Bäherden, formerly Baharly (2003-2018), 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 the seat of

Baherden District Baherden District is a district of Ahal Province, Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, ...

Ahal Province Ahal Region ( tk, Ahal welaýaty; from fa, آخال, Axāl) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 939,700 (2005 e ...

, Turkmenistan. It lies on the northern rim of the

Kopet Dag The Köpet Dag, Kopet Dagh, or Koppeh Dagh ( tk, Köpetdag; fa, کپه‌داغ), also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range, is a mountain range on the border between Turkmenistan and Iran that extends about along the border southeast o ...

mountain range, south-west of the resort village of Archman.

Etymology

According to Atanyyazow, some archaeologists have related it to a village called Abhadaran, located 3 to 4 kilometers northeast of Bäherden, but local greybeards interpret it as deriving from Bahrizen ("the lake of your wife") and Maharram (the name of the queen of a one-time chief of Durun). Baharly means "springlike" in Turkmen. According to former President Niyazov, Turkmens, during the times of

Oghuz Khagan Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan ( tk, Oguz Han or Oguz Kagan ; tr, Oğuz Kağan or Oğuz Han; Azerbaijani: Oğuz Xan or Oğuz Xaqan) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the lege ...

, spent springtime in the area.

History

The settlement was conquered and incorporated into Russia in 1881 following the Battle of Gökdepe. At the end of the 19th century, it housed 789 people and was a stop along the

Trans-Caspian Railway The Trans-Caspian Railway (also called the Central Asian Railway, russian: Среднеазиатская железная дорога) is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by ...

. Bäherden was administrative center of the Bäherden district of the