Khujand

File:Syr Darya Oblast. City of Khodzhend. Market Square WDL10928.png

File:Historical Musuem of Sughd.jpg]]

Khujand may have been the site of Cyropolis ({{lang|grc|Κυρούπολις}}) which was established when King Cyrus the Great founded the city during his last expedition against the Saka tribe of Massagetae shortly before his death. Alexander the Great later built his furthest Greek settlement near Cyropolis in 329 BC and named it Alexandria Eschate (Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἐσχάτη) or "Alexandria The Furthest".Prevas, John. (2004). Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey across Asia, p. 121. Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts {{ISBN|0-306-81268-1}}. The city would form a bastion for the Greek settlers against the nomadic Scythian tribes who lived north of the Syr Darya River. According to the Roman writer Curtius, Alexandria Ultima (Alexandria the Furthest) retained its Hellenistic culture as late as 30 BC. The city became a major staging point on the northern Silk Road.{{Cite web |url=https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/north/khujand/ |title=Khujand: a travel guide |website=Caravanistan |language=en-US |access-date=8 December 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702093742/https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/north/khujand/ |url-status=live }} It also became a cultural hub, and several famous poets and scientists came from this city.

The Sheik Muslihiddin Mausoleum and Jami Masjidi Yami mosque, together with the fortress of Khujand, which was built over 2,500 years ago and underwent several stages of destruction and renovation, were preserved by Khujand, as were some monuments from the 16th–17th century.{{Cite web |title=Khujand |url=https://samarkandtours.com/tajikistan/khujand/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |archive-date=14 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614000638/https://samarkandtours.com/tajikistan/khujand/ |url-status=live }}

In the early eighth century AD, Khujand was captured by the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate, under Qutayba ibn Muslim. The city was incorporated into the Umayyad and subsequent Abbasid Caliphates, and a process of Islamicization began. In the late ninth century, however, it reverted to local rule and was incorporated into the Samanid Empire. It came under the rule of the Kara-Khanid Khanate in 999 and after the division of Kara Khanids in 1042, it was initially part of Eastern Kara Khanids, and then later passed to the western one. Molana Wajeeh-ud-Din Khujandi was a Muslim scholar of Khujand who migrated to Dilli. Hafiz Khawaja Sheikh Mehmood (Moena Doz) was his nephew. His daughter Bibi Qursam Khatoon was mother Of Baba Fareed ud Din Ganj e Shakr.

Karakhitans conquered it in 1137, but it passed to Khwarazmshahs in 1211. In 1220, it strongly resisted the Mongol hordes and was thus laid to waste. In the 14th century, the city was part of the Chagatai Khanate until it was incorporated into the Timurid dynasty in the late 14th century, under which it flourished greatly. The Shaybanid dynasty of Bukhara next annexed Khujand, until it was taken over by the Kokand Khanate in 1802, however, Bukhara regained it in 1842 until it was lost a few decades later to Russia.

In 1866, as most of Central Asia was occupied by Russian Empire, the city became part of the General Governorate of Turkestan, under Tsarist Russia. The threat of forced conscription during World War I led to protests in the city in July 1916, which turned violent when demonstrators attacked Russian soldiers.{{Cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+tj0013%29 |title=A Country Study: Tajikistan, Tajikistan under Russian Rule, Library of Congress Call Number DK851 .K34 1997 |access-date=4 June 2014 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406124258/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+tj0013) |url-status=live }}

During the initial period of Soviet power in Central Asia, Khujand was part of the Turkestan ASSR that was created in 1918. When the latter was dismantled in 1924 on the principle of national delimitation, the city became a part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1929, the previously created Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (contained within the Uzbek SSR) was upgraded to union-level republic as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, and in order to gain a sufficient number of inhabitants (preferably from the titular ethnic group) the city of Khujand and the surrounding area, inhabited mainly by ethnic Tajiks, was transferred by Soviets from the Uzbek SSR to the Tajik SSR.

The city was renamed Leninabad (in honour of Vladimir Lenin) on 10 January 1936 and it remained part of the Soviet Union until 1991.

File:Мечеть и голуби 1.JPG

Now a part of the Tajik SSR, Leninabad became the second-largest city in the republic, though the city's location within the historically more urban, prosperous, and commercially central Fergana Valley and a long history of being a densely populated urban centre meant that Khujand and its region were sometimes viewed as more developed and cosmopolitan than the newly designated capital and boom-town of Dushanbe/Stalinabad (the latter was a small town of 6,000 when the Tajik SSR was created in 1926 and had reached over 200,000 inhabitants ten years later).{{Cite book |last=Kalinovsky, Artemy M. |title=Laboratory of socialist development: Cold War politics and decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan |date=15 May 2018 |isbn=978-1-5017-1558-7 |location=Ithaca |pages=116 |oclc=1013988565 }}

It reverted to its original name in 1992 after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan, and the city continued to be the second-largest city in the nation.

In 1996 the city experienced the Ashurov protests during which citizens called for the President, Emomali Rakhmonov, to step down. The popular protests were followed by a protest from the city's prisoners, many of whom had been sentenced to long jail terms for minor crimes and who were living in poor conditions. The protest led to the Khujand prison riot in which between 24 and 150 prisoners were killed.

In the early 2000s many residents of Khujand had little to no access to water, and what water they did have was unsafe to drink and had to be boiled. In 2004, The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development joined to help improve the situation, providing 32,000 water meters for inhabitants and developing improved access to water. Residents pay for their water supply, which in turn helps Khujand's municipal water company to continue to renovate and improve their services. The project is in its third stage of development and was to be completed by 2017. In comparison to other Central Asian projects aiming to improve access to water, this project is considered a success and has been applied to Kyrgyz cities and towns such as Osh, Jalal-Abad, Karabalta, and Talas, with a possible extension into the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.International Crisis Group. "[http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/central-asia/233-water-pressures-in-central-asia.pdf Water Pressures in Central Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520103226/http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/central-asia/233-water-pressures-in-central-asia.pdf |date=20 May 2016 }}", [http://www.crisisgroup.org CrisisGroup.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603105331/https://www.crisisgroup.org/ |date=3 June 2020 }}. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.

On 3 September 2010, a suicide attack was committed in the city by the al-Qaeda linked Jamaat Ansarullah militant group, resulting in the deaths of 4 people.{{Cite web |last=Pannier |first=Bruce |date=13 May 2022 |title=Northern Afghanistan and the New Threat to Central Asia |url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/05/northern-afghanistan-and-the-new-threat-to-central-asia/ |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=Foreign Policy Research Institute |language=en-US |quote=Jamaat Ansarullah, for instance, is a terrorist group from Tajikistan that claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber attack in the northern Tajik city of Khujand in September 2010 that killed four people.[7] The Tajik government launched a crackdown on suspected Jamaat Ansarullah members and since then the group has been operating alongside the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515060851/https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/05/northern-afghanistan-and-the-new-threat-to-central-asia/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last1=Zenn |first1=Jacob |last2=Kuehnast |first2=Kathleen |date=October 2014 |title=Preventing Violent Extremism in Kyrgyzstan |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR355_Preventing-Violent-Extremism-in-Kyrgyzstan.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320154949/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR355_Preventing-Violent-Extremism-in-Kyrgyzstan.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2015 |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=United States Institute of Peace |quote=Jamaat Ansarullah first carried out an attack in 2010, when it claimed responsibility for an al-Qaeda-trained member’s suicide bombing at a police station in Khujand, a city in Tajikistan’s northern province of Sughd in the Fergana Valley. }}

In April 2017, Pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov was detained after a raid on Sunmin Sunbogym Protestant Church in Khujand. Kholmatov was accused of singing too loudly and "interfering with the comfort and rest" of people who lived nearby, and jailed for three years.{{Cite web |url=https://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_261_profile.html |title=Prisoner Alert - Bakhrom Kholmatov |website=www.prisoneralert.com |access-date=19 April 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227023237/https://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_261_profile.html |url-status=live }}{{better source needed|date=October 2023}}

File:Khujand (LBD - UTDL) AN2218848.jpg

Khujand Airport has regularly scheduled flights to Dushanbe as well as several cities in Russia. There is also a rail connection between Khujand and Samarkand in Uzbekistan on the way to Dushanbe.http://www.caravanistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/central-asia-railroad-train-map-kazakhstan-uzbekistan-kyrgyzstan-tajikistan-turkmenistan-afghanistan.gif {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331092242/http://www.caravanistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/central-asia-railroad-train-map-kazakhstan-uzbekistan-kyrgyzstan-tajikistan-turkmenistan-afghanistan.gif |date=31 March 2015 }} {{Bare URL image|date=March 2022 }}{{Cite web |url=https://caravanistan.com/transport/train/tajikistan/ |title=Train in Tajikistan |website=Caravanistan |date=28 February 2023 |access-date=13 August 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924134946/https://caravanistan.com/transport/train/tajikistan/ |url-status=live }} The city is connected by road to Panjakent in the Zeravshan River Valley as well as Dushanbe via the Anzob Tunnel.

The 5-km tunnel, located 80 km northwest of Dushanbe and built with assistance from Iran, is also a transit route between Dushanbe and the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. Previously, particularly during cold seasons, the lack of a direct link between northern and southern Tajikistan often led to disruptions of commercial activities in the region.{{Cite web |url=https://archive.shine.cn/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=260205 |title=Tajikistan to complete construction of major tunnel in 2015 | Shanghai Daily |website=archive.shine.cn |access-date=13 August 2020 |archive-date=5 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305225701/https://archive.shine.cn/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=260205 |url-status=dead }}

The city is home to Khujand State University, Tajikistan State University of Law, Business, & Politics, Polytechnical Institute of Technical University of Tajikistan, and Khujand Medical College as well as 2-year technical colleges. Secondary education is funded by the state except when administered at private institutions. Higher education in universities and colleges is subsidized by the Tajik Ministry of Education.

Khujand is mainly inhabited by ethnic Tajiks. Results of population census carried out in 2010: Tajiks – 84%, Uzbeks – 14%, Russians – 0.4%, and others – 1.6%. Sunni Islam is a mainly practiced religion in the city. The population of the city is 181,600 (Report of Statistical Agency 2019).About Khujand, http://fezsughd.tj/en/about_khujand/ {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224165933/http://fezsughd.tj/en/about_khujand/ |date=24 December 2014 }} The population in Khujand agglomeration is 931,900 people (2019).

File:Tim Griffin Panjshanbe bazar - 13.jpg

The city is home to the Historical Museum of Sughd located within the Khujand Fortress and having around 1200 exhibitions with most being open to the public.{{Cite web |url=https://www.advantour.com/tajikistan/khujand/khujand-fortress.htm |title=Khujand fortress |website=www.advantour.com |access-date=13 August 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407071828/https://www.advantour.com/tajikistan/khujand/khujand-fortress.htm |url-status=live }} The Sheikh Muslihiddin mausoleum is located on the main square across the Panjshanbe Market (Бозори Панҷшанбе / Persian for "Thursday's Market"), one of the largest covered markets in Central Asia.{{Cite web |url=http://www.azianatravel.com/en/sheikh-muslihiddin-mausoleum |title=Azianatravel.com |website=www.azianatravel.com |access-date=4 June 2014 |archive-date=19 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719105625/http://www.azianatravel.com/en/sheikh-muslihiddin-mausoleum |url-status=dead }}

Khujand experiences a temperate semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Precipitation is light, and it generally falls in winter and autumn.

{{Weather box

|location = Khujand (1991–2020, extremes 1936–present)

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|Jan record high C = 16.6

|Feb record high C = 22.1

|Mar record high C = 28.8

|Apr record high C = 36.5

|May record high C = 39.9

|Jun record high C = 43.5

|Jul record high C = 45.9

|Aug record high C = 43.8

|Sep record high C = 39.8

|Oct record high C = 33.8

|Nov record high C = 25.0

|Dec record high C = 18.9

|year record high C = 45.9

|Jan high C = 4.2

|Feb high C = 7.2

|Mar high C = 14.9

|Apr high C = 22.3

|May high C = 28.6

|Jun high C = 34.2

|Jul high C = 35.7

|Aug high C = 34.1

|Sep high C = 28.8

|Oct high C = 21.0

|Nov high C = 12.3

|Dec high C = 5.9

|year high C =

|Jan mean C = 0.9

|Feb mean C = 3.3

|Mar mean C = 9.7

|Apr mean C = 16.1

|May mean C = 21.9

|Jun mean C = 26.9

|Jul mean C = 28.6

|Aug mean C = 26.8

|Sep mean C = 21.4

|Oct mean C = 14.4

|Nov mean C = 7.5

|Dec mean C = 2.5

|year mean C =

|Jan low C = -1.6

|Feb low C = -0.3

|Mar low C = 5.5

|Apr low C = 10.7

|May low C = 16.2

|Jun low C = 20.4

|Jul low C = 21.9

|Aug low C = 20.1

|Sep low C = 14.9

|Oct low C = 9.1

|Nov low C = 3.8

|Dec low C = -0.1

|year low C =

|Jan record low C = -22.8

|Feb record low C = -22.2

|Mar record low C = -13.6

|Apr record low C = -3.9

|May record low C = 0.8

|Jun record low C = 8.7

|Jul record low C = 10.5

|Aug record low C = 7.0

|Sep record low C = -1.1

|Oct record low C = -6.8

|Nov record low C = -18.8

|Dec record low C = -20.0

|year record low C = -22.8

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 15

|Feb precipitation mm = 21

|Mar precipitation mm = 26

|Apr precipitation mm = 27

|May precipitation mm = 23

|Jun precipitation mm = 6

|Jul precipitation mm = 2

|Aug precipitation mm = 2

|Sep precipitation mm = 3

|Oct precipitation mm = 10

|Nov precipitation mm = 21

|Dec precipitation mm = 17

|year precipitation mm =

|Jan precipitation days = 11.4

|Feb precipitation days = 11.0

|Mar precipitation days = 12.7

|Apr precipitation days = 12.6

|May precipitation days = 12.0

|Jun precipitation days = 6.3

|Jul precipitation days = 4.1

|Aug precipitation days = 2.6

|Sep precipitation days = 3.2

|Oct precipitation days = 6.8

|Nov precipitation days = 7.4

|Dec precipitation days = 10.4

|year precipitation days =

|Jan humidity = 77.8

|Feb humidity = 75.4

|Mar humidity = 64.0

|Apr humidity = 56.3

|May humidity = 48.7

|Jun humidity = 34.8

|Jul humidity = 33.8

|Aug humidity = 38.4

|Sep humidity = 43.3

|Oct humidity = 55.4

|Nov humidity = 75.2

|Dec humidity = 76.4

|Jan sun = 126

|Feb sun = 131

|Mar sun = 168

|Apr sun = 211

|May sun = 297

|Jun sun = 358

|Jul sun = 382

|Aug sun = 363

|Sep sun = 300

|Oct sun = 225

|Nov sun = 160

|Dec sun = 106

|year sun = 2827

|source 1 = Pogoda.ru.net,{{cite web |url=http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate.php?id=38599 |script-title=ru:КЛИМАТ УЛАН-БАТОРА |publisher=Pogoda.ru.net |language=ru |access-date=4 January 2015 |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208201446/http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate.php?id=38599 |url-status=live }} NOAA (sun 1961–1990){{cite web |url=ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG_II/RA/38599.TXT |title=Leninbad (Khujand) Climate Normals 1961–1990 |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=18 December 2019 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125191907/ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG_II/RA/38599.TXT |url-status=live }}

|source 2 = climatebase.ru (precipitation days, humidity){{cite web |title=Leninabad, Tajikistan |url=http://climatebase.ru/station/38599/?lang=en |publisher=Climatebase.ru |access-date=30 January 2013 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014034332/http://climatebase.ru/station/38599/?lang=en |url-status=live }}

}}

• {{flagicon|KAZ}} Shymkent, Kazakhstan
• {{flagicon|UZB}} Bukhara, Uzbekistan
• {{flagicon|UZB}} Samarkand, Uzbekistan
• {{flagicon|IRN}} Nishapur, Iran
• {{flagicon|IRN}} Tabriz, Iran

• Munzifa Gafarova (1924–2013), Tajikistani philosopher
• Ashura Nosirova (1924–2011), Tajikistani dancer
• Bakhtiyor Odinaev, Tajikistani stage manager, costume designer and artist
• Manzura Uldjabaeva (born 1952), Tajikistani artist
• Henri Weber (1944–2020), French politician
• Vitaly Levchenko (born 1972), professional footballer and manager

{{Portal|Tajikistan}}

• Hephthalites
• Khujand Airport
• Technological University of Tajikistan
• Khujand State University
• Historical Museum of Sughd
• Khujand prison riot

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265. Draft annotated English translation. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html Weilue: The Peoples of the West] (See under the heading for "Northern Wuyi").

• {{Official website|http://khujand.tj}} {{in lang|ru}}

{{Largest cities of Tajikistan}}

{{Sughd}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places established in the 4th century BC

Category:Populated places in Sughd Region

Category:Populated places along the Silk Road

Category:Samarkand Oblast

Category:Cities founded by Alexander the Great