Ashgabat is the capital city of Turkmenistan, a country in CentralAsia. It has a population of 695,300 (2001 census estimate) and is situated between the Kara Kum desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range. Ashgabat has a primarily Turkmen population, with minorities of ethnic Russians, Armenians, and Azeris. It is 920 km from the second largest city in Iran, Mashhad.
History
Ashgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established in 1818. It is not far from the site of Nisa, the ancient capital of the Parthians and the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala, which had been destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.
In 1869, Russian soldiers built a fortress on a hill near the village, and this added security soon attracted merchants and craftsmen to the area. Tsarist Russia annexed the region in 1884, and chose to develop the town as a regional centerdue to its proximity to the border of British-influenced Persia. It was regarded as a pleasant town with European style buildings, shops and hotels.
In 1908 The first Baha'i house of worship was built here. It was seriously damaged as a result of earthquake in 1948 and was demolished by the Soviet authorities in 1963.[1][2]
Soviet rule was established, lost and then regained in 1917, and the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary. The name "Ashgabat" was restored in 1927 when the Communist Party was properly established in Turkmenistan, though it was usually known by the Russian form Ashkhabad. From this period onwardthe city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, although this was severely disrupted by a major earthquake on October 6, 1948. An estimated 7.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed over 110,000 (2/3 the population of the city), although the official number announced by Soviet news was only 14,000.
; "Aşgabat")
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