zabol, that forms part of the border between Iran and Afghanistan.
In the Shahnameh, Sistan is also known as Zabulistan, identified with the city of Zabol in present-day Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran. It is the legendary homeland of Rostam, the epic hero, and a vital center of Persian mythology. While historical Zabulistan extended into parts of modern-day Afghanistan, the Shahnameh presents it as an integral part of Greater Iran, rooted in Iranian cultural and literary identity.
Earlier the area was occupied by Iranian peoples Eventually a kingdom known as Arachosia was formed, parts of which were ruled by the Medes by 600 BC. The Medes were overthrown by the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC, and the rest Arachosia was soon annexed. The archaeological site of Dahan-e Gholaman was a major Achaemenid centre. In the 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great annexed the region during his conquest of the Empire and founded the colony of Alexandria in Arachosia. The city of Bost, now part of Lashkargah, was also developed as a Hellenistic centre.
Alexander's empire fragmented after his death, and Arachosia came under the control of the Seleucid Empire, which traded it to the Mauryan dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the fall of the Mauryans, the region fell to their Greco-Bactrian allies in 180 BC, before breaking away and becoming part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Parthian king Gondophares was the leader of Sakastan around c. 20–10 BCE as it was part of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom which was also called Gedrosia, its Hellenistic name.
After the mid 2nd century BC, much of the Indo-Greek Kingdom was overrun by tribes known as the Indo-Scythians or Saka, from which Sistan (from Sakastan) eventually derived its name.
Around 100 BC, the Indo-Scythians were defeated by Mithridates II of Parthia (r. c. 124–91 BCE) and the region of Sakastan was incorporated into the Parthian Empire., Parthian governors such as Tanlis Mardates ruled the land.
The Parthian Empire then briefly lost the region to its Suren vassals around 20 CE. The regions of Sistan, and Punjab region were ruled together by the Indo-Parthians. As the Kushan Empire expanded in the mid 1st century AD, the Indo-Parthian lost their Indian dominions and recentered on Turan and Sakastan.
The Kushans were defeated by the Sasanian Empire in the mid-3rd century, first becoming part of a vassal Kushanshah state before being overrun by the Hephthalites in the mid 5th century. Sassanid armies reconquered Sakastan in by 565, but lost the area to the Rashidun Caliphate after the mid 640s.
During his early reign, Shapur II (r. 309–379) appointed his brother Shapur Sakanshah as the governor of Sakastan. Peroz I (r. 459–484), during his early reign, put an end to dynastic rule in province by appointing a Karenid as its governor. The reason behind the appointment was to avoid further family conflict in the province, and in order to gain more direct control of the province.
In 650, Abd-Allah ibn Amir, after having secured his position in Kerman Province, sent an army under Mujashi ibn Mas'ud to Sakastan. After having crossed the Dasht-e Lut desert, Mujashi ibn Mas'ud arrived to Sakastan. However, he suffered a heavy defeat and was forced to retreat.
One year later, Abd-Allah ibn Amir sent an army under Rabi ibn Ziyad Harithi to Sakastan. After some time, he reached Zaliq, a border town between Kirman and Sakastan, where he forced the dehqan of the town to acknowledge Rashidun authority. He then did the same at the fortress of Karkuya, which had a famous fire temple, which is mentioned in the Tarikh-i Sistan. He then continued to seize more land in the province. He thereafter besieged Zaranj, and after a heavy battle outside the city, Aparviz and his men surrendered. When Aparviz went to Rabi to discuss about the conditions of a treaty, he saw that he was using the bodies of two dead soldiers as a chair. This horrified Aparviz, who in order to spare the inhabitants of Sakastan from the Arabs, made peace with them in return for heavy tribute, which included a tribute of 1,000 slave boys bearing 1,000 golden vessels. Sakastan was thus under the control of the Rashidun Caliphate.
During the First Fitna (656–661), the people of Zarang rebelled and defeated the Muslim garrison of the city. In 658, Yazdegerd III's son Peroz III reclaimed Sistan and established a kingdom there, known in Tang dynasty sources as the "Persian Area Command". However, in 663, he was forced to leave the region after suffering a defeat to newly established Umayyad Caliphate, who had succeeded the Rashiduns.
A year later in 1003, Sistan revolted. In response, Mahmud brought an army to suppress the revolt. Mahmud's Hindu troops sacked the mosques and churches of Zarang massacring the Muslims and Christians inside.C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids 994-1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 89.
The border was defined more precisely with the Second Sistan Boundary Commission (1903-1905) headed by Arthur Mac Mahon, who had a difficult task due to lack of natural boundaries. The part assigned Persia was included in the province of Balochistan (which took the name of Sistan and Baluchistan in 1986) with its capital at Zahedan. In Afghanistan it was part of the Sistan province of Farah-Chakansur that was abolished in the administrative reorganization of 1964 to form the province of Nimruz, with capital Zaranj.
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