Ýolöten (russian: Ёлoтен, tk, یوْلؤتن Ёлөтен) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and capital of
Ýolöten District,
Mary Province,
Turkmenistan. The city is located in the delta of the
Murghab River, 55 kilometers southeast of
Mary. It was granted the status of a city in 1939.
Etymology
Atanyyazow attributes the name to the settlement's location on the
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
between ancient
Merv and
Herat. The words ''ýol'' and ''öten'' mean "road" and "past" in Turkmen, respectively, i.e., "a place to cross".
Transportation
Ýolöten lies on the Mary-
Serhetabat railway line, and at the junction of the A-388 highway connecting Mary and Serhetabat and the P-25 highway connecting Ýolöten to
Baýramaly
Baýramaly (formerly Bayram-Ali, tk, Baýramaly, earlier Bahrām Ali ) is a city in and the seat of Baýramaly District, Mary Province, Turkmenistan. It lies about 27 km east of the provincial capital Mary, along the main railway line from ...
.
Population
In 1989 the town had a population of 18,644, with a total of some 35,000 in the town and surrounding district.
Harry's World Atlas
/ref> The 2009 estimate is 37,705.
Economy
Ýolöten is the nearest city to the Galkynysh Gas Field, formerly known as the Iolotan or South Yolotan–Osman field, the second-largest gas field in the world, and support of natural gas operations is a major part of the city's economy. It is also a center for agricultural product processing, due to its location in the Murghab River oasis.
References
External links
Seydi Oil RefineryFlickr imagesThe Yoloten letter feature
{{Cities of Turkmenistan
Populated places in Mary Region