Among other valley cities Fergana

is believed to be one of the most Uzbek ancient cities. Its construction was begun simultaneously as Naw Margilon (New Margilan) - a colonial appendage of nearby Margilan. For some time it had the name " Sim " (telephone wire) and then - Skobelev. The name Fergana appeared in 1920. Maple trees casting shadow on the streets, and also buildings of blue-sky color makes the city very attractive.

The Fergana Valley, consisting partly of the very fertile Karakalpak steppe and partly of desert land, is drained by the Syr Darya River and by numerous mountain streams, which are fed by snowfields and glaciers in the mountains. A dense irrigation network is linked by the Great Fergana and South Fergana canals. Major cities of the valley include Fergana, Kokand, Andijan, and Namangan, in Uzbekistan; Khudjand, in Tajikistan; and Osh, in Kyrgyzstan; many of them are connected by a circular rail line, which also has spurs serving the mining settlements on the valley's periphery. The Fergana Valley is one of Central Asia's most densely populated agricultural and industrial areas. Cotton fields, orchards, vineyards, walnut groves, and mulberry tree plantations (for silk) cover the region, which is one of the world's oldest cultivated areas. Along the fringes of the valley are deposits of oil, natural gas, and iron ore. Cotton and silk milling and the manufacture of chemicals and cement are among the valley's important industries. According to ancient Chinese sources, the Fergana Valley was a major center of Central Asia as early as the 4th cent. BC The introduction of silk raising from China, the development of cotton cultivation, and its favorable location astride the silk route between China and the Mediterranean stimulated the valley's growth.

The Arabs, following the path of earlier invaders, occupied the valley in the 8th century and introduced Islam. The region was held in the 9th and 10th century by the Persian Samanid dynasty, in the 12th century by the Seljuk Turks of Khorezm, and in the 14th century by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. The valley later belonged to the empire of Timur and his successors: the Timurids.

Early in the 16th century, it was over-run by the Uzbeks, who established the Khanate of Kokand. The opening of the sea route to East Asia around that time led to the decline of the prosperous caravan trade through the valley. Russian conquest of the Fergana Valley was completed in 1876; the region was then made part of a much larger unit called Fergana, which was a province of Russian Turkistan. During the Russian civil war, the valley was the center of the anti-Bolshevik Autonomous Turkistan Government, with Kokand as its capital. The crowded conditions in the valley contributed to ethnic violence in 1989-90, and Fergana has been one of the hot spots of post-USSR in Central Asia.

The most attractive sight in Fergana is its market. Together with Uzbek vendors, Korean and Russian vendors sell their domestic spices.