Chust ( uz, Chust/Чуст; russian: Чуст) is a city in eastern

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. It is the administrative center of

Chust District Chust is a district of Namangan Region in Uzbekistan. The capital is the city Chust. Its area is 937 km2. Its population is 269,300 (2021 est.). The district consists of one city ( Chust), 11 urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrus ...

. The City of Chust is located in the northern corner of the

Fergana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

along the river Chustsoy. Chust is one of the oldest cities in the Fergana Valley. The Fergana automobile road passes through the city. This road connects Chust with several other places, such as the cities of

Namangan Namangan (; ) is a city in eastern Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, economic, and cultural center of Namangan Region. Administratively, it is a district-level city. Namangan is located in the northern edge of the Fergana Valley, less than 30 ...

Andijan Andijan (sometimes spelled Andijon or Andizhan in English) ( uz, Andijon / Андижон / ئەندىجان; fa, اندیجان, ''Andijân/Andīǰān''; russian: Андижан, ''Andižan'') is a city in Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, ...

Kokand Kokand ( uz, Qo‘qon/Қўқон/قوقان, ; russian: Кока́нд; fa, خوقند, Xuqand; Chagatai: خوقند, ''Xuqand''; ky, Кокон, Kokon; tg, Хӯқанд, Xöqand) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the sou ...

and

Fergana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...

. Chust underwent significant changes during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

period. Many

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

and

institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

s were built during that time. Currently, the city is an important center for

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

processing.

History

Chust is one of the oldest cities in the

. Archaeological studies conducted in 1953, 1957, 1959, and 1961 found items dating back to the late

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

/early

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

age in the area corresponding to present-day Chust. First scientific information about Chust can be found in A. F. Middendor's ''Ocherki o Ferganskoy doline'' (''Essays About the Fergana Valley'') which was published in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1882. According to local linguists, the word "chust" is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word meaning "fast." In the Middle Ages, Chust became a

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...

's father

Umar Shaikh Mirza II Umar Shaikh Mirza II ( fa, , b. 1456 – d. 1494) was the ruler of the Fergana Valley. He was the fourth son of Abu Sa'id Mirza, the emperor of the Timurid Empire in what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and eastern Iran. His first wi ...

made Chust his residence in 1480. In the 16th century, the city consisted of several small fortresses. Later, a wall surrounding these fortresses was built. In 1882, the walls of the fortress were destroyed and the city started to expand. Over time, Chust became an industrial center. Following the Russian expansion into Central Asia, new factories were built in Chust. In 1912, there were six

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

s and one leather factory in Chust. The town was made the administrative center of the newly created

in 1926. Chust received a city status in 1969. Chust received city status in 1937.

Geography

Chust is located - above sea level. By road it is to the west of the city of

. The city is situated in the northern corner of the Fergana Valley along the river Chustsoy.

Population

The population consists of

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

Tajiks Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and a small number of

Kyrgyzs The Kyrgyz people (also spelled Kyrghyz, Kirgiz, and Kirghiz; ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is the nation state of the Kyrgyz people and significant diaspora can be found in China, Russia, and Uzbekistan. T ...

and

Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...

. Like the near-by, Kosonsoy, the city has a substantial Tajik minority. Russians, who were present in large numbers in the 20th century have largely left after the fall of the Soviet Union. A small Uyghur as well as Kyrgyz minority is also present. Its population is 100200 (2021).

Climate

Chust 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'') with cold winters and hot summers. The average July temperature is around . The mean temperature in January is .

Economy

Chust is a center for cotton processing. It is also known for artisanal products, including

pocket knives A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A typ ...

and embroidered cotton skullcaps known as ''

tubeteika A tubeteika ( rus, тюбете́йка, links=1, tyubeteika, tʲʉbʲɪˈtʲeɪ̯kə, LL-Q8798 (ukr)-Tohaomg-тюбетейка.wav) is a Russian word for many varieties of traditional Central Asian caps. Tubeteikas are today worn in Tajikistan, ...

'' ( uz, doʻppi). The city contains the National Knife Factory, in which metal workers "smash and grind their knives from short lengths of steel or iron, honing each blade into the desired shape with a meticulous attention to detail". Knives with a curved tip are a trademark of Chust craftsmen. Currently there are several

Education

There are colleges and

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

s in Chust. They include: *Chust College of Pedagogy *Chust College of Medicine *Chust College of Agriculture *Chust College of Economy *Chust College of Sport in Gova village *Chust Academic Lyceum The city is also home to general education schools (which include

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

s), two music and art schools, six vocational schools, and three children's sports schools.

Notable people

The Russian oligarch

Alisher Usmanov Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (russian: Алишер Бурханович Усманов; born 9 September 1953) is an Uzbek-born Russian businessman and oligarch. By 2022, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion and was among the w ...

, who now lives in Russia, was born in Chust in 1953, and was imprisoned in Uzbekistan for six years for fraud. According to ''Forbes'', he was in 2013 Russia's richest man with a fortune estimated at $17.6 billion and was the world's 34th richest person. But Usmanov's net worth fell by nearly a quarter from February 22 to March 15, 2022, as the West imposed sanctions following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

References

External links

A photo gallery of Chust
{{Namangan Region Cities in Uzbekistan Populated places in Namangan Region