Kulob
(2002 est. pop. 81,000). Kulob (Kulyab), the third-largest city in southwestern Tajikistan, lies in the mountains north of the Amu Dar'ya River. The city is situated in the Yaksu River valley, in the piedmont zone of the Khazaratish range, 200 kilometers southeast of Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe. In the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries Kulob was founded as a trading post on the caravan route linking the Hisor (Gissar) valley in southern Tajikistan with Persia. Kulob was part of the Bukhara khanate (1583–1740) and the successive Bukhara emirate (principality) (1747–1920).
In 1934, the city became the administrative center of the Kulyab province of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (established in 1929). After the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly independent Tajikistan's southern provinces of Kulob and Qurghonteppa (Kurgan-Tyube before 1991) merged in 1992 into Khalton province, with the capital city in Qurghonteppa. Though deprived of its capital status, Kulob has remained the largest city of the province. The Kulob region was the hardest hit during the civil war in Tajikistan (1992–1997). Kulob is Tajikistan's key cotton-producing and industrial center.
Further Reading
Allworth, Edward, ed. (1994) Central Asia: 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview. 3d ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lubin, Nancy, and Barnett Rubin. (1999) Calming the Ferghana Valley: Development and Dialogue in the Heart of Central Asia. New York: The Century Foundation Press.
Roy, Oliver. (2000) The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York: New York University Press.
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