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Tashkent

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Asia

   Tashkent
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   Tashkent

   Tashkent ( Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент, Russian: Ташкент, English: Stone
   City) is the current capital of Uzbekistan and also of Tashkent
   Province. The population of the city in 2006 was 1,967,879.

   The name of the city has evolved in a number of stages. In medieval
   times the town and the province was known as Chach. Later, the town
   came to be known as Chachkand/Chashkand, meaning "Chach City." (Kand,
   qand, kent, kad, kath, kud--all meaning a city, are derived from the
   Old Iranian, kanda, meaning a town or a city. They are found in city
   names like Samarkand, Yarkand, Penjikent etc.) After the 16th century
   and the steady replacement of the old, Persian-speaking population with
   Uzbeks, the name was changed slightly from Chachkand/Chashkand to
   Tashkand, which as "stone city" was more meaningful to the new
   inhabitants than the old name. The modern spelling of Tashkent is a
   Soviet product.

Geography

   Tashkent is located at 41°16′N 69°13′E. The local time in Tashkent is
   UTC/GMT +5 hours.

History

   Tashkent is not an ancient city, but rather more of a crossroads on the
   Silk Road. It started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the
   foothills of the Golestan Mountains. In ancient times, this area was
   the principality of Chach, whose main town had a square citadel built
   around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 km south of the Syr Darya
   River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had over 30 towns and a network of
   over 50 canals, forming a trade centre between the Sogdians and Turkic
   nomads. The region subsequently came under the sway of Islam in the
   early parts of the 8th century.

   Hsien-tsang ( Xuanzang) mentioned the name of the ciy as Che-shih. The
   Chinese chronicles Sujshu, Bejshu and Tanshu mention a possession
   called Shi or Chzheshi with a capital with the same name since the V c.
   AD [Bichurin, 1950. v. II].

   Under the Samanid dynasty, the city came to be known as Binkath.
   However, the Arabs retained the old name of Chash, pronouncing it Shash
   instead. The modern Turkic name of Tashkent (City of Stone) comes from
   Kara-Khanid rule in the 10th century.

   The city was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1219, although the great
   conqueror had found that the Khorezmshah had already sacked the city in
   1214. Under the Timurids and subsequent Shaybanid dynasties the city
   revived, despite occasional attacks by the Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Persians,
   Mongols, Oirats and Kalmyks.

   In 1809, Tashkent was annexed to the Khanate of Kokand. At the time,
   Tashkent had a population of around 100,000 and was considered the
   richest city in Central Asia. It prospered greatly through trade to
   Russia, but chafed under Kokand’s high taxes. The Tashkent clergy also
   favored the clergy of Bukhara over that of Kokand. However, before the
   Emir of Bukhara could capitalize on this discontent, the Russian army
   arrived.

   In May 1865, General Mikhail Grigorevich Chernyayev (Cherniaev), acting
   against the direct orders of the tsar, and outnumbered at least 15-1
   staged a daring night attack against a city with a 25 kilometer long
   wall, 11 gates and 30,000 defenders. While a small contingent staged a
   diversionary attack, the main force penetrated the walls, led by a
   Russian Orthodox priest armed only with a crucifix. Although defense
   was stiff, the Russians captured the city after two days of heavy
   fighting and the loss of only 25 dead as opposed to several thousand of
   the defenders. Chernyayev, dubbed the “Lion of Tashkent” by city
   elders, staged a “hearts-and-minds” campaign to win the population
   over. He abolished taxes for a year, rode unarmed through the streets
   and bazaars meeting common people, and appointed himself "Military
   Governor of Tashkent", recommending to Tsar Alexander II that the city
   be made an independent khanate under Russian protection.

   The Tsar liberally rewarded Chernyayev and his men with medals and
   bonuses, but regarded the impulsive general as a “loose cannon”, and
   soon replaced him with General Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman. Far
   from granting Tashkent its independence, Tashkent became the capital of
   the new territory of Russian Turkistan, with Kaufman as first
   Governor-General. A cantonment and Russian settlement were built across
   the Ankhor Canal from the old city, and Russian settlers and merchants
   poured in. Tashkent was a centre of espionage in the Great Game rivalry
   between Russia and Great Britain over Central Asia. The Trans-Caspian
   Railway arrived in 1889, and the railway workers who built it settled
   in Tashkent as well, bringing with them the seeds of Bolshevik
   Revolution.

20th century

   With the fall of the Russian Empire, a provisional government attempted
   to maintain control in Tashkent. It was quickly overthrown and local
   Muslim opposition crushed. In April 1918, Tashkent became the capital
   of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( Turkestan
   ASSR). The new regime was threatened by White forces, British spies,
   basmachi, revolts from within, and purges ordered from Moscow. Tashkent
   fell within the borders of the Uzbek SSR, and became the capital of the
   Uzbek SSR in 1930, displacing Samarkand.

   The city began to industrialize in the 1920s and 1930s, but industry
   increased tremendously during World War II, with the relocation of
   factories from western Russia to preserve the Soviet industrial
   capacity from the invading Nazis. The Russian population increased
   dramatically as well, with evacuees from the war zones increasing the
   population to well over a million. (The Russian community would
   eventually comprise nearly half of the total residents of Tashkent.)

   On April 25 1966, Tashkent was destroyed by a huge earthquake (7.5 on
   the Richter scale). Over 300,000 were left homeless. Soviet historians
   made a great story about "battalions of fraternal peoples” and urban
   planners from each of the Soviet republics, who “volunteered” to
   rebuild devastated Tashkent. They did a good job, creating a “model
   Soviet city” of wide shady streets, parks, immense plazas for military
   parades, fountains, monuments, and acres of apartment blocks. At that
   time residents of Tashkent began to realize that they were not being
   consulted in the planning, or necessarily being hired in the
   rebuilding. The problem exploded when Moscow announced that 20% of the
   new buildings would be given to the mostly Russian “volunteers”, who
   would be staying permanently. The subsequent riots were called the
   Pakhtakor Incident, after the stadium where the trouble began. The Red
   Army eventually had to be called in to maintain order.

   At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tashkent was
   the fourth largest city in the country and a centre of learning in the
   science and engineering fields.

   Tashkent today is a very Soviet city, with few reminders of its
   position on the Silk Road or its 2000+ years of history. It is the most
   cosmopolitan city in both Uzbekistan and Central Asia, with large
   ethnic Russian and Korean minorities. The city is noted for its tree
   lined streets, numerous fountains, and pleasant parks. As capital of
   the nation, it has also been the target of several terrorist attacks
   since Uzbekistan gained independence, which the government has
   attributed to Islamic fundamentalists.

Sights

   Due to the destruction of most of the ancient city during 1917
   revolution and, later, to the 1966 earthquake, little remains of
   Tashkent's traditional architectural heritage. Tashkent is, however,
   rich in museums and Soviet-era monuments.
     * Kukeldash Madrassa

   Dating back to the reign of Abdullah Khan (1557-1598) it is currently
   being restored by the provincial Religious Board of Mawarannahr
   Moslems. There is talk of making it into a museum, but it is currently
   being used as a mosque.
     * Chorsu Bazaar

   Near the Kukeldash Madrassa, this huge open air bazaar is the centre of
   the old town of Tashkent. Everything imaginable is for sale.
     * Telyashayakh Mosque (Khast Imam Mosque)

   Contains the Uthman Qur'an, considered to be the oldest extant Qur'an
   in the world. Dating from 655 and stained with the blood of murdered
   caliph Uthman, it was brought by Timur to Samarkand, seized by the
   Russians as a war trophy and taken to Saint Petersburg. It was returned
   to Uzbekistan in 1989.
     * Yunus Khan Mausoleum

   Prince Romanov Palace
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   Prince Romanov Palace

   A group of three 15th century mausoleums, restored in the 19th century.
   The biggest is the grave of Yunus Khan, grandfather of Mughal Empire
   founder Babur.
     * Palace of Prince Romanov

   During the 19th century Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich (1850-1918),
   a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia was banished to Tashkent for
   some shady deals involving the Russian Crown Jewels. His palace still
   survives in the centre of the city. Once a museum, it has been
   appropriated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
   The Navoi Theater
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   The Navoi Theatre
     * Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre

   Built by the same architect who designed Lenin's Tomb in Moscow,
   Aleksey Shchusev, and built with Japanese prisoner of war labor in
   World War II, this theatre hosts Russian ballet and opera to Uzbek
   concerts.
     * Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan

   Contains a major collection of art from the pre-Russian period,
   including Sogdian murals, Buddhist statues and Zoroastrian art, along
   with a more modern collection of 19th and 20th century Uzbek applied
   art, such as suzani embroidered hangings. Of more interest is the large
   collection of paintings "borrowed" from the Hermitage by Grand Duke
   Romanov to decorate his palace in exile in Tashkent, and never
   returned. Behind the museum is a small park, containing the neglected
   graves of the Bolsheviks who died in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and
   to Ossipov's treachery in 1919, along with first Uzbek President
   Yuldush Akhunbabayev.
     * Museum of Applied Arts

   Housed in a traditional Uzbek house originally commissioned for a
   wealthy tsarist diplomat, the house itself is the main attraction,
   rather than its collection of 19th and 20th century applied arts.
   Museum of Applied Arts
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   Museum of Applied Arts
     * History Museum

   Tashkent's largest museum, housed in the ex-Lenin Museum.
   The Amir Timur Museum
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   The Amir Timur Museum
   Amir Timur
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   Amir Timur
     * Amir Timur Museum

   An impressive building with brilliant blue dome and ornate interior
   (see photo right). Inside, the exhibits of Timur and of President
   Karimov vie for the visitor's attention. The gardens outside contain a
   statue of Timur on horseback, surrounded by some of the nicest gardens
   and fountains in the city.
     * Navoi Literary Museum

   A commemoration of Uzbekistan's adopted literary hero, Alisher Navoi,
   with replica manuscripts, Persian calligraphy and 15th century
   miniature paintings.

City built environment

     * The only modern metro system in Central Asia.
     * Tashkent Airport is the largest in the country, connecting the town
       to Asia, Europe and the American continents.
     * The largest city square (Independence Square) in the former Soviet
       Union, which once held the tallest statue of Lenin (30 meters tall)
       in the Soviet Union. Lenin was replaced in 1992 by a globe showing
       a map of Uzbekistan.
     * Government, trade union and private medical and dental facilities.
     * Offices of several American and European consulting firms like
       Arthur Andersen Ltd, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers and
       Gravamen Fidelis and Fides LLP

Education

     * Several universities and institutions of higher learning:
          + International Business School 'Kelajak Ilmi'
          + Tashkent University of Information Technologies
          + Westminster International University in Tashkent
          + National University of Uzbekistan
          + University of World Economy and Diplomacy
          + Tashkent State University of Economics
          + Tashkent State Institute of Law
          + Tashkent Institute of Finance
          + State University of Foreign Languages
          + Conservatory of Music
          + Tashkent State Medicine Academy
          + Institute of Oriental Studies.
     * Other educational institutions:
          + Ohr Avner Chabad Day School (Tashkent)

Sister Cities

     * Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
     * United States Seattle, Washington, USA
     * Germany Berlin, Germany

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