Balkh topographic map
Interactive map
Click on the map to display elevation.
About this map
Name: Balkh topographic map, elevation, terrain.
Location: Balkh, Balkh Province, Afghanistan (36.71813 66.85808 36.79813 66.93808)
Average elevation: 1,142 ft
Minimum elevation: 1,099 ft
Maximum elevation: 1,214 ft
Balkh was historically an ancient place of religions, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and one of the wealthiest and largest cities of Khorasan, since the latter's earliest history. The city was known to Persians as Zariaspa and to the Ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria (Greeks called the city also Zariaspa). It was mostly known as the center and capital of Bactria or Tokharistan. Marco Polo described Balkh as a "noble and great city". Balkh is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated some 12 km (7.5 mi) from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about 365 m (1,198 ft).