Khurasan

Khurasan, or Khorasan, is a historical region in the eastern part of the Iranian plateau and beyond, traditionally defined as the eastern territory of Greater Iran. The name, from Persian khorāsān, literally means "land of the rising sun." In medieval and early modern geography, Greater Khorasan extended over parts of present-day northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Central Asia.

Historically, Khorasan was a major cultural and political arena. It was a crossroads of trade routes including the Silk Road, and it produced influential centers of learning and poetry. Cities such as Nishapur, Merv, Balkh, Herat, and, later, Mashhad (in the Iranian province of Razavi Khorasan) were important urban centers. The region was ruled by various dynasties and empires, including several Iranian- and Turkic-speaking polities, and it often served as a frontier zone between Persianate and Central Asian polities.

In modern times, the term persists in two senses. In Iran, Khorasan is subdivided into three provinces: Razavi Khorasan (whose capital is Mashhad), North Khorasan (Bojnord), and South Khorasan (Birjand). In Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, the historic name remains common in cultural and historical contexts, though administrative boundaries have changed.

The concept of Khorasan has also appeared in literature and folklore as a broader East Iranian homeland, and it remains a reference point for discussions of Persianate culture and the history of Central Asia. Border definitions have varied across eras, and the term today is largely historical and cultural rather than a single contemporary political unit.