Fergana Kokand Scenes

From Tashkent we took an early morning train east to the Fergana Valley, one of the most fertile and prosperous parts of Uzbekistan. To quote from the MIR schedule for the tour:

"Surrounded by the Tien Shan mountain range and watered by tributaries of the Syr Darya River, the Fergana Valley is the most fertile part of Central Asia. Alexander the Great founded a city here in the southwestern mouth of the valley in 329 BC. Traders from China came this way as they created the trade route we call the Silk Road in the first century BC. The whole valley became a rich oasis, with irrigated fields producing grains, fruits, silk, cotton, nuts and vegetables, and supporting horses, cattle, sheep and camels. There is evidence that Buddhism made its way here from China before the advent of Islam during the eighth century AD.

Ruled by the Kokand Khanate in the 18th and 19th centuries, the valley was taken by Imperial Russia at the end of the 19th. During the 20th century, the Soviet Union dedicated the valley to the cotton mono- culture, sapping its fertility and its water, and derailing its agricultural diversity."

Our first stop was the village of Kokand. The photos show, or imply, the rich agricultural and craft resources of the valley.