Istaravshan (; ) is a city in Sughd Province in Tajikistan. In 2000, the Tajik government changed the name of the city from Uroteppa (; Ura-Tyube, ).
The city lies in the northern foothills of the Turkistan mountain range, 78 kilometers southwest of Khujand, on the main road connecting Tajikistan's two largest cities, Khujand and Dushanbe. Bordered by Uzbekistan in the north and west, and Kyrgyzstan in the east, Istaravshan's administrative area encompasses 1,830 square kilometers and a population of 273,500 people. Most of them (76%) live in the outlying countryside.
Istaravshan is one of central Asia's oldest towns of commerce and crafts. The city celebrated its 2,500th birthday in the year 2002. It was one of three proposed locations for ancient Cyropolis, which was built on the north-eastern outskirts of the Achaemenid Empire by the king Cyrus in the 6th century B.C.
Climate Istaravshan has a continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen Dsa). The average annual temperature in Istaravshan is . There is more rainfall in winter than in summer, and about of precipitation falls annually.
Subdivisions
Before ca. 2018, Istaravshan was the seat of Istaravshan District, which covered the rural part of the present city of Istaravshan. The city of Istaravshan covers Istaravshan proper and ten jamoats. These are as follows:Jamoat-level basic indicators, United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 3 October 2020
Jamoat Population (Jan. 2015) Chārbāgh 16,488 Gul-i Surkh 42,582 Jawkandak 10,200 Nijānī 10,350 Nāfarāj 10,875 Pāshkent 19,746 Qal'a-i Kalān 15,433 Qal'a-i Baland 9,820 Sabristān (Frunze) 16,822 Zarhalāl 30,683
Istaravshan on stamps
Notable people Dilshad Barna (1800–1905), poet, historian and teacher, who wrote in Persian and Chaghatai Turkic Ulmas Mirsaidovich Mirsaidov (born 1945), theoretical chemist and professor
See also List of cities in Tajikistan Osrūshana
References