Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tashkend

TASHKEND, or Tashkent, one of the largest and most important cities of Central Asia, now the capital of Russian Turkestan, is situated in the valley of the Tchirtchik, some 50 miles above its junction with the Syr-Daria, in 41° 20' N. lat. and 69° 18' E. long. The city, formerly enclosed by walls which are now ruinous, is surrounded by rich gardens, and its houses are buried among the fruit and other trees which grow all along the numberless ramifications of the irrigation canals. The buildings, which are of stone and sun-dried bricks, are mostly low, on account of the earthquakes which frequently disturb the region. Like all old cities of Asia, Tashkend is sub-divided into sections {yurts), which are characterized by the special trades carried on in each. Asiatic Tashkend in 1871 had 78,130 inhabitants, mostly Sarts (75,176), with a few Uzbegs, Kirghizes, Jews, Russians, and Germans. A depression in the south-east is occupied by Russian Tashkend, dating from 1865, which has clean, broad streets lined with poplars, the low nice-looking houses being surrounded by gardens. In 1875 its population, exclusive of the military, was 4860, mostly Russians, It has a public library containing a rich collection of works on Central Asia, an observatory, a museum, two gymnasia, a seminary, and the buildings occupied by the administration. A branch of the Russian Geographical Society has been opened at Tashkend, and its publications, as also those of the statistical committee and the Turkestan Gazette, contain most valuable information about Turkestan. According to the most recent estimates, the population of Tashkend, with its suburbs, is reckoned at 100,000. In consequence of the chequered history of the town (see Turkestan), few old buildings have been preserved, and only the madrasah Beklar Bek, with its fifty students, and the graves of Sheikh Zenedjin-baba and Zenghi-ata are worthy of mention. The former is four centuries old, and that of Zenghi-ata, a saint held in high veneration throughout Central Asia, yearly attracts thousands of pilgrims.

A variety of petty trades are carried on in numerous small workshops,—weaving and dyeing of cottons and the manufacture of small brass and iron wares, of harness, and especially of boots, being the chief. Most of the inhabitants are also engaged in raising corn, rice, oil-plants, cotton, wine, and lucerne, and in gardening. The trade of Tashkend has lost its former importance, but corn, cattle, silk, cotton, and fruits are still exported, and all kinds of manufactured wares are imported from the countries to the south.