Yangiariq District

Setting and history

Yangiariq District was formed in 1926 and borders Xonqa to the north, Bogot to the east, Khiva District to the west and Turkmenistan to the south, covering about 400 km². Of its 127,300 residents (2026), most are Uzbeks speaking the Oghuz dialect. Place-name scholars Z. Dosimov and Kh. Egamov stress that the name has nothing to do with a “new canal”, as it appears, and other explanations exist. People farm cotton, grain and fruit and raise livestock.

What to see

The Sheikh Mukhtar Vali complex in Ostona is a 14th-century mausoleum over the grave of a 13th-century scholar, enlarged under Muhammad Rahim Khan I and still graced by carved doors. It lies about 20 km southeast of Khiva.