Tashkent, also spelled Toshkent, is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3.1 million people as of July 1, 2025. It is located in northeastern Uzbekistan. Tashkent's history stretches back centuries as part of the ancient Silk Road, the network of trade routes that connected the Eastern world and the Western world. The city has long been a crossroads of cultures, goods and ideas.
Before the influence of Islam in the mid-8th century AD, Sogdian and Turkic culture was predominant. After Genghis Khan destroyed the city in 1219, it was rebuilt and profited from its location on the Silk Road. From the 18th to the 19th centuries, the city became an independent city-state, before being re-conquered by the Khanate of Kokand. In 1865, Tashkent fell to the Russian Empire; as a result, it became the capital of Russian Turkestan. In Soviet times, it witnessed major growth and demographic changes due to forced deportations from throughout the Soviet Union. Much of Tashkent was destroyed in the 1966 Tashkent earthquake, but it was soon rebuilt as a model Soviet city. It was the fourth-largest city in the Soviet Union at the time, after Moscow, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and Kiev (now Kyiv).
Tashkent plays a central role in the country's economic and human development. In a 2023 report, the Center for Progressive Reforms ranked it first among Uzbekistan's regions, topping the list in five of the seven categories assessed – healthcare, education, economy, infrastructure and environment. Economically, Tashkent was the leading contributor to the national GDP, accounting for 19% of Uzbekistan's GDP in the first half of 2024. This economic dominance is supported by ongoing infrastructure development and urban modernisation projects aimed at enhancing its role as a financial and commercial hub. Nonetheless, the city faces challenges such as environmental concerns and the need for sustainable investment in public services.
Since Uzbekistan gained independence, Tashkent has retained its multi‑ethnic population, with ethnic Uzbeks forming the majority. In 2009, it celebrated 2,200 years of its written history.
The Government of Uzbekistan has approved a master plan for Tashkent that lasts through 2045, which focuses on balanced urban development, ecological protection and the preservation of cultural heritage.
History
Etymology
During its long history, Tashkent has undergone various changes in names and political and religious affiliations. Abu Rayhan Biruni wrote that the city's name Tashkent comes from the Turkic tash and Persian kent, literally translated as "Stone City" or "City of Stones".
Ilya Gershevitch (1974:55, 72) (apud Livshits, 2007:179) traces the city's old name Chach back to Old Iranian *čāiča- "area of water, lake" (cf. Čaēčista, the Aral Sea's name in the Avesta) (whence Middle Chinese transcription *źiäk > standard Chinese Shí with Chinese character 石 for "stone"), and *Čačkand ~ Čačkanθ was the basis for Turkic adaptation Tashkent, popularly etymologized as "stone city". Livshits proposes that Čač originally designated only the Aral Sea before being used for the Tashkent oasis.
Ünal (2022) critiques Gershevitch's and Livshits's etymology as being "based on too many assumptions". He instead derives the name Čač from Late Proto-Turkic *t1iāt2(ă) "stone", which he proposes to be seemingly another translation, besides the apparent Chinese translation 石 shí "stone", of *kaŋk- (whence Chinese transcription 康居 EHC *kʰɑŋ-kɨɑ > standard Chinese Kāngjū), which possibly meant "stone". Against Harold Walter Bailey's and Edwin G. Pulleyblank's suggested Tocharian origin for *kaŋk-, Ünal proposes that it was instead an Iranian word and compares it to Pashto kā́ṇay "stone".
Early history
The first occupants identified in the Tashkent oasis were the Burgulik (Burghulik, Burgulyuk or Burganlik) culture, an ancient pastoral society of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. The Burgulik era is usually divided into two periods, Burgulik I occurred during the 9th to 7th centuries BC and Burgulik II, from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. Archaeological excavations indicate that the Burgulik people were involved in animal husbandry, possibly agriculture with some irrigation and handicrafts. They lived primarily in basement shaped huts or hollowed cave dwellings and there was no evidence of wooden architecture. The hill fort, Shashtepa, in the southern part of the city was constructed during Burgulik I and is believed to have been abandoned in the 7th century BC.
Shashtepa was one of the largest villages of the Burgulik era as the availability of running water from the Dzhun Aryk, a branch of the Chirchik River and fertile soil made its location ideal for the sedentary life of agriculture. At the later stage (6th–3rd centuries BC), it was influenced by the late Saka culture of Southern Kazakhstan (Usun) and the culture of Northern Fergana (Aktam burial ground).
The Burgulik culture was replaced by the Kaunchin culture (Chach), which is usually associated with the population of the Kangju (K'ang-chü) state, a Chinese name for a kingdom in Central Asia that existed from about 140 BC to the 5th century AD. Chinese sources suggest that a settlement existed here at oasis near the Chirchik River in the 2nd century BC. Tashkent might have been or near "Beitian," (Pi-tien) the summer capital of Kangju.
Some scholars believe that a "Stone Tower" mentioned by Ptolemy in his famous treatise Geography, and by other early accounts of travel on the old Silk Road, referred to this settlement (due to its etymology). This tower is said to have marked the midway point between Europe and China. Other scholars, however, disagree with this identification, though it remains one of four most probable sites for the Stone Tower.
History as Chach
In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the town and the province were known as Chach. The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi also refers to the city as Chach.
The principality of Chach had a square citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the Syr Darya River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had more than 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the Sogdians and Turkic nomads. The Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602/603? – 664 AD), who travelled from China to India through Central Asia, mentioned the name of the city as Zhěshí (赭時). The Chinese chronicles History of Northern Dynasties, Book of Sui, and Old Book of Tang mention a possession called Shí 石 ("stone") or Zhěshí 赭時 with a capital of the same name since the fifth century AD.
In 558–603, Chach was part of the Turkic Khaganate. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Turkic Khaganate, as a result of internecine wars and wars with its neighbors, disintegrated into the Western and Eastern Khaganates. The Western Turkic ruler Tong Yabghu Qaghan (618–630) set up his headquarters in the Ming-bulak area to the north of Chach. Here he received embassies from the emperors of the Tang Empire and Byzantium. In 626, the Indian Buddhist preacher Prabhakāramitra arrived with ten companions to the Khagan. In 628, Xuanzang arrived in Ming-bulak.
The Turkic rulers of Chach minted their coins with the inscription on the obverse side of the "lord of the Khakan money" (mid-8th century); with an inscription in the ruler Turk (7th century), in Nudjket in the middle of the 8th century, coins were issued with the obverse inscription "Nanchu (Banchu) Ertegin sovereign".
Islamic Caliphate
Chach (Arabic: Shash) was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate at the beginning of the 8th century.
According to the descriptions of the authors of the 10th century, Shash was structurally divided into a citadel, an inner city (madina) and two suburbs - an inner (rabad-dahil) and an outer (rabad-harij). The citadel, surrounded by a special wall with two gates, contained the ruler's palace and the prison.
Post-Caliphate rule
Under the Samanid Empire, whose founder Ismail Samani was a descendant of Persian Zoroastrian convert to Islam, the city came to be known as Binkath. However, the Arabs retained the old name of Chach for the surrounding region, pronouncing it ash-Shāsh (الشاش) instead.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali ash-Shashi, known as al-Kaffal ash-Shashi (904–975), was born in Tashkent. He was an Islamic theologian, scholar, jurist of the Shafi'i madhhab, hadith scholar and linguist.
After the 11th century, the name evolved from Chachkand/Chashkand to Tashkand. The modern spelling of "Tashkent" reflects Russian orthography and 20th-century Soviet influence.
At the end of the 10th century, Tashkent became part of the possessions of the Turkic state of the Karakhanids. In 998/99 the Tashkent oasis went to the Karakhanid Ahmad ibn Ali, who ruled the north-eastern regions of Mavarannahr. In 1177/78, a separate khanate was formed in the Tashkent oasis. Its center was Banakat, where dirhams of Mu'izz ad-dunya wa-d-din Qilich-khan were minted, in 1195–1197; and of Jalal ad-dunya wa-d-din Tafgach-khakan, in 1197–1206.
Mongol conquest
The city was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1219 and lost much of its population as a result of the Mongols' destruction of the Khwarezmid Empire in 1220.
Timurid period
Under the Timurid and subsequent Shaybanid dynasties, the city's population and culture gradually revived as a prominent strategic center of scholarship, commerce and trade along the Silk Road.
During the reign of Amir Timur (1336–1405), Tashkent was restored and in the 14th-15th centuries Tashkent was part of Timur's empire. For Timur, Tashkent was considered a strategic city. In 1391 Timur set out in the spring from Tashkent to Desht-i-Kipchak to fight the Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh Khan. Timur returned from this victorious campaign through Tashkent.
The most famous saint Sufi of Tashkent was Sheikh Khovendi at-Takhur (13th to the first half of the 14th century). According to legend, Amir Timur, who was treating his wounded leg in Tashkent with the healing water of the Zem-Zem spring, ordered to build a mausoleum for the saint. By order of Timur, the Zangiata mausoleum was built.
Uzbek Shaybanid's dynasty period
In the 16th century, Tashkent was ruled by the Shaybanid dynasty.
Shaybanid Suyunchkhoja Khan was an enlightened Uzbek ruler; following the traditions of his ancestors Mirzo Ulugbek and Abul Khair Khan, he gathered famous scientists, writers and poets at his court, among them: Vasifi, Abdullah Nasrullahi, Masud bin Osmani Kuhistani. Since 1518 Vasifi was the educator of the son of Suyunchhoja Khan Keldi Muhammad, with whom, after the death of his father in 1525, he moved to Tashkent. After the death of his former pupil, he became the educator of his son, Abu-l-Muzaffar Hasan-Sultan.
Later the city was subordinated to Shaybanid Abdullah Khan II (the ruler actually from 1557, officially in 1583–1598), who issued his coins here. From 1598 to 1604 Tashkent was ruled by the Shaybanid Keldi Muhammad, who issued silver and copper coins on his behalf.
Kazakh ruled period
In 1598, Kazakh Tauekel Khan was at war with the Khanate of Bukhara. The Bukhara troops sent against him were defeated by Kazakhs in the battle between Tashkent and Samarkand. During the reign of Yesim-Khan, a peace treaty was concluded between Bukhara and Kazakhs, according to which Kazakhs abandoned Samarkand, but left behind Tashkent, Turkestan and a number of Syr Darya cities.
Yesim-Khan ruled the Kazakh Khanate from 1598 to 1628, his main merit was that he managed to unite the Kazakh khanate. The city was part of Kazakh Khanate between 1598 and 1723.
Tashkent state
In 1784, Yunus Khoja, the ruler of the dakha (district) Shayhantahur, united the entire city under his rule and created an independent Tashkent state (1784–1807), which by the beginning of the 19th century seized vast lands.
Kokand Khanate
In 1809, Tashkent was annexed to the Khanate of Kokand. At the time, Tashkent had a population of around 100,000 and was considered the richest city in Central Asia.
Under the Kokand domination, Tashkent was surrounded by a moat and an adobe battlement (about 20 kilometers long) with 12 gates. It prospered greatly through trade with Russia but chafed under Kokand's high taxes. The Tashkent clergy also favored the clergy of Bukhara over that of Kokand. However, before the Emir of Bukhara could capitalize on this discontent, the Russian army arrived.
Colonial period
In May 1865, Mikhail Grigorevich Chernyayev (Cherniaev), acting against the direct orders of the Tsar and outnumbered at least 15–1, staged a daring night attack against a city with a wall 25 km (16 mi) long with 11 gates and 30,000 defenders. While a small contingent staged a diversionary attack, the main force penetrated the walls, led by a Russian Orthodox priest. Although the defense was stiff, the Russians captured the city after two days of heavy fighting and the loss of only 25 dead as opposed to several thousand of the defenders (including Alimqul, the ruler of the Kokand Khanate). Chernyayev, dubbed the "Lion of Tashkent" by city elders, staged a hearts-and-minds campaign to win the population over. He abolished taxes for a year, rode unarmed through the streets and bazaars meeting common people, and appointed himself "Military Governor of Tashkent", recommending to Tsar Alexander II that the city become an independent khanate under Russian protection.
The Tsar liberally rewarded Chernyayev and his men with medals and bonuses, but regarded the impulsive general as a loose cannon, and soon replaced him with General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman. Far from being granted independence, Tashkent became the capital of the new territory of Russian Turkistan, with Kaufman as first Governor-General. A cantonment and Russian settlement were built across the Ankhor Canal from the old city, and Russian settlers and merchants poured in. Tashkent was a center of espionage in the Great Game rivalry between Russia and the United Kingdom over Central Asia. The Turkestan Military District was established as part of the military reforms of 1874. The Trans-Caspian Railway arrived in 1889, and the railway workers who built it settled in Tashkent as well, bringing with them the seeds of Bolshevik Revolution.