Tashkent Region

Geography and nature

Tashkent Region occupies the north-east of Uzbekistan between the Western Tian Shan and the Syr Darya. It borders Kazakhstan to the north and north-west, Kyrgyzstan to the north-east, Namangan Region to the east, Tajikistan to the south and Sirdaryo Region to the south-west, while the capital, Tashkent, forms a separate administrative unit inside it. The region covers 15,150 km² and had 3.16 million inhabitants at the start of 2026.

The north and east are taken up by the Chatkal, Kurama, Pskem and Ugam ranges; on the Pskem Range, along the Kyrgyz border, stand Mount Adelung (4,301 m) and Beshtor (4,299 m). Westwards the mountains give way to the fertile plain of the Chirchiq–Akhangaran valley, which slopes down to the Syr Darya. The main rivers are the Syr Darya, Chirchiq, Pskem and Akhangaran, dammed into the Charvak, Tuyabuguz and Akhangaran reservoirs. The climate is sharply continental: January averages −1 to −2 °C and July about 27 °C, with some 250 mm of precipitation on the plains and over 500 mm in the mountains.

Much of the high country lies within Ugam-Chatkal National Park (574,600 ha), created in 1990. Its core, the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve, protected since 1947, became part of UNESCO’s Western Tian Shan World Heritage Site in 2016. The region is also rich in copper, molybdenum, gold, silver and brown coal.

History

People have lived here since the deep past: at Kulbulak near Angren occupation lasted hundreds of thousands of years, the Obi-Rakhmat grotto in the Paltau valley has yielded Neanderthal remains, and the rocks of Khojikent carry Chalcolithic and Saka-era carvings. A Late Bronze Age hoard was found near Burchmulla.

Around the turn of the era the area belonged to the Kangju state, and Kanka, near the confluence of the Akhangaran and the Syr Darya, is regarded as the first capital of Chach. In the early Middle Ages the principalities of Chach and Ilak were famous for their many castles and towns, and Ilak mined silver and copper. Under the Samanids in the 9th–10th centuries towns such as Binkath, Kharashkat and Tunkat flourished. After the Mongol invasion Timur rebuilt Banakat on the Syr Darya as Shahrukhiya and raised the Zangiata mausoleum.

In the 19th century the Tashkent oasis belonged to the Khanate of Kokand, and from 1865 to the Russian Empire; a military sanatorium opened at Chimgan in 1879. The region was created on 15 January 1938, and Bostanliq District was transferred from the Kazakh SSR in 1956. Soviet industrialisation produced the towns of Chirchiq, Olmaliq, Angren and Bekabad, and in 2017 Nurafshon became the regional capital.

What to see

Bostanliq District is the region’s main playground: Chimgan and Greater Chimgan (3,309 m), the Beldersay and Amirsoy ski areas, the Gulkam canyon, turquoise Lake Charvak with its lakeside villages of Yusufkhona, Burchmulla and Sijjak, the Pskem valley and Lake Urungach. History lovers can add the Khojikent petroglyphs, the Obi-Rakhmat grotto and Sheikh Umar’s tomb at Bogiston.

The monument closest to Tashkent is the Timurid Zangiata Complex. The Big Solar Furnace at Parkent joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2026 as part of Tashkent Modernism. In the south-west, by the Syr Darya, lie the ruins of Kanka and Shahrukhiya, with the Kyzyl Mazar mausoleum near Bekobod and the Qaynar cistern in Ohangaron District.

People and economy

Most inhabitants are Uzbeks, alongside Kazakhs, Tajiks, Russians, Koreans, Tatars and others; Koreans resettled here in the 20th century founded well-known collective farms in Ortachirchiq and other districts, the most famous being the Polar Star, run for over 34 years by the twice-decorated Hero of Socialist Labour Kim Pen Hwa. This is one of the most industrial parts of the country, with non-ferrous metallurgy at Olmaliq, steel and cement at Bekabad, coal at Angren, and chemicals and engineering at Chirchiq, while the valleys grow cotton, grain, vegetables, fruit and grapes.

Getting there

Every town in the region is within one or two hours’ drive of Tashkent. There are more than 360 km of railway and over 3,700 km of roads. Trains run from Tashkent towards Khojikent (for Charvak), Angren and Bekabad, and the Angren–Pap railway and Tashkent–Kokand highway link the region with the Fergana Valley. Most visitors reach the mountain resorts by taxi or rental car.