, image_skyline = Kulob 2700 th Anniversary monument - panoramio.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The 2700th Anniversary monument, Kulob , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Tajikistan#West Asia , pushpin_relief = yes , pushpin_label_position = bottom , pushpin_mapsize = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Tajikistan , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 =

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

, subdivision_name = Tajikistan , subdivision_name1 = Khatlon Region , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , established_title = , established_date = , government_type = , leader_title = , leader_name = , area_magnitude = , area_total_sq_mi = , area_total_km2 = , area_land_sq_mi = , area_land_km2 = , area_urban_sq_mi = , area_urban_km2 = , area_metro_km2 = , area_metro_sq_mi = , population_as_of = 2020 , population_footnotes = , population_total = 214700 , population_urban = 106300 , population_metro = , population_density_sq_mi = , population_density_km2 = , timezone = , utc_offset = , timezone_DST = , utc_offset_DST = , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 580 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = 735360 , area_code = , blank1_name_sec2 = , blank1_info_sec2 = , website = , footnotes = Kulob ( tg, Кӯлоб, کولاﺏ, translit=Kûlob/Kūlob), formerly also Kulyab (russian: Куляб, translit=Kuljab), is a city in Khatlon Region, southern

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

. Located southeast of the capital

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...

on the river Yakhsu (a right tributary of

Panj Panj () is a city in southern Tajikistan which is situated on the Afghan border, some south of the capital Dushanbe. It is located along the north bank of the river Panj, from which it derives its name. The population of the town is 12,500 (Jan ...

), it is one of the largest cities in the country. Its population is estimated at 106,300 for the city proper and 214,700 for the city with the outlying communities (2020). The city is served by Kulob Airport.

History

Kulob inscription

In the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, Kulob was part of the

Greco-Bactria The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the Indi ...

n kingdom. An inscription has been found in Kulob, dating to 200-195 BCE,Shane Wallac
Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries
p.206 in which a Greek by the name of Heliodotos, dedicates a fire altar to

Hestia In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia (; grc-gre, Ἑστία, meaning "hearth" or "fireside") is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In myth, she is the firstborn ...

for the sake of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I and his son Demetrius I of Bactria, Demetrius I. Heliodotos inscription, Kuliab

Later history

The historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari refers to the city as early as 737AD, although its founding is said to have been much earlier. Throughout its history, Kulob was known by the name ''Khatlān'' or ''Khatlon'' in modern Tajik, with its modern name only about 250 years old. The Sufi mystic Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani died while travelling through Central Asia in 1384 and was buried in Kulob in a tomb which still stands. Part of the Khanate of Bukhara since the 16th century (the Emirate of Bukhara since the 18th century), the city changed its name from Khatlon to Kulob in 1750. Following the Russian conquest of Central Asia and the creation of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union, USSR in 1929, Kulob became one of the largest cities in the republic. Kulyab Museum, Kulyab, Tajikistan

During the Tajikistani Civil War in the early 1990s, the city served as the main base of the Popular Front of Tajikistan, Popular Front militias. Danghara, a village in the Kulob area, is the birthplace of Tajikistan's president Emomali Rahmon. Kulob,ul-Somoni

In September 2006, Kulob celebrated its 2700th anniversary. After Tajikistan's independence in 1991, Kulob was one of the three cities in the country where the Russian 201st Motor Rifle Division was deployed (the others are

and Bokhtar, Qurghonteppa). Following a number of scandals with local residents, Russia unexpectedly pulled its troops from Kulob in November 2015, effectively abandoning the base there.

Geography

Climate

Kulob has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Csa''). 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 72.8 days with precipitation. The wettest month is March with an average of of precipitation and the driest month is August with an average of 0 mm of precipitation.

Subdivisions

Before ca. 2018, Kulob was the seat of Kulob District, Kulab District, which covered the rural part of the present city of Kulob. The city of Kulob covers Kulob proper and four Jamoats of Tajikistan, jamoats. These are as follows:Jamoat-level basic indicators
, United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 8 October 2020

Notable people

*Orzu Iso (born 1976), presenter, TV and radio journalist, songwriter and blogger *Mavzuna Chorieva (born 1992), boxer *Moses Znaimer (born 1942), co-founder of City (TV network), Citytv *Shabnam Surayyo (born 1981), Folk Pop singer *Manija Dawlat (born 1982), Pop singer *Emomali Rahmon, (born 1952), politician

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Khatlon Region