Tashkent - districts and mahallas

The city of Tashkent, the modern capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan, has been known in world history since the 2nd-1st centuries BC. The old names of the city are Shash-tepa, Chach-tepa ("tepa" - from Uzbek "small hill, elevation"). Since the 11th century it has been known under the name Tashkent, which means "Stone City" (in translation from the Uzbek language the word tosh means "stone", and "kent" means "city" or "settlement").

Earlier, in the early Middle Ages, a hub formed here consisting of an urban area and several suburban areas. The urban area was called Shahristan or Madinat ash-Shash in Arabic. The suburban areas consisted of settlements, castles and rural areas.

In the 18th century, the city of Tashkent was divided into four independent parts (dakha) - Sheikhantaur, Sebzar, Kukcha and Beshagach. Each dakha had its own ruler (khokim). There was no unified government. The khokim of Sheikhantaur - Yunus Khodja - in 1784 united the entire city under his rule and created an independent Tashkent state.

Around 1810, under the Kokand rule, Tashkent was surrounded by a moat and a adobe crenellated wall with 12 gates. In the northeast were the Labzak and Kashgar gates, in the east - the Kokand, Kaitmas and Semagach gates, in the southeast - the Kamolon gates, in the south - the Samarkand gates, in the west - the Kukcha, Chigatai, Sagban and Karasuy gates, in the north - the Takhtapul gates. The Kokand khan appointed the bek as the head of the city (bek is a title used to denote a lord, ruler or nobleman). He was subordinate to the ming-bashis, who governed four parts of the city - Kukcha, Beshagach, Sheikhantakhur, Sebzor (mingbashi or minbashi is the highest rank in the Kokand Khanate, the second person after the khan).

The new part of the city was founded after its capture by Russian troops in 1865. It was separated from the old city by the Ankhor Canal. According to the 1897 census, Tashkent had 156,000 residents (Turkic dialects without distribution - 116,604 people, Russian language - 14,993 people, Sart language (dialect of the Uzbek language - 11,749 people, Tatar language - 2,313 people, Ukrainian language - 2,600 people, Kyrgyz-Kaisak language (Kazakh language) - 1,911 people, Jewish language - 1,438 people, Persian language - 534 people, Tajik language - 339 people, Kypchak dialects of the Uzbek language - 61 people).

In 1968, by decision of the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR, the territory of Tashkent was increased by including the Karasu district of the Tashkent region, which was located between the Chirchik River and the Karasu Canal, into the city. At the same time, the territories of some city districts were redistributed. Thus, the Kuibyshevsky district gave part of its territory to the newly formed Khamzinsky district (now the Yashnabad district). The territory of the Karasuysky district became part of two districts - Khamzinsky and Leninsky (now the Mirabad district).

On May 8, 1992, based on the petition of the Tashkent khokim, the Kirov district was renamed Yunusabad, the Lenin district was renamed Mirabad, the Oktyabrsky district was renamed Shaikhantaur, and the Frunzensky district was renamed Yakkasaray.

Within the city, there is a division into quarters called mahallas, previously governed by yuzbashis and now by mahalla committees. A mahalla or mahalla, also guzar, is a traditional Muslim community, usually created around a mosque.