Namangan Region

Geography and nature

Namangan Region occupies the northern part of the Fergana Valley, mostly on the right bank of the Syr Darya. It borders Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the Tashkent, Fergana and Andijan regions. It covers 7,440 km², and at the start of 2026 it had 3.19 million inhabitants, nearly two-thirds of them in urban areas.

The Chatkal and Kurama ranges wall the region in from the north, falling southwards into foothills and broad plains. The Syr Darya itself is born in these parts, where the Naryn and Kara Darya meet. Mountain streams such as the Chortoqsoy, Chustsoy, Govasoy, Kosonsoy and Namangansoy run down to the valley, and the Kosonsoy, Chortoq and Eskiyer reservoirs and the North Fergana and Great Namangan canals have been built. The climate is sharply continental, with around 230 mm of rain a year in Namangan. Beneath the ground lie the Chodak gold deposit, oil, gas and mineral waters; the springs of Chortoq are known for their healing water.

History

This part of the valley was settled very early: the Chust culture of the late 2nd and early 1st millennium BC was first identified here. Akhsikath on the Syr Darya is known from the 3rd century BC and in the 9th–10th centuries was the capital of all Fergana; in the 15th century Babur's father, Umar Shaikh Mirza, ruled from here. The ancient towns of Pap and Kasan are already mentioned at the time of the Arab conquest.

After the earthquake of 1620 the people of Akhsikath moved to nearby Namangan, which soon became a major crafts and trading town. Its name is thought to derive from Persian namak kan, 'salt mine'. In the 18th and 19th centuries Namangan was part of the Kokand Khanate, and from 1876 of the Russian Empire's Fergana Oblast. The region was created on 6 March 1941, abolished in 1960 and restored on 18 December 1967.

The land has produced many poets and reformers: the Sufi poet Boborahim Mashrab was born in Namangan, and the enlightener and publisher Ishoqxon Tora Ibrat lived and worked in Turakurgan.

What to see

Namangan city has the Mullah Kyrgyz Madrasa of 1910, the 18th-century Khodjamni Kabri (mausoleum of Khoja Amin), the great domed mosque of Ota Valikhon Tora, the regional museum of history and culture, and Babur Park, laid out in the late 19th century. The emblem of modern Namangan is the Afsonalar Vodiysi ('Valley of Legends') park, opened in 2019.

The ruins of Akhsikath in Turakurgan District — 'Fergana's Afrasiab' — were a key Silk Road station. Pop District has the Munchoqtepa necropolis and the Balandtepa town site, while its mountains hold Pop National Nature Park, created in 2022. In Chust, old knife workshops and skullcap makers are still at work.

Crafts and festivals

Chust knives are famous throughout Uzbekistan: the town has a quarter of bladesmiths, and every blade is stamped with its maker's mark. The Chust skullcap, embroidered in white on a dark ground with a pepper-pod or almond motif, won acclaim at exhibitions in New Delhi, Montreal, Tokyo and Poznań in 1968–1970. Silk, textiles and jewellery are also traditional industries here.

Namangan is the 'city of flowers': a flower festival has been held here every spring, usually in May, since 1961, international since 2019, and the 65th edition took place in 2026. In spring the city's parks, streets and courtyards are ablaze with blooms.

Cities and districts

The regional capital is Namangan, which includes the city districts of Davlatobod and Yangi Namangan, created in 2020–2021; the rest of the region is divided into 11 districts. Namangan is one of the largest cities in the valley, with 728,000 residents at the start of 2026. The region's other towns are Chust, Kosonsoy, Chortoq, Uchqurgan, Turakurgan, Pop and Haqqulobod.

Pop District in the west is the largest by area, stretching from the Chatkal mountains to the Syr Darya and linking the valley with Tashkent over the Kamchik Pass. Kosonsoy, Chortoq and Yangiqurgan lie in the northern foothills, while Uychi, Uchqurgan and Norin occupy the fertile plain along the Naryn. Mingbuloq District, on the left bank of the Syr Darya, preserves the sandy deserts of Central Fergana.

Getting there

Namangan International Airport has flights to Tashkent and a number of foreign cities. The railway from Tashkent reaches Namangan through the tunnel beneath the Kamchik Pass, and the road crosses the same pass; Tashkent is about 300 km away. Buses and taxis link Namangan with Chust, Pop, Turakurgan and Kosonsoy, and Fergana and Andijan are close by.