Kashkadarya Region

Geography and nature

Kashkadarya Region lies in southern Uzbekistan, in the basin of the Kashkadarya river at the western edge of the Pamir-Alay mountain system. It borders Bukhara Region to the north-west, Navoi and Samarkand regions to the north, Surkhandarya to the south-east, Tajikistan to the east and Turkmenistan to the west. It covers 28,570 km² and had 3,716,949 inhabitants on 1 January 2026; the capital is Qarshi.

The land rises from west to east. In the west lies the broad Qarshi steppe, merging with the Sandykli and Kyzylkum deserts; in the east rise the Zarafshan and Hisor ranges, with a belt of foothills between. The main river, the Kashkadarya, and its tributaries the Jinnidaryo, Oqsuv, Yakkabogdaryo, Tankhozdaryo and Guzordaryo are fed by mountain snow and glaciers. The climate is continental, with fairly mild winters and long, hot, dry summers. To irrigate the Qarshi steppe, the Qarshi main canal with pumping stations lifting water from the Amu Darya was built, along with the Tallimarjon, Chimqo‘rg‘on and Pachkamar reservoirs.

In the eastern mountains the Hisor State Reserve protects juniper forest, snow leopards and birds of prey, while the Kitab Geological Reserve preserves the fossilised remains of a Devonian sea.

History

The Kashkadarya oasis is one of Central Asia’s oldest cultural centres. Yerqo‘rg‘on near Qarshi, capital of ancient Nakhshab, arose in the 8th–7th centuries BC, and Kesh, on the site of Shahrisabz, was a leading town of Sogdiana. Alexander the Great campaigned here, and the oasis later belonged to the Kushan empire, the Turkic Khaganate and the Arab Caliphate. In the Middle Ages Nasaf (Nakhshab) was a centre of learning, and many celebrated Islamic scholars bore the name al-Nasafi.

In the 14th century the Chagatai khan Kebek built a palace near Nasaf; the Mongol word qarshi, “palace”, eventually became the city’s name. In 1336 Timur was born near Kesh, and he endowed his home town with the Ak-Saray Palace and dynastic mausoleums. Under the Shaybanids, especially Abdullah Khan II, Qarshi gained a bridge, mosques and sardobas (cisterns). Later the oasis was divided into the Qarshi, Shahrisabz, Kitob, G‘uzor and other begliks of the Emirate of Bukhara.

The modern region was created in 1943, abolished in 1960 and restored in 1964. Shahrisabz celebrated its 2,700th anniversary in 2002, and Qarshi in 2006.

Among the best-known figures of the Nasaf school was Najm al-Din Umar al-Nasafi (1068–1142), whose creed al-Aqa’id al-Nasafiyya served for centuries as a core theology textbook in madrasas across the Islamic world; the theologian Abu al-Mu’in al-Nasafi also came from the oasis. In the early 20th century the Jadid reform movement was active in Qarshi and Shahrisabz, opening new-method schools.

What to see

The region’s jewel is the Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2000: the pylons of Ak-Saray, the Dorut Tilovat and Dorus-Saodat ensembles, the Kok Gumbaz Mosque, the Jahangir Mausoleum and Timur’s underground crypt. Qarshi offers the Odina Mosque, its own Kok Gumbaz Mosque, a 16th-century brick bridge and early 20th-century madrasas, with the ruins of Yerqo‘rg‘on just outside town.

In the mountains, the Langar Ota complex in Qamashi District, the Hazrati Bashir shrine in Kitob District, the Maidanak Observatory and the Kitab latitude station, working since 1930, are all of interest. Nature lovers can visit the Kitab Geological Reserve and the villages of the Hisor foothills, though the Hisor reserve itself has been closed to tourists since 2015.

Crafts and food

Shahrisabz has long been famous for embroidery, and its tradition of suzani and other needlework continues today. Carpet-weaving, felt-making and pottery also thrive in the oasis, and a craftsmen’s association works in Qarshi’s Abdulazizxoja Madrasa.

Kashkadarya cooking draws on herding and farming traditions: meat dishes, tandoor-baked bread and meat, and dairy products form the core of the table, while the orchards and vineyards of the Kitob–Shahrisabz oasis are known for their fruit. Oil, gas and gas processing, including the Muborak gas processing plant and the Sho‘rtan gas-chemical complex, are mainstays of the regional economy.

Getting there

Qarshi International Airport has flights to Tashkent. Railways link Qarshi with Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent, with a branch towards Kitob, and the Tashguzar–Boysun–Qumqo‘rg‘on line crosses the region’s south-east into Surkhandarya.

From Samarkand the short road to Shahrisabz crosses the Takhtakaracha Pass, which snow can close in winter; the alternative route goes via Kitob. Shahrisabz and Qarshi are about 100 km apart.