Ashgabat

Ashgabat: presidential palace

Ashgabat, formerly Ashkhabad, Ashkabad, Askhabad, or (1919–27) Poltoratsk, city and capital of Turkmenistan. It lies in an oasis at the northern foot of the Kopet-Dag (Turkmen: Köpetdag) Range and on the edge of the Karakum (Turkmen: Garagum) Desert, about 19 miles (30 km) from the Iranian frontier. It was founded in 1881 as a Russian military fort and took the name of the nearby Turkmen settlement of Askhabad. It became the administrative centre of the Transcaspian oblast (province) and, because of its position on the caravan routes and on the Transcaspian Railway, attracted a population that numbered more than 45,000 by 1911. After the Russian Revolution the city soon was renamed Poltoratsk, after a local revolutionary. From 1924 to 1990 it was the capital of Turkmenistan, U.S.S.R.; in 1927 it reverted to its original name, Ashkhabad. One of the most violent earthquakes ever registered in the region virtually destroyed the city in October 1948; it was rebuilt on the same regular plan. A chronic water shortage was alleviated considerably when the Karakum Canal reached the city in 1962. In 1992 the government of newly independent Turkmenistan officially adopted the Turkmen version of the city’s name, Ashgabat.

Ashgabat is now an administrative, industrial, transportation, and cultural centre. The city has glassworks, carpet-weaving and cotton mills, and metalworking shops. Its spectacular natural setting also made it a centre for the filmmaking industry. There are several institutions of higher education, including Turkmen A.M. Gorkii State University (1950) and polytechnic, agricultural, and medical institutes. The Turkmen Academy of Sciences, founded in 1951, includes the unique Institute of Deserts. Other amenities include an opera house and theatres as well as several museums. Pop. (2007 est.) 744,000.