Karshi
(1998 est. pop. 190,000). Karshi, in the southern part of the republic of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, is an ancient city on the old trade route between Afghanistan and Samarqand. Situated in a fertile oasis of the Kashka Darya River, today Karshi is the administrative center of the Qashqadaryo Province on the Afghanistan border.
The Turks founded a fort here in the fourteenth century, at a site called Naksheb or Nesef, on a caravan route from Samarkand and Bukhara to Persia and India. Karshi was part of the Bukhara khanate (chiefdom) (1583–1740) and the Bukhara emirate (principality) (1747–1920). After the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was formed (1924), Karshi received the name Bek-Budi in 1926 and in 1937 was renamed Karshi. Until 1991 the city was the administrative center of the Kashkadarya province of Uzbekistan and became the administrative center of Qashqadaryo Province in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Present-day Karshi is a large railway junction and gas-production center. It has cotton processing and carpet industries, major irrigation facilities, a state university, and a theater. The Kok-Gumbez Mosque was built in Karshi in the late sixteenth century.
Further Reading
Allworth, Edward, ed. (1994) Central Asia: 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview. 3d ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Roy, Oliver. (2000) The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York: New York University Press.
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