Fergana Valley

Highly fertile and mineral-rich mountain basin in the Tien Shan range of Central Asia; area 22,000 sq km/8,494 sq mi. The Fergana Valley straddles the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, and is crossed by the middle reaches of the Syr Darya. Its abundance of natural resources has made it since earliest times (2nd century BC) one of the main centres of population, crafts, and commerce in Central Asia.

The Fergana Valley, which lies north of the Pamirs, is a flat desert in the centre, but is surrounded by the largest oasis in Central Asia. Resources here have been heavily exploited; there are oil, coal, rare metals, and other mineral deposits, but the region's prime commodity is cotton. Fruit and silk are also major products of the region. All the main settlements in the oasis are connected by a circular railway, and there are many irrigation canals, including the Great Fergana Canal (length 345 km/214 mi), which was built by forced labour in 1939-40.

In the 18th century, the powerful Khanate of Kokand arose in the Fergana Valley. Russia conquered the Khanate in 1876, and the valley was made an oblast of Russian Turkestan. During the Russian Civil War (1918-20), the region formed the nucleus of the anti-Bolshevik Autonomous Turkestan government. The region is strongly Muslim, and since the end of Soviet rule, has witnessed a revival of Islamic fundamentalist activity.