Tejen (older spellings: Tedzhen, Tejend, Tejent) is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

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 ...

with

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

status in the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...

, in

Ahal Province Ahal Region ( tk, Ahal welaýaty; from fa, آخال, Axāl) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 939,700 (2005 ...

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 ...

. It lies along the M37 highway, between

Dushak Dushak ( tk, Duşak) is a small town in the Karakum Desert on the rim of the Kopet Dag mountains of Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. See also * Railway stations in Turkmenistan Railway stations in Turkmenistan include: Maps UN MapUNHCR Map ...

and

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 ...

, by road southeast of

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

. It has a population of approximately 52,000. To the east is the larger oasis of

Etymology

The meaning of ''tejen'' is unclear. Atanyyazov explained,

...The meaning of this ancient name is not clear...Barthold noted that this name was also used in the form of Tuzhen in the X-XI centuries...Vambery derived it from the words ''tei-e hend'' (''tei-e kent'', ''tei''— “down”, ''kent'' - “village”, “city”) and derived from that “downstream of the city,” “downstream of the city,” or “downstream of the river". He writes that he may have understood the meaning of the word as "city in the desert"...the name of the village along the Gerrud River is mentioned...This name also means "the foot of the city"...As Barthold rightly points out, this name is not the name of the first river, but the name of the county, village, or land, for the river itself is in its upper reaches Hererrud (Herat-rud, i.e., the "Herat River"), and below
Sarahs Sarahs (, also written Saraghs, Serahs, Sarakhs, Saragt, or Serakhs, the last a backformation of russian: Серахс) is an oasis city in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan, and the administrative center of Sarahs district ( tk, Sarahs etraby). It i ...
is Khushk-rud, i.e., it was known as the "Waterless River"...In Persian ''khushk'' means "dry", "shroud", ''rud'' - "river". This name is a characteristic sign of the river, that is, it is associated with the cutting off of its water in the summer.

History

In 1883 it was occupied by General Komarov during the

Russian conquest of Turkestan The partially successful Territorial evolution of Russia, conquest of Central Asia by the Russian Empire took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. The land that became Russian Turkestan and later Soviet Central Asia is now divide ...

. In 1916, when the Turkmens participated in a revolt against the Russians, Tejen was a hotbed of activity.

Economy

Tejen is known for its melon production, and contains numerous textile factories. The city features one hotel, the Hotel Tejen. Tejen is the site of the $240 million Tejen Carbamide (

urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important r ...

) Plant, inaugurated on March 18, 2005, with a design capacity of 350,000 tonnes of urea per year. It is also known for its narcotics, which are known locally as "Tejen tea".

Government installations

A prison is located in Tejen.

Landmarks

The city contains the Charman Ahun Mosque and the Hotel Tejen.

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

Historical records indicate that the

Caspian tiger The Caspian tiger was a ''Panthera tigris tigris'' population native to eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus around the Caspian Sea, Central Asia to northern Afghanistan, and the Xinjiang region in western China. Until the Midd ...

was found in this region.

Transport

It is a stop on the

Trans-Caspian railway The Trans-Caspian Railway (also called the Central Asian Railway, russian: Среднеазиатская железная дорога) is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by ...

, and in the 1996 a new rail line via

Sarahs Sarahs (, also written Saraghs, Serahs, Sarakhs, Saragt, or Serakhs, the last a backformation of russian: Серахс) is an oasis city in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan, and the administrative center of Sarahs district ( tk, Sarahs etraby). It i ...

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

in Iran was opened. Tejen is located on the M37 highway, and the P-7 highway leads south from Tejen to Sarahs and onward to Iran.

References

Populated places in Ahal Region Oases of Turkmenistan {{Turkmenistan-geo-stub