Tashkent

Setting and climate

Tashkent lies in the north-east of the country on the plain of the Chirchiq valley, 440–480 metres above sea level, with the foothills of the Western Tian Shan rising to the east and north-east. The city is a separate administrative unit of national status covering 435 km² since the 2021 boundary changes, and on 1 October 2025 it had 3,164,000 permanent residents — more than any other city in Central Asia.

The climate is subtropical and continental: 457 mm of rain falls a year, summer temperatures regularly reach 35–40 °C in the shade, and the record stands at 44.6 °C (July 1997). The windless 40-day midsummer heat known as chilla is part of city life; spring and autumn arrive early, and winter frosts are usually brief.

History

Written sources mention the city from the 4th–5th centuries as Chach, Shashkent and Binkent; the name Tashkent first appears in the 11th century in al-Biruni and Mahmud al-Kashgari, who explained it as 'stone city'. In the early Middle Ages a cluster of four towns and some twenty castles and villages grew up here, and the ruins of its capital, Madinat ash-Shash, have been excavated at Ming Uryuk.

Timur rebuilt Tashkent and absorbed it into his empire; the Shaybanids added the Kukeldash and Barakhan madrasahs. In 1784 Yunus Khoja, ruler of the Sheikhantaur quarter, united the city as an independent state, and in the early 19th century it passed to the Kokand Khanate and was walled with 12 gates. The Russian Empire took Tashkent in 1865 and made it the centre of Turkestan, building a European New Town across the Ankhor canal; since 1930 it has been the capital of Uzbekistan.

The earthquake of 26 April 1966 wrecked the centre; the city was rebuilt in three and a half years and acquired its modern layout. Central Asia's first metro opened in 1977, and the city officially celebrated its 2,200th anniversary in 2009.

What to see

The spiritual heart of the Old City is the Hazrati Imam Complex, where the 16th-century Barakhan Madrasah and Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum now stand beside the Center for Islamic Civilization, opened in March 2026 and home to one of the oldest Quran manuscripts, the Mushaf of Uthman. From there Zarqaynar Street leads on foot to the Kukeldash Madrasah and the domed Chorsu Bazaar.

The new town centres on Amir Timur Square, the Amir Timur Museum, Independence Square and Shchusev's Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre, while the State Museum of History, the Museum of Applied Arts and the State Museum of Arts cover the country's past and crafts. In July 2026 ten landmarks of Tashkent modernism — Chorsu Bazaar, the history and art museums, the Palace of Friendship of Peoples, the circus, Kosmonavtlar metro station and others — were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Modern Tashkent also means a metro with a different theme at every station, the 375-metre TV tower, Tashkent City Park and New Uzbekistan Park.

The city's character and districts

The 1897 census counted about 156,000 people in the Old and New towns, and 201,000 by 1910. The 20th century brought rapid growth: Tashkent became a major evacuation centre in the Second World War, while the purges of the 1930s–1950s killed many intellectuals, among them Abdulla Qodiriy, Cholpon and Usmon Nosir, remembered today at the Shahidlar Khotirasi memorial.

From the late 1950s to the 1980s a local school of 'Tashkent modernism' married earthquake-proof modern structures with Central Asian ornament and sun screens. Today the city has 12 districts: Almazar is the most populous (416,800), Bektemir the smallest (70,400), and Yangihayot, created in 2020, the youngest.

Crafts and food

Tashkent is a good place to see the whole country's crafts: ceramics, gold embroidery, suzani and woodcarving at the Museum of Applied Arts, and ganch carvers and painters at work in the cells of the Abulkasim Madrasah. Chorsu and Alay bazaars sell fruit, dried fruit, spices and qurut as well as skullcaps, chapan robes and ikat silk.

The food is Uzbek classic — plov (osh), samsa, lagman, shashlik and tandoor bread — best tried in neighbourhood teahouses and bazaar canteens.

Getting there and around

Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport, in the south of the city, is the country's largest, with flights across Asia, Europe and North America. International trains and Afrosiyob high-speed services leave from Tashkent (North) station, reaching Samarkand in just over two hours and Bukhara in under four; domestic trains use Tashkent South station.

In town the metro (four lines, 50 stations), buses and taxis are the easiest ways around. The city is divided into 12 districts, and Yangi Tashkent — a new administrative centre and 13th district — is taking shape in the east.