Namangan

History

Namangan first appears at the end of the 15th century, when Babur mentions the village of Namangan in the Baburnama. It has been known as a town since 1610, and in 1620 the people of earthquake-ruined Akhsikath moved here. The name is thought to come from Persian namak kan, 'salt mine', after the salt dug nearby. A town of potters, weavers, coppersmiths, blacksmiths and jewellers, Namangan traded with China, Bukhara and the nomadic tribes.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the city belonged to the Kokand Khanate; from 1876 it was a district town of the Russian Empire's Fergana Oblast, and since 1941 it has been the centre of Namangan Region. The city includes the Davlatobod and Yangi Namangan districts, and at the start of 2026 it had 728,000 inhabitants.

What to see

The centre has the Mullah Kyrgyz Madrasa of 1910, the 18th-century Khodjamni Kabri and Khoja Amin Mosque, and the great domed Ota Valikhon Tora Mosque. Nearby are Babur Park, laid out in 1884 as the district governor's garden, and the regional museum of history and culture within its grounds; the Afsonalar Vodiysi park lies to the west. The flower festival, held every year since 1961, usually in May, has earned Namangan the title 'city of flowers'. The city is regarded as the birthplace of the Sufi poet Boborahim Mashrab.