Namangan

 ( Cities In Uzbekistan ) 

The city of Namangan dates back to the 17th cent. A local salt miner's settlement (naman kann) appeared in the north of the Ferghana valley. The inhabitants of Aksikent (Ahsykenta) migrated here in the 17th century after the destructive earthquakes. Aksikent is the old city that was once the center of the valley of Fergana. Furthermore, the migration of people from other places of present-day Namangan region and partly from East Turkestan created the population of present-day Namangan. The city was the province's administrative centre in the middle of the 18th century (viloyat). [1]

Namangan, like many other cities in the Fergana valley, was originally populated by Sogdia, although it later became a Persian language speaking city; the local variety of Persian became known as the Tajik language. An influx of Turkic languages-speaking people into the region, starting in late medieval times, led to turkification. While Namangan still had a Tajik people majority until the middle of the 19th century, identification of its residents with Turkic peoples rather than Iranian peoples has increased. By the late 20th century, most residents of Namangan speak Uzbek language, albeit with a significant Tajik-speaking minority.

Politically, Namangan became a part of the Uyghur Empire of the Karakhanid State and was known to have been a settlement in the 15th century. The residents of the ancient city of Akhsikat, which was severely damaged by an earthquake, moved to the then-village of Namangan in 1610. Namangan became a city afterward. On the eve of the Russian invasion in 1867, the town had been a part of the Khanate of Kokand since the middle of the 18th century.

Tsar Alexander II, supporting Khudayar Khan, sent troops to suppress the uprising. On September 26, 1875, General Mikhail Skobelev crossed the Syr Darya and occupied the city.

However, a month later (in October) the rebels captured Namangan, and the Russian garrison, fortified in the citadel, with difficulty repulsed the Rebellion attacks.

Then Skobelev pulled up additional forces and subjected Namangan to an artillery bombardment, knocking the rebels out of the city and finally joining it to the Russian Empire.

After the territory of the Khanate of Kokand was incorporated into the empire, the city became the center of Namangan district of Fergana Oblast.

With the accession to Russia, industrial, commercial and banking capital began to penetrate Central Asia at a rapid pace. According to statistics, in 1892, 28 different enterprises were operating in Namangan district, employing 704 workers.

The cotton processing industry developed rapidly. The largest scale of production was characterized by 20 cotton ginning plants, which produced 81.5% of the total gross industrial output.

In connection with the development of the cotton processing industry, the demand for raw cotton increased enormously. In 1892 the gross cotton harvest in the county amounted to 22,600 tons from 21,500 hectares, the yield was 10.5 Quintal.

Namangan was hit by a destructive earthquake in 1926 which killed 34 people, injured 72, and destroyed 4,850 houses.

Since Uzbekistan's independence in 1991, Namangan has gained a reputation for Islamic revivalism, with many mosques and schools funded by organizations from Middle Eastern countries, including the extremist Wahhabi sect from Saudi Arabia that produced jihadist terrorists like Juma Namangani who fought and died in support of the Afghan Taliban and the Al Qaeda.