Ferghana

Ferghana  is a city (population: 187,100), 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.

The fertile Fergana Valley was an important conduit on the Silk Roads (more precisely the North Silk Road), which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Mountain Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancientParthia, or on to the north of the Aral and Caspian Seas to ports on the Black Sea.

Zoroastrian literature identifies the area as the Zoroastrian homeland. It was known as "Özkent" during Karakhanid rule. Fergana also played a central role in the history of the Mughal dynasty ofSouth 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 became chief, although he was still a minor.

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. The Fergana canal was constructed in the 1930s.

In Ferghana, there is no ancient architecture and historical monuments, but nevertheless the city is very picturesque and has its own unique look. The main decoration of the city is venerable trees: plane trees, poplars, oaks ... They have turned Ferghana in to the garden city.

Suburbs of Fergana are also known thanks to beautiful places. In the foothills of the Alai Range, abounded in the greenery of gardens and vineyards, the village Chimen lies, known for its healing mineral springs, on the base of which the spa resort "Chimen" was opened. It is the largest health resort in Central Asia.

55 kilometers from Fergana there is a picturesque area of Uzbekistan - Shakhimardan ("Lord of the peoples"). It is the traditional place of recreation for the citizens of Margilan and Ferghana.

At present Ferghana is an important industrial centre of Uzbekistan. Regarding the capacity of production Ferghana stands on the second place in Uzbekistan after Tashkent.