Murghob ( tg, Мурғоб) or Murghab (russian: Мургаб, from the Persian word ''margh-ab'', meaning 'prairie river') is the capital of Murghob District in the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...

Gorno-Badakhshan Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,, abbr. / is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two percen ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. With a population of just under 7,500, Murghob is the only significant town in the eastern half of Gorno-Badakhshan. It is the highest town in Tajikistan (and of the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

) at 3,650 meters above sea level. It is where the Pamir Highway crosses the

Bartang The Bartang ( Russian and Tajik: Бартанг) is a river of Central Asia, tributary to the Panj and consequently to the Amu Darya. In its upper reaches, it is also known as the Murghab and Aksu; it flows through the Wakhan in Afghanistan, ...

river.Jamoat-level basic indicators
United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 5 October 2020 The Pamir Highway goes north to

Sary-Tash , native_name_lang = ky , settlement_type = , image_skyline = Sary Tash, Kirghizstan.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = Sary Tash village with the Pamir mountains , image_flag ...

and on to Osh in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

and southwest to the region's capital

Khorugh Khorugh ( tg, Хоруғ, ; russian: Хорог, translit=Khorog; ) is the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in Tajikistan. It is also the capital of the Shughnon District of Gorno-Badakhshan. It has a population of 30,5 ...

. Another road goes east over the Kulma Pass to the

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...

in China connecting to

Tashkurgan Tashkurgan ( ug, تاشقورغان بازىرى; zh, s=塔什库尔干镇, p=Tǎshíkù'ěrgān Zhèn; ) is a town in the far northwest of China, close to the country's border with Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It is the principal to ...

to the south and

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. ...

to the north.

History

Russian Officials (with Pamirski Post in the background)

From 1892 to 1893, a fortification named Shadzhansky Post ( rus, Шаджанский пост) existed on the site of the current town of Murghob. Some historical records attest that, in 1893, Russian soldiers established Pamirsky Post ( rus, Памирский пост, ) in the area as the main Russian fortification in the Pamir Mountains. It was to be their most advanced military outpost into

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

. Other records published much later state that Pamirsky Post was actually established elsewhere on 26 July 1903, as new barracks near the village of Kuni Kurgan. The modern town of Murghob was constructed during the period of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

rule in Tajikistan as a rest stop along the Pamir Highway. The old Soviet military outpost closed in 2002, causing economic hardship partially offset by a rise in tourism.

Climate

Murghob has an alpine

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

(''ET'') in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

. The average annual temperature is . The warmest month is July with an average temperature of and the coolest month is January with an average temperature of . The average annual precipitation is and has an average of 87.1 days with precipitation. The wettest month is May with an average of of precipitation and the driest month is September with an average of of precipitation.

References

Citations

Sources

"Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan: Trekking Routes" (map)
www.pamirs.org. Retrieved 25 August 2005. * Jennings, David. (18 – 25 July 2004

Populated places in Gorno-Badakhshan {{Tajikistan-geo-stub