Sho‘rchi District

Setting and nature

Sho‘rchi District was created on 9 February 1935. It borders Oltinsoy and Denov to the north, Qumqo‘rg‘on to the south and west and Uzun to the east. It covers 722 km² and had 239,600 inhabitants on 1 January 2026; the centre is Sho‘rchi town, and the district also includes the Elbayon station settlement.

The land is mostly plain and low hills at 400–700 m. The Surkhandarya runs 25 km through the middle of the district, and the riverside tugai woodland was drained and turned into farmland in the last century.

Historic sites

The district’s most famous site is Dalverzin Tepe, a city founded in the 3rd century BC that flourished under the Kushans. In 1972 it yielded a gold hoard of 115 objects weighing 36 kg in all, the largest ever found in Central Asia. Buddhist temples, shrines to local goddesses and a potters’ quarter have also been excavated.