Samarkand Region is the most populous region of Uzbekistan. It is located in the center of the country in the basin of the

Zarafshan River The Zarafshon is a river in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Its name, "spreader of gold" in Persian language, Persian, refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. To the ancient Greeks it was known ...

. It borders

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, Navoiy Region, Jizzakh Region and

Qashqadaryo Region Qashqadaryo Region is one of the regions of Uzbekistan, located in the south-eastern part of the country in the basin of the river Qashqadaryo (river), Qashqadaryo and on the western slopes of the Pamir-Alay mountains. It borders with Tajikistan, ...

. It covers an area of 16,773 km². The population is estimated to be around 4,031,324, with some 63% living in rural areas (as of 2022). Samarkand Region was established on 15 January 1938,Information about the Samarkand Region
,
www.samarqand.uz
', accessed on 2007-07-21. and is divided into 14 administrative districts and two district-level cities. The capital is

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

(pop. ≈551,700 as of 2021). Other major towns include

Bulungʻur Bulungʻur () is a city in Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem ...

, Juma, Ishtixon, Kattakurgan, Urgut, and Oqtosh. The climate is a typically arid

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

. Samarkand is the second-largest center for economy, science, and culture in Uzbekistan, after

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. The region's

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

architectural monuments make Samarkand the largest center for international tourism in the country. Samarkand Region also has significant

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

, including construction materials such as

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

, and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

. The region's major agricultural activities are cotton and cereal growing, winemaking and

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori, domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkwo ...

. Metal processing (spare parts for automobiles and combines), food processing, textiles, and ceramics are the area's most active industries. The region has a well-developed transport infrastructure, with over 400 km of railways and 4,100 km of surfaced roads. The telecommunication infrastructure is also well developed.

Administrative divisions

The Samarkand Region consists of 14

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s (listed below) and two district-level cities:

(''Samarqand'') and Kattakurgan (''Kattaqoʻrgʻon''). There are 11 cities (

, Kattakurgan,

, Jomboy, Ishtixon, Oqtosh, Payariq, Chelak, Juma, Nurobod, Urgut) and 88

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

s in the Samarkand Region.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Regions of Uzbekistan

Administrative divisions

See also

Notes

References