Jizzakh Region

Landscape and nature

Jizzakh Region lies in the middle of Uzbekistan, between the Syr Darya and the Zeravshan. It borders Kazakhstan and Syrdarya Region to the north, Tajikistan to the south-east, and Samarkand and Navoiy regions to the west. It covers 21,200 km² and had 1.57 million people at the start of 2026, more than half of them in villages.

Few regions are so varied. The north-east is the Mirzachul plain, the historic Hungry Steppe; the north-west takes in the eastern edge of the Kyzylkum and the Aydar-Arnasay lakes. The Nuratau range rises in the west, topped by Hayotboshi (2,169.5 m), the Malguzar mountains in the centre and the Turkestan Range in the south, with peaks above 4,000 metres. The largest rivers are the 198-km Sanzar and the Zominsuv. The Sanzar is called the Guralash in its upper reaches and the Kly below Jizzakh before ending in Lake Tuzkan, and a reservoir has been built near the city. The climate is sharply continental and dry, with scorching summers on the plains and cool ones in the mountains.

History

In antiquity the area belonged to Ustrushana; Jizzakh, the Sogdian 'Dizak' or 'little fortress', is recorded as a town from the 10th century under the Samanids. The Qarakhanids and the Khwarazmshahs followed, and in 1220 the Mongols destroyed the town. It revived under the Timurids: in 1425 Ulugh Beg, returning from a campaign against Moghulistan, had an inscription carved on a cliff in the Sanzar gorge, and in 1571 Abdullah Khan added his own victory inscription to the same rock.

From 1756 to 1866 the Jizzakh beglik was part of the Emirate of Bukhara, until Russian troops took the town in 1866. In 1916 Jizzakh was one of the main centres of the anti-colonial Turkestan uprising. From the mid-20th century the Hungry Steppe was irrigated and settled, and new districts and towns sprang up in the former desert. The region was created on 29 December 1973, abolished in 1988 and restored on 16 February 1990. Jizzakh is the birthplace of the writer and statesman Sharof Rashidov and the poet Hamid Olimjon, and Zomin District is the home district of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Mirzachul: from desert to fields

The second half of the 20th century transformed the region. In 1956 part of the Hungry Steppe was transferred from the Kazakh SSR to Uzbekistan, and large-scale irrigation began. The South Hungry Steppe Canal was dug, and between 1967 and 1979 the Pakhtakor, Mirzachul, Dustlik, Zafarobod, Arnasoy and Zarbdor districts were created on the newly watered land, along with new towns such as Gagarin, Dustlik and Pakhtakor. Because the groundwater is shallow and salty, the fields had to be laced with drains. The 1969 flood had an unexpected result: water released from the Shardara reservoir filled the Arnasay depression and created a vast lake system in the middle of the desert.

What to see

The region's best-known destination is Zaamin National Park and nature reserve on the Turkestan Range, with ancient juniper forests, the Chortangi gorge and the hotels, cable car and suspension bridge of the Zomin tourist zone; in 2024 they joined UNESCO's Tentative List as the 'Zomin Mountains'. Nearby are the Suffa radio observatory and, in the Bakhmal mountains, the lidar-mapped medieval cities of Tugunbulak and Tashbulak (6th–11th centuries).

Tamerlane's Gate, 15–16 km south-west of Jizzakh, is a gorge bearing the inscriptions of Ulugh Beg and Abdullah Khan. In Forish District to the north-west, the Aydar-Arnasay lakes draw birdwatchers and anglers, while Ukhum village and the Nurata reserve in the Nuratau range await eco-travellers. Jizzakh itself has the Sharof Rashidov House Museum, the Hamid Olimjon and Zulfiya Museum and Qaliyatepa, the walled town of ancient Dizak.

Economy, crafts and food

The economy rests on farming, with cotton and wheat as the main crops alongside vegetables and melons, orchards in the mountain districts and karakul sheep in Forish. The region has deposits of lead, zinc, iron ore and limestone. Its most famous dish is the Jizzakh samsa: a 300–400-gram pastry of thick dough filled with meat, onion and a whole chunk of tail fat, a meal in itself. Villages in the Nuratau keep up suzani and embroidery traditions, showcased at the Sumalak Sayli festival in Ukhum in spring 2026.

Getting there

Jizzakh is 180 km south-west of Tashkent and 90 km north-east of Samarkand, on the M39 highway and the high-speed railway, so it is a few hours from Tashkent by train or car. Zomin is reached via Dashtobod station, and Forish and Aydarkul via Bogdon. Public transport is scarce in the mountains and around the lakes, so arrange a taxi or tour transport in advance. A day or two here slots neatly into a Tashkent–Samarkand itinerary.