Balkh (
Tajik
Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Tajikistan
* Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan
* Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan
* Tajik (surname)
* Tajik cu ...
: Балх), before 2017: ''Kolkhozobod'' or ''Kolkhozabad'' (
Russian transliteration
The romanization of the Russian language (the transliteration of Russian text from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script), aside from its primary use for including Russian names and words in text written in a Latin alphabet, is also essential ...
),
is a town in
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
and not to be confused with the ancient city of
Balkh (Bactra) located in modern-day northern
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, after which the town was named in 2017. It is the administrative capital of
Jaloliddin Balkhi District (Kolkhozobod district until June 2007) in the south-west of
Khatlon Region
Khatlon Region ( tg, Вилояти Хатлон, ''Viloyati Xatlon''), one of the four provinces of Tajikistan ( tg, вилоят, ''Viloyat''), is the most populous of the four first level administrative regions. It is situated in the southwest ...
.
The population of Balkh in 2020 is estimated at 19,000.
Historical names
The settlement was called Tugalang between 1882–1934 and Kaganovichabad between 1934 and 1957. The name Kolkhozabad (Russian version) or Kolkhozobod (Tajik version) was in use until 1991, when the town was renamed ''imeni Isoeva'', literally "a settlement named after Sirodjiddin Isoev", who had headed the district for more than 28 years during the Soviet era and had been awarded a
Hero of Socialist Labor. The name Kolkhozobod has been subsequently restored and the district capital was listed again as Kolkhozobod (or Kolkhozabad) in official publications.
In February 2017, it was officially renamed ''Balkh''.
A location with the same name (Kolkhozabad) exists also in
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, in the eastern part of Tajikistan.
The curious story of the name Kolkhozabad in Tajikistan's Pamir region
It lies north-east of Khorugh on the Pamir Highway .
Geography
Climate
Balkh has a cold semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
(Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''BSk''). The average annual temperature is . The warmest month is July with an average temperature of and the coolest month is January with an average temperature of 3.1°C (37.6°F). The average annual precipitation is 279.4 mm (11") and has an average of 70 days with precipitation. The wettest month is March with an average of 67.1 mm (2.6") of precipitation and the driest month is August with an average of 0.1 mm of precipitation.
References
External links
Kolkhozobod (Khatlon) on Maplandia.com
Kolkhozabad (Pamir) on Maplandia.com
Populated places in Khatlon Region
{{Tajikistan-geo-stub