Aqča

Aqča lies west of Balkh, at the edge of the oasis watered by the Balkhāb. It stood at a meeting point of caravan routes and connected cultivators of the oasis with livestock keepers of the surrounding plain. Its markets became known for grain, sheep and horses.

The town is first mentioned in the seventeenth century as a small fortified settlement with a citadel. It became the seat of a small Uzbek khanate under the suzerainty of Bukhara, illustrating the local centres of power that developed in northern Afghanistan.