Fergana (Uzbek: Farg'ona ^* or Farghana, Russian: Фергана) is a city (1999 population: 182,800), 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 latitude 40 23' 36" N , longitude 71 46' 46" E.

History

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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, though still a minor, himself became chief.

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 .

Architecture

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Fergana’s wide, orderly tree-shaded avenues and attractive blue-washed 19th century czarist 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 Tartar inhabitants compared to other Fergana Valley cities.

Oil production

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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 produce fertilizer. The Great Fergana Canal, built almost entirely by hand during the 1930s, passes through the northern part of the city.

Tourist Sights of Fergana

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

Notes

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Dates of renaming taken from Adrian Room, Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000 Natural Features, Countries, Capitals, Territories, Cities and Historical Sites, McFarland, 1997, ISBN 0786418141 (pbk) p.124

See also

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• Babur

Cities in Uzbekistan

Фергана | Farg‘ona | Fergana | 페르가나 | フェルガナ | Fergana | Fergana | Фергана | Fergana | Fergana | Fergana | Farg`ona