Kokand (or Khokand or Kokhand or Quqon or Коканд) is a city in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. Population: 180,000.

Administration

Having been the capital of an independent Khanate from the mid-eighteenth century, Kokand was part of the Ferghana Oblast of Russian Turkestan before the Russian Revolution. It now lies in the Fergana Vilayati of Uzbekistan.

History

Kokand has existed since at least the 10th century, when it was known as Khavakend and was located on a caravan route between India and China. It was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. From 1571-1626, the khanate was part of the emirate of Bukhara until it became independent in the middle of the 18th century and flowered in the 1820s and 1830s.

The present city began as a fort in 1732 on the site of another older fortress called Eski-Kurgan. In 1740 it became the capital of an Uzbek khanate (the khanate of Kokand ) that reached as far as Qyzylorda to the west and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to the northeast. Kokand was the major religious center of the Fergana Valley under the khans. At one time it had more than 300 mosques.

In 1876, Kokand was taken by the Russians under Gen. Skobelev. The tsar dissolved the khanate of Kokand, while allowing the khanates of Khiva and the emirate to remain as direct protectorates. In the same year, Kokand became part of Russian Turkestan. From 1917 to 1918, it was the capital of the anti-Bolshevik autonomous government of Turkestan.

Sights

The gaudy palace of the last khan, Khudayar Khan (1871) sits in the center of the city. The city also features mosques and royal mausoleums.

Geography

Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, 115 km west of Andijan, and 88 km west of the city of Fergana.

Economy

Kokand is a center for the manufacture of fertilizers, chemicals, machinery, and cotton and food products.

Transportation

Kokand sits at the junction of two main routes into the Fergana Valley, one leading northwest over the mountains to Tashkent, and the other west through Khujand (Tajikistan). As a result, Kokand is the main transportation junction in the Ferghana Valley.