Istaravshan

Istaravshan (Tajik: Истаравшан; Russian: Истаравшан) is a city in Sughd Province in Tajikistan. In 2000, the Tajik government changed the name of the city from Uroteppa (Tajik: Ӯротеппа; Ura-Tyube, Russian: Ура-Тюбе). The city lies in the northern foothills of the Turkistan mountain range, 78 kilometers southwest of Khujand, on the main road connecting Tajikistan's two largest cities, Khujand and Dushanbe. Bordered by Uzbekistan in the north and west, and Kyrgyzstan in the east, Istaravshan's administrative area encompasses 1,830 square kilometers and a population of 273,500 people. Most of them (76%) live in the outlying countryside. Istaravshan is one of central Asia's oldest towns of commerce and crafts. The city celebrated its 2,500th birthday in the year 2002. It was one of three proposed locations for ancient Cyropolis, which was built on the north-eastern outskirts of the Achaemenid Empire by the king Cyrus in the 6th century B.C.