Kokand

Kokand or Khokand (both: kəkänt`), city (1991 pop. 182,000), E Uzbekistan, in the Fergana Valley. It is a center for the manufacture of fertilizers, chemicals, machinery, and cotton and food products. Important since the 10th cent., Kokand became the capital of an Uzbek khanate which became independent of the emirate of Bukhara in the middle of the 18th cent. and flowered in the 1820s and 30s. Kokand was taken by the Russians in 1876 and became part of Russian Turkistan. It was the capital (1917–18) of the anti-Bolshevik autonomous government of Turkistan. It has a ruined palace of the last Khan, working mosques, and royal mausoleums.

---

Qo'qon

 or Quqon or Kokand

Region, eastern Uzbekistan. A powerful khanate by the 18th century, it was conquered by Russia in 1876 and was made a province of Turkistan under its ancient name, Fergana. It became part of the new Uzbek S.S.R. in 1924 and of independent Uzbekistan in 1991. Its chief city, also called Qo'qon (pop., 1999 est.: 192,500), was founded in 1732, though its settlement dates to the 10th century.

---

Kokand

a city in NE Uzbekistan, in the Fergana valley. Pop.: 211 000 (2005 est.)

---

Kokand 

a city in Fergana Oblast, Uzbek SSR. Located in the western part of the Fergana Valley, in the lower reaches of the Sokh River (called the Sokh’s fan). A junction for highways and railroads from Tashkent into the Fergana Valley. The Great Fergana Canal passes to the south of the city. Population in 1972, 139,000 (81,400 in 1897, 68,400 in 1926, 85,000 in 1939, and 105,000 in 1959).

The first mention of Kokand occurs in documents of the tenth century. It lay on the caravan route from India and China. The Mongols destroyed the city in the 13th century. In 1732 a city arose on the site of the fortress of Eski-Kurgan; in 1740 the city received the name Kokand. From 1740 the city became the capital of the Kokand Khanate. On Aug. 19, 1875, Russian troops occupied Kokand, and on Feb. 5 (17), 1876, it was annexed to Russia. It was the most important commercial center of Turkestan (cotton and silk) and had two cotton-cleaning plants and a vegetable-oil extraction plant.

In 1903–05, Social Democratic organizations arose in Kokand, numbering about 100 members in early 1917. (Their leader was E. A. Babushkin.) From late 1917 through early 1918 the city was the center of a counterrevolutionary movement known as the Kokand Autonomy. Soviet power was established in the city on Feb. 20, 1918. During the years of the prewar five-year plans, Kokand was transformed into an industrial center of key importance for the cotton-cleaning industry.

Present-day Kokand is the second (after Fergana) industrial, transportation, and cultural center of the oblast. The main branches of industry, providing over 80% of the gross output of the city, are light industry (cotton-cleaning plants, a large hosiery-spinning combine, and a clothing factory) and the food industry (a large combine producing oil and fat, etc.). Other industries that are developing are chemicals (the production of fertilizers and chemical pesticides for cotton growing), metal-working (equipment for cotton enterprises and for the petroleum-refining and gas-extracting industries and spare parts for agricultural and textile machines), and electrical engineering.

The architectural monuments that have been preserved in Kokand include the Medrese-i Mir (late 18th century), the ensemble of the tombs of the khans of Dakhma-i Shokhon (1825); and the palace of Khudoiar Khan (1871), with its facade of yellow and green glazed tiles, its carving on ganch (a plaster of paris and clay mixture) and wood, and its murals painted in distemper (the craftsmen Ma-Rasul, Ma-Solekh, and Khakimbai); presently located in the palace is a museum of local lore.

Kokand’s schools include a pedagogical institute, the general engineering department of the Fergana Polytechnic Institute, and seven specialized secondary educational institutions. A drama theater is also located in the city.

REFERENCES

Goroda Ferganskoi doliny, 2nd ed. [Tashkent, 1963.]
Tukhtasinov, I. Kokand: Spravochnik. Tashkent, 1969.