) (1940?-1961)
Moskovskiy ( rus, Московский) (1961-?) , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = , motto = , image_skyline = Murgap.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = , shield_size = , image_blank_emblem = , blank_emblem_type = , blank_emblem_size = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = , mapsize1 = , map_caption1 = , image_dot_map = , dot_mapsize = , dot_map_caption = , dot_x = , dot_y = , pushpin_map = Turkmenistan , pushpin_label_position =bottom , pushpin_mapsize = 300 , pushpin_map_caption =Location in Turkmenistan , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, subdivision_name1 =

Mary Province Mary Region ( tk, Mary welaýaty, Мары велаяты) is one of five provinces in Turkmenistan. It is located in the south-east of the country, bordering Afghanistan. Its capital is the city of Mary. Its area is and population 1,480,400 ( ...

, subdivision_type2 =

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, subdivision_name2 = Murgap District , subdivision_type3 = , subdivision_name3 = , subdivision_type4 = , subdivision_name4 = , government_footnotes = , government_type = , leader_title = , leader_name = , leader_title1 = , leader_name1 = , leader_title2 = , leader_name2 = , leader_title3 = , leader_name3 = , leader_title4 = , leader_name4 = , established_title = Town of urban type , established_date = 1940 , established_title2 = City in a district , established_date2 = July 2016 , established_title3 = , established_date3 = , area_magnitude = , unit_pref =Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = , area_land_km2 = , area_water_km2 = , area_total_sq_mi = , area_land_sq_mi = , area_water_sq_mi = , area_water_percent = , area_urban_km2 = , area_urban_sq_mi = , area_metro_km2 = , area_metro_sq_mi = , area_blank1_title = , area_blank1_km2 = , area_blank1_sq_mi = , population_as_of = , population_footnotes = , population_note = , population_total =10000 , population_density_km2 = , population_density_sq_mi = , population_metro = , population_density_metro_km2 = , population_density_metro_sq_mi = , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title =Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_title =Religions , population_blank2 = , population_density_blank1_km2 = , population_density_blank1_sq_mi = , timezone = , utc_offset = +5 , timezone_DST = , utc_offset_DST = , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = , blank_name = , blank_info = , blank1_name = , blank1_info = , website = , footnotes = Murgap (Russian:Мургаб) 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 Murgap District in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Etymology

The city is named for the Murgap River. Folk etymology claims that "Murgap" comes from the Turkmen root words ''mur'' - "water" as in ''yagmur/yagmyr'', literally translated as "drops of water" or "raindrops", plus ''gap'', a dish or box, denoting the land as a place with water. However, Atanyyazow explains that the name is of Persian, not Turkic, origin; it was in earlier times Margab, and that later, as a result of folk ethnology, the first syllable's ''a'' sound was replaced by a ''u'', making ''murg ab'', "bird water". Atanyyazow notes as well that Hafiz-i-Abru recorded in the 15th century that the name was originally Merab, "River of Merv", and that al-Istakhri wrote, "...this river was named after the place where it flowed," and thus ultimately comes from an ancient variant name of the city of Mary. During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

period the then-"town of urban type" ( rus, посёлок городского типа) was named Stalino in honor of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

. Following

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

's denunciation of Stalin in 1961, the name was changed to Moskovskiy ( rus, Московский), in honor of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, the capital city of the

Soviet Union 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, ...

, then still later to Murgap ( rus, Мургаб).

Overview

It is located in the delta of the Murgab River and has a railway station on the

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Serhetabat Serhetabat (formerly Gushgy) ( tk, Guşgy; russian: Кушка, Kushka) is a city in Tagtabazar District, Mary Province, Turkmenistan. Serhetabat lies in the valley of the Kushka River. The population was 5,200 in 1991. It is immediately opposit ...

line. It was classified as a town of urban type in 1940, and reclassified as a city subordinate to a district in 2016. In 1973 there were 5,700 living in the town and today this has grown to around 10,000. In Soviet times there were asphalt and brick factories, and in 1974 a cotton processing plant was constructed.

References

Populated places in Mary Region {{Turkmenistan-geo-stub