Andijan

Andijan (Andijon in Uzbek; also Andizhan, Andizan, Андижан) is the fourth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the Andijan Province. It is located in the east of the country, at Template:Coor dm, in the Fergana Valley, near the border with Kyrgyzstan on the Andijan-Say River. It has an estimated population of 350,000.

History

Andijan was an important stop on the Silk Road, lying roughly mid-way between Kashgar and Khodjend. It is best known as the birthplace of Zahiruddin Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty in India, in 1483. He was fond of the place, and wrote in his memoirs that

"Game and Sporting birds are plentiful in Andijan. The Pheasants get extremely fat, and it is said that not even four people can finish eating a stew made from just one"

The Baburnama Ed. & Trans. Wheeler M. Thackston (New York) 2002 p4

He is also very complimentary about the melons and apricots.

Andijan was seized by Russia in 1876, in the course of a campaign led by General Skobelev to suppress an insurrection directed against the Khan of Kokand, and became part of the new Ferghana Oblast. In 1898 it was the scene of another uprising, this time against the Russians, led by an Ishan from the nearby village of Min-Tyube. A thousand of his Murids attacked the Russian garrison in the early hours of the morning, killing a few soldiers, but the rebellion was easily suppressed. In 1902 most of Andijan was levelled by a severe earthquake, and consequently there are few buildings of interest.

Andijan during and after Soviet rule

During the rule of the Soviet Union, Andijan was separated from its historical hinterland when the present borders were created, dividing the Ferghana Valley between three separate Soviet republics. Andijan itself became part of the Uzbek SSR. The borders did not make a great deal of difference during the Soviet period, as the entire region was developed to grow cash crops such as cotton and silk. In the 1990s, though, the Andijan and the surrounding region became much more unstable. Poverty and an upsurge in Islamic fundamentalism produced tensions in the region which resulted in riots in Andijan in April 1990 in which the homes of Jews and Armenians were attacked. The town, and the region as a whole, suffered a severe economic decline following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Repeated border closures badly damaged the local economy, worsening the already widespread poverty of Andijan's inhabitants. Fundamentalist Islamists were said to have established a presence in the city. In May 2003, a local man named Azizbek Karimov was arrested and accused of carrying out terrorist bombings on behalf of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He was convicted and executed in April 2004.

Andijan massacres

In May 2005, 2,000 people protesting against the Uzbek government seized control of the prison and the regional administration building in the eastern city of Andijan. The protesters wanted legal charges dropped against 23 men accused of forming a cell of the Akramiya, a banned Islamist organistion [1] (http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/May/theworld_May273.xml&section=theworld).

Uzbek security forces shot dead hundreds of the protesters in efforts to regain control of the city [2] (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4559340). Independent reports put the number of dead between 400 and 600, almost entirely civilians. Although Uzbek authorities put the death toll as 169, this is widely regarded as an underestimate.

Economy

Andijan is an industrial center in an irrigated area that produces fruits, cotton and silk.

Template:CAsia-geo-stubda:Andisjan de:Andijon et:Andijon fi:Andižan gl:Andizhan id:Andijan ja:アンディジャン nl:Andijon (stad) pl:Andiżan pt:Andijon ru:Андижан sv:Andizjan uz:Andijon zh:安集延