Bamyan Province

Bamyan Province, also spelled Bamiyan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the central part of the country, with the town of Bamyan as its capital. The terrain is mountainous or semi-mountainous at the western end of the Hindu Kush, and the province is divided into eight districts. It has a population of about 495,557 and borders Samangan to the north, Baghlan, Parwan and Maidan Wardak to the east, Ghazni and Daikundi to the south, and Ghor and Sar-e-Pol to the west, making it the largest province in the Central region of Afghanistan. In the fourth and fifth centuries it was a centre of commerce and Buddhism on the Silk Road, where Greek and Buddhist art combined into the Greco-Buddhist style. Its best known sites include the destroyed Buddhas of Bamiyan, surrounded by more than 3,000 caves, and Band-e-Amir National Park. The residents are mostly Hazaras, followed by Tajiks and Pashtuns.