tg, Tursunzoda , image_skyline = Tursunzoda GovtHouse.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Tursunzoda Government House , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Tajikistan , pushpin_label_position =bottom , pushpin_mapsize = , pushpin_map_caption =Location in Tajikistan , subdivision_type =

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

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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 ...

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

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Districts of Republican Subordination tg, Ноҳияҳои тобеи ҷумҳурӣ , native_name_lang = , other_name = ناحیه های تابع جمهوری , settlement_type = Region , image_skyline = , ...

, 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 = 298800 , population_urban = 55,700 , population_metro = , population_density_sq_mi = , population_density_km2 = , timezone = , utc_offset = , timezone_DST = , utc_offset_DST = , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes= , elevation_m = , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , blank1_name_sec2 = , blank1_info_sec2 = , area_code = , website = http://regar.tj , footnotes = Tursunzoda ( tg, Турсунзода; also ''Tursunzade'' from russian: Турсунзаде) is a city in western

, known for its

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...

plant

TadAZ The Tajik Aluminium Company ( tg, Ширкати Алюминийи Тоҷик; russian: Таджикская алюминиевая компания), abbreviated as TALCO ( Tajik/Russian: ТАЛКО) headquartered in Tursunzoda, Tajikistan, runs ...

. It is located 60 km west of

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 ...

(40 km west of Hisor), near the border with

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. It is near several rivers, Shirkent and

Karatag The Karatag or Qaratogh, Qaratoghdaryo (russian: Каратаг) is a river of northwestern Tajikistan and eastern Uzbekistan. It flows through Shirkent National Park and flows down the south slopes of the Hisar mountain range. At its confluence ...

immediately to the west and east of the city, and

Kofarnihon The Kofarnihon ( tg, Кофарниҳон, uz, Kofarnihon, russian: Кафирниган ''Kafirnigan'') is one of the major tributaries of the Amu Darya (together with Vakhsh and Panj) in Tajikistan. The river is long and has a basin area of . ...

further east. Its population is estimated at 55,700 for the city proper and 298,800 for the city with the outlying communities (2020). Its population was given as 40,600 in the 1989 census, falling to 39,000 in 2000, and estimated at 37,000 in 2006. The city has two television stations, TV-REGAR and TV-TADAZ, two newspapers, ''Aluminiy Tojikiston'' and ''Regar'', and a radio station. Tursunzoda is home to football club

Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda ( Tajiki: Регар-ТадАЗ Турсунзода клуби футболи), ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ریگر-تداز تورسون‌زاده), is a Tajik professional football club based in Tursunzoda, that ...

History

Tursunzoda was originally the village of Regar, meaning "a town on sand". In 1978, the town and with it the whole district were renamed in honor of the Tajik national poet,

Mirzo Tursunzoda Mirzo Tursunzoda ( tg, Мирзо Турсунзода, 2 May 1911 — 24 September 1977) was an important Tajikistani and Soviet poet and a prominent political figure, full member (academician) of the Tajik Academy of Sciences, a member of ...

. Its railroad station is still called Regar. The city developed from a village as a regional centre for an agricultural district in the western part of Gissar (Hisor) Valley. Fruits, especially grapefruit, vegetables, and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

are grown in the district. Thanks to plentiful irrigation from the local rivers, Tursunzoda district is a major

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

-growing region, producing 1,400 tons, or 13% of Tajikistan's rice harvest in 2006. In the 1960s, the nearby

Nurek Dam The Nurek Dam (russian: Нурекская ГЭС; Tajik: Нерӯгоҳи обии Норак, ''Nerūgohi obii Norak'', Tajik for Nurek Hydro-electric Station) is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. Its primary purpo ...

hydroelectric power station on the river Vakhsh made the city a good location for industry, and besides the aluminium plant, there are also china, brick, cable, and cotton cleaning plants.

Subdivisions

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

Aluminium plant

The Tajik aluminium smelting plant,

, in Tursunzoda, is the largest aluminium manufacturing plant in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, 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 t ...

, and possibly the world, and Tajikistan's chief industrial asset. The country has no native aluminium ore, so the raw material for the plant has to be imported. Construction of the plant proper began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminium took place on March 31, 1975. It consumes 40% of the country's electrical power, and a 2002 study found it responsible for notable fluorine water pollution in the region and air pollution.

Notes

References

Tursunzade School 101
Web site of a Tursunzade school, provided by Relief International - Schools Online.
Country Analysis : Tajikistan
Originally from the Department of Energy site, now hosted by NIGC.org.

Report by the Virtual Foundation
"Tursunzade", Encyclopædia Britannica
* Including census figures {{Largest cities of Tajikistan Populated places in Districts of Republican Subordination