KOKAND or KOKAN, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the Ko kand district of the Uzbek S.S.R., in 4o° 28' N. 70° 4o' E. Pop.
(1933) 84,700. Situated at an altitude of 1,375 ft., it has a severe climate, the average temperatures being--year, 56° ; January, 22° ; July, 65°. Yearly rainfall, 3.6 in. It is the centre of a fertile irri gated oasis, and consists of a citadel, enclosed by a wall nearly m. in circuit, and of suburbs containing luxuriant gardens. The town is modernized, has an electric plant, broad streets, large squares, and a particularly handsome bazaar. The former palace of the khans, which recalls by its architecture the mosques of Samarkand, is the best building in the town. Kokand is one of the most important centres of trade in Turkistan. It is a railway junction, from which one line branches north-east through Naman gan, and another south-east to Andijan. Raw cotton and silk are the principal exports, while manufactured goods are imported from kussia. There are cotton cleaning factories and flour mills. A women's co-operative store has been successfully established, with a centre of instruction in health and infant welfare. Coins bearing the inscription "Kokand the Charming," and known as kokands, had at one time a wide currency.
The khanate of Kokand was a powerful state which grew up in the 18th century. Its early history is not well known, but the town was founded in 1732 by Abd-ur-Rahim under the name of Iski-kurgan or Kali-i-Rahimbai. This must relate, however, to the fort only, because Arab travellers of the Toth century mention Hovakend or Hokand, the position of which has been identified with that of Kokand. Many. other populous and wealthy towns existed in this region at the time of the Arab conquest of Ferg hana. In 1758-1759 the Chinese conquered Dzungaria and East Turkistan, and the begs or rulers of Ferghana recognized Chinese suzerainty. In 1807 or 1808 Alim, son of Narbuta, brought all the begs of Ferghana under his authority, and conquered Tashkent and Chimkent. His attacks on the Bukharan fortress of Ura-tyube were however unsuccessful, and the country rose against him. He was killed in 1817 by the adherents of his brother Omar. Omar was a poet and patron of learning, but continued to enlarge his kingdom, taking the sacred town of Azret (Turkistan), and, to protect Ferghana from the raids of the nomad Kirghiz, built fortresses on the Syr-darya, which became a basis for raids of Kokand people into Kirghiz land. This was the origin of a con
flict with Russia. Several petty wars were undertaken by the Russians after 1847 to destroy the Kokand forts, and to secure possession, first, of the Ili (and so of Dzungaria), and next of the Syr-darya region, the result being that in 1866, after the occupa tion of Ura-tyube and Jizakh, the khanate of Kokand was sepa rated from Bukhara. During the forty-five years after the death of Omar in 1822, the khanate of Kokand was the seat of continu ous wars between the settled Sarts and the nomad Kipchaks, the two parties securing the upper hand in turns. Kokand fell under the suzerainty of Bukhara, which supported Khudayar Khan, the representative of the Kipchak party, in 1858-1866; while Alim Kul, the representative of the Sarts, put himself at the head of the gazavat (Holy War) proclaimed in 186o, and fought bravely against the Russians until killed at Tashkent in 1865. In 1868 Khudayar Khan, having secured independence from Bukhara, con cluded a commercial treaty with the Russians, but was compelled to flee in 1875, when a new Holy War against Russia was pro claimed. It ended in the capture of the strong fort of Makhram, the occupation of Kokand and Marghelan (1875), and the recog nition of Russian superiority by the amir of Bukhara, who con ceded to Russia all the territory north of the Naryn river. War, however, was renewed in the following year. It ended, in Feb. 1876, with the capture of Andijan and Kokand and the annexation of the Kokand khanate to Russia. Out of it was made the Russian province of Ferghana, now merged in the Uzbek S.S.R.
See: following publications are all in Russian: Kuhn, Sketch of the Khanate of Kokand (1876) ; V. Nalivkin, Short History of Kokand (French trans., Paris, 1889) ; Niazi Mohammed, Tarihi Shahrohi, or History of the Rulers of Ferghana, edited by Pantusov (Kazan, 1885) ; Maksheev, Historical Sketch of Turkestan and the Advance of the Rus sians (St. Petersburg, 189o) ; N. Petrovskiy, Old Arabian Journals of Travel (Tashkent, 1894) ; Russian Encyclopaedic Dictionary, vol. xv. (1895). In English: F. H. Skrine and E. D. Ross, The Heart of Asia (18og).