ASHKHABAD, formerly POLTORATSK. (1) A district in the Turkmenistan S.S.R. Area 195,0o0sq.km. Pop. (1926) (2) A town, the centre of the district, in 38°N. and 58' 2o°E. Pop. (1926) 54,107. It is situated in the fertile Akkal oasis, wa tered by hill streams from the Kopet Dagh, which lose them selves in the desert to the north. It is a Russian town dating from 1883 and is well laid out with broad, tree-lined streets, and has cotton, tanning, brick and mineral water factories and is on the Trans-Caspian Railway. An electric power station is under con struction. Near it are the sanatoria of Firuza (2,800f t.) and Khay rabad (5,800f t.) . Twenty miles E.S.E. is Anau (q.v.), a site inhabited possibly 3900 B.C. with remains of geometrical pottery.
See R. Pumpelly, Explorations in Turkestan (19o5).