Istaravshan

Brief information about the Istaravshan

Istaravshan (Tajik: Истаравшан; Persian: استروشن‎) is a Town in Sughd Province in Tajikistan. Situated in the northern foothills of the Turkistan mountain range, 78 km south of Khujand, Before 2000, it had been known as Ура́-Тюбе (Ura-Tyube) in Russian, Ӯротеппа (Ūroteppa) at Tajik and O'ratepa at Uzbek.

In 2000, the Tajik authorities made a decision to rename the title of the city from O'ratepa into Istaravshan, the procedure known as as pressured "Tajikization" or "Persification" by most. Bordered Kyrgyzstan in the east, and from Uzbekistan in west and the north, the area of Istaravshan stretches km, and with a administrative population of 199,000 individuals, the vast majority of its citizens reside in the outlying countryside.

The town is located on the main road connecting Tajikistan's two largest cities, Khujand and Dushanbe.