Kattakurgan, Uzbekistan
| Kattakurgan Kattaqo‘rg‘on / Каттақўрғон | |
|---|---|
  Kattakurgan Location in Uzbekistan | |
| Coordinates: 39°53′56″N 66°15′22″E / 39.89889°N 66.25611°ECoordinates: 39°53′56″N 66°15′22″E / 39.89889°N 66.25611°E | |
| Country |
 Uzbekistan |
| Region | Samarqand Region |
| Elevation | 480 m (1,570 ft) |
| Population (2009) | |
| • City | 76,562 |
| • Urban | 100% |
| Time zone | GMT + 5 |
Kattakurgan (Uzbek: Kattaqo‘rg‘on / Каттақўрғон / کته قورغان; Russian: Каттакурган) is a town in the Samarqand Region of Uzbekistan. It is located on the road and railway between Bukhara and Samarkand. The name is Turkic and means "large town or kurgan". The town does not appear to be of any great antiquity, although after Alexander the Great's sack of Marakanda (Samarkand) the centre of cultural life in that part of the Zeravshan valley may briefly have shifted west to the region around Katta-Kurgan. According to F.F. Pospelov a fortress was built on the current site by the local saint Sufi Allahyar and his two brothers, Farhat-Atalyk and Allah-Nazar-bii, in 1095 AH/1684 AD, and the town subsequently grew up around it. It was the seat of a Bek (local Governor) under the rule of the Bukharan Manghit dynasty. In 1868, following the fall of Samarkand to the Russians and the annexation of the Upper Zeravshan Valley from Bukhara, it became the border town between Russian Turkestan and the Bukharan Emirate, and the centre of a district. In 1924 both entities were dissolved by the Soviet regime, and Katta-Kurgan was incorporated in the new Uzbek SSR.It is currently the second largest city in Samarkand Region. Population of Kattakurgan is of Uzbek nationality, there used to be quite a big Russian minority, which is not the case anymore.
Kattakurgan, city, east-central Uzbekistan, in a thickly populated oasis in the Zeravshan River valley. It began in the 18th century as a centre of trade and handicrafts and now has various light-industrial plants for processing local agricultural produce. The Kattakurgan Reservoir on the nearby Zeravshan River is used for irrigation and recreation, and the city has an Uzbek theatre of musical drama.
Sources and further reading
- Ф.Ф. Поспелов "Материалы к Истории Самаркандской Области" Справочная Книга Самаркандской Области Выпуск X (Самарканд) (1912), pp 108–111
- В.В. Бартольд Работы по Исторической Географии (Москва) (2002) pp 197–8, pp 287–8