Tashkent

Tashkent (Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент, Russian: Ташкент) is the capital of Uzbekistan and also of the Tashkent Province. The population of the city in 2006 was 1,967,879.

The name of the city has evolved in a number of stages. During the Han period it was known to the Chinese as Beitian (= Bin-kāth, the old name for Tashkent), the summer "capital" of ancient Kangju (康居).

In medieval times the town and the province were known as "Chach". Later, the town came to be known as Chachkand/Chashkand, meaning "Chach City." (Kand, qand, kent, kad, kath, kud--all meaning a city, are derived from the Old Iranian, kanda, meaning a town or a city. They are found in city names like Samarkand, Yarkand, Penjikent etc.).

After the 16th century and the steady replacement of the old, Persian-speaking population with Uzbeks, the name was changed slightly from Chachkand/Chashkand to Tashkand, which, as "stone city", was more meaningful to the new inhabitants than the old name. The modern spelling of Tashkent reflects Russian orthography.