Fergana

Fergana or Ferghana, city (1989 pop. 200,373), capital of Fergana region, E Uzbekistan, in the Fergana Valley. The marketing center of a large oasis area, it has silk, cotton, and artificial fiber industries. Oil, coal, and uranium ore lie in the area. Founded in 1876 by the Russians as Novy Margelan, the city was renamed (1907) Skobelev and later (1924) Fergana.

or Fergana Basin

Large valley, western Central Asia. It is mainly in eastern Uzbekistan and partly in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and is situated between the Tien Shan system and the smaller Gissar and Alay ranges. It has an area of 8,500 sq mi (22,000 sq km). One of the most densely populated areas of Central Asia, it is a major producer of cotton, fruit, and raw silk. Among the mineral deposits exploited are coal, petroleum, and mercury. It was conquered by the Arabs (8th century AD), Genghis Khan (13th century), and Timur (14th century). The khans of Kokand (see Qoaynqon) ruled it from the late 18th century until it was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1876.

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Fergana or Farghana (Uzbek: Farg'ona, Persian: فرغانه, UniPers: "Farqāna", [Фарғона], Russian: Фергана) is a city (population: 214,000), the capital of Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southern edge of the Fergana Valley in southern Central Asia, cutting across the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, and about 75 km west of Andijan. It is located at .

History

Passing through Fergana is the ancient North Silk Road, the northernmost route of the Silk Roads with about 2600 kilometres in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xian to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.

Zoroastrian literature identifies the area as the Zoroastrian homeland. Fergana also played a central role in the history of the Mughal dynasty of South Asia in that Omar Sheikh Mirza, chieftain of Farghana, was the father of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal dynasty in India. At Mirza's death in 1498, Babur became chief although he was still a minor.

During the expansion of Russia in the nineteenth century the Russians invaded Turkistan, gradually taking it over between 1855 and 1884. They took the capital of the Kokand Khanate in 1873 and included it within what was named the Fergana province of the Russian empire.

Modern Fergana city was founded in 1876 as a garrison town and colonial appendage to Margelan (13.5 miles to the northwest) by the Russians. It was initially named New Margelan (Новый Маргелан), then renamed Skobelev (Скобелев) in 1910 after the first Russian military governor of Fergana Valley. In 1924, after the Bolshevik reconquest of the region in 1918–1920, the name was changed to Fergana, after the province of which it was the centre. The Fergana canal was constructed in the 1930s.

The third chapter of the Chinese chronicle of Bejshu (from the beginning of the VII c.) mentions Ferghana under the name of Bokhan.

Architecture

Fergana’s wide, orderly tree-shaded avenues and attractive blue-washed 19th century tsarist colonial-style houses are said to mimic the appearance of pre-modern and pre-earthquake Tashkent. There is a high proportion of Russian, Korean and Tatar inhabitants compared to other Fergana Valley cities. With Russian as the dominant language, the city has a distinctly different feel from most Uzbek cities. It retains an air of Soviet-era, pre-independence Uzbekistan.

Oil production

Fergana has been a center for oil production in the Fergana Valley since the region's first oil refinery was built near the city in 1908. Since then, more refineries have been added, and Fergana is one of the most important centers of oil refining in Uzbekistan. Natural gas from western Uzbekistan is transported by pipeline to the valley, where it is used to manufacture fertilizer. The Great Fergana Canal, built almost entirely by hand during the 1930s, passes through the northern part of the city. With a western loan Fergana is able to modernize its refinery and also reduce air pollution emissions.

Tourist locations

• Museum of Local Studies – with displays of natural history, photographs, and local handicrafts
• Regional Theatre – in 1877 the house of General Mikhail “Old Bloody Eyes” Skobelev

Notes

See also

• Babur
• FK Neftchy Farg'ona

External links

• portal on Ferghana and Central Asia
• Fine arts of Fergana and Uzbekistan
• Open Street Map