Travel Guide Andijan

Andijan is, historically, the last city ruled by a Timurid before their descendant, Zahereddin Muhammad Babur, the fifth and last ruler of the Timurid line, left his city under the pressure of the Chaybahnids to carve out a new empire in India. The city was founded in the 9th century, under the name of Andugan. Razed by the Mongols of Genghis Khan, a descendant of the latter, Kaydu Khan, raised it from its ashes in the 13th century. It became then, like all the cities of the Ferghana valley, an important stage on the silk road and the capital of the valley for three centuries, before seeing its role fading in favour of Kokand. Andijan fell to the Russians the same year as Kokand, in 1876. In 1880, an earthquake completely razed the old city. The Russians started to build a new city on the ruins of the previous one, to make it the industrial center of the valley. The Andijan region is still the most densely populated in the country, the one that produces the most cotton and the second largest producer of oil in Uzbekistan. Its bazaar is one of the most picturesque in the valley, even if its infrastructure, gradually renovated, offers a modern look.