Jizzakh

Jizzakh Region is one of the regions of Uzbekistan. It is located in the center/east of the country. It borders with Tajikistan to the south and south-east, Samarqand Region to the west, Navoiy Region to the north-west, Kazakhstan to the north, and Sirdaryo Region to the east. It covers an area of 20,500 km². The population is estimated to be around 910,500, with some 80% living in rural areas.

Jizzakh was an important Silk Road junction on the road connecting Samarkand with Fergana Valley. It grew up as a trading post at the crossroads between Samarkand and the Fergana Valley, a gateway to Western riches. Anxious to control the valuable trade passing through, it was fortified in turn by the Sogdians, the Arabs and the Bukharan Khanate. It is at the edge of Golodnaya Steppe, and next to the strategic Pass of Jilanuti (Timur’s Gate) in the Turkestan Mountains, controlling the approach to the Zeravshan Valley, Samarkand and Bukhara.

The name Jizzakh derives from the Sogdian word for “small fort” and the present city is built of the site of the Sogdian town of Osru-shana. Others say the name has been described as ‘Key’, for it controlled the strategic Pass of Jilanuti in the nearby Turkestan range, gateway to the famed riches of the Zerafshan Valley, Samarkand and Bukhara. It was a large settlement in the medieval principality of Usrushana, whose chief town was based on the ancient Sogdian city Bunjikath, present-day Penjikent in Tajikistan.