Ýolöten (russian: Ёлoтен, tk, یوْلؤتن Ёлөтен) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
and capital of
Ýolöten District,
Mary Province
Mary Region ( tk, Mary welaýaty, Мары велаяты) is one of five provinces in Turkmenistan. It is located in the south-east of the country, bordering Afghanistan. Its capital is the city of Mary. Its area is and population 1,480,400 ...
,
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...
. The city is located in the delta of the
Murghab River
The Marghab River ( Persian/Pashto: مرغاب, ''Morqâb''), anciently the Margiana (Ancient Greek: Μαργιανή, ''Margianḗ''), is an long river in Central Asia. It rises in the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh'') in Gh ...
, 55 kilometers southeast of
Mary. It was granted the status of a city in 1939.
Etymology
Atanyyazow attributes the name to the settlement's location on the
Silk Road between ancient
Merv
Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...
and
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Saf ...
. The words ''ýol'' and ''öten'' mean "road" and "past" in Turkmen, respectively, i.e., "a place to cross".
Transportation
Ýolöten lies on the Mary-
Serhetabat
Serhetabat (formerly Gushgy) ( tk, Guşgy; russian: Кушка, Kushka) is a city in Tagtabazar District, Mary Province, Turkmenistan. Serhetabat lies in the valley of the Kushka River. The population was 5,200 in 1991. It is immediately opposi ...
railway line, and at the junction of the A-388 highway connecting Mary and Serhetabat and the P-25 highway connecting Ýolöten to
Baýramaly
Baýramaly (formerly Bayram-Ali, tk, Baýramaly, earlier Bahrām Ali ) is a city in and the seat of Baýramaly District, Mary Province, Turkmenistan. It lies about 27 km east of the provincial capital Mary, along the main railway line from ...
.
Population
In 1989 the town had a population of 18,644, with a total of some 35,000 in the town and surrounding district.
Harry's World Atlas
/ref> The 2009 estimate is 37,705.
Economy
Ýolöten is the nearest city to the Galkynysh Gas Field, formerly known as the Iolotan or South Yolotan–Osman field, the second-largest gas field in the world, and support of natural gas operations is a major part of the city's economy. It is also a center for agricultural product processing, due to its location in the Murghab River oasis.
References
External links
Seydi Oil RefineryFlickr imagesThe Yoloten letter feature
{{Cities of Turkmenistan
Populated places in Mary Region