Qarshi

Qarshi Қарши
Kok-Gumbaz mosque in Qarshi
Qarshi Location in Uzbekistan
Coordinates: 38°52′N 65°48′E
Kintra	Uzbekistan
Province	Qashqadaryo Province
Population  (1999)
• Total	197,600

Qarshi (Uzbek: Qarshi / Қарши; Persie: نخشب‎; Mongolie: Харш; Roushie: Карши) is a ceety in soothren Uzbekistan. It is the caipital o Qashqadaryo Province an haes a population o 197,600 (1999 census estimate). It is aboot 520 km sooth-soothwast o Tashkent, an aboot 335 km north o Uzbekistan's mairch wi Afghanistan. It is locatit at latitude 38° 51' 48N; langitude 65° 47' 52E at an altitude o 374 meters. The ceety is important in naitural gas production, but Qarshi is an aa famous for its production o weaved flat cairpets.

History

Oreeginally the Sogdian ceety o Nakhshab, an the Islamic Persian ceety o Nasaf, Qarshi wis the seicont ceety o the Emirate o Bukhara. It is in the centre o a fertile oasis that produces wheat, cotton, an silk an wis a stap on the 11 day caravan route atween Balkh an Bukhara. The Chagatai Mongol khans Kebek an Qazan biggit pailaces here on the site o Genghis Khan's simmer pastur. In 1364, Timur an aa biggit a fortifee'd pailace wi moats in wha is nou the soothren pairt o the ceety. The modren name "Qarshi" means fort.

Wi the decline o Shahrisabz in the 18t century, Qarshi grew in importance, an wis the seat o the Croun Prince tae the Emirate o Bukhara. The ceety haed a dooble set o waws, 10 caravanserais an 4 madrassahs durin this time. Bi 1868, the Roushies haed annexed the Zarafshan Valley, an in 1873, the treaty turnin Bukhara intae a Roushie pertectorate wis signed in Qarshi, muckle tae the dismay o the Emir's son, Abdul Malik, who teuk tae the hills in rebellion.

In the early 1970s, the first section o a major irrigation project wis completit tae divert watter frae the Amu Darya River in Turkmenistan eastward intae Uzbekistan in order tae irrigate the land surroondin Qarshi. Amaist aw o thir irrigatit lands aroond Qarshi are plantit wi cotton.

Points o interest

• Khoja Adbul Aziz Madrassah - lairgest in toun, nou hoosin the Regional Museum
• Rabiya Madrassah - a late 19t century female madrassah
• Kok Gumbaz Mosque - pairt o a 16t century complex o biggins
• Warld War II Memorial - Aiblins ane o the ex-Soviet Union's maist monumental monuments

References

• Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. Trans. Naomi Walford. New Jersey: Rutgers, 1970. ISBN 0813513049