Mary Region

Coordinates: 37°0′N 62°0′E / 37.000°N 62.000°E / 37.000; 62.000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mary
Mary Welaýaty
From the top, Landscape of the Mary Region, Mary Museum, Kyz Kala Fortress
Mary region in Turkmenistan
Mary region in Turkmenistan
Country Turkmenistan
CapitalMary
Area
 • Total87,150 km2 (33,650 sq mi)
Population
 (2022 census)
 • Total1,613,386
 • Density19/km2 (48/sq mi)
Websitemaryhakimlik.gov.tm/tm

Mary Region (

]

In 2000, Mary Region accounted for 23% of Turkmenistan's population, 19% of the total number of employed, 26% of agricultural production (by value), and 21% of the country's total industrial production.[3] The region's industries include natural gas extraction (the Galkynysh Gas Field), electric power generation, textiles, carpet weaving, chemical and food industry. In 2001 it accounted for 74% of Turkmenistan's electricity generation 26% of natural gas extraction.[4]

Agriculture in Mary Region is irrigated by the

Murghab River, which runs south to north, entering the province from Afghanistan. While the northern portion of the province is within the Central Asian southern desert ecoregion, the southern portion of the province is characterized by a savanna of pistachio and desert sedges, classified as the Badkhiz-Karabil semi-desert by the World Wildlife Fund.[5]

Ancient

UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the main archeological attraction of Mary Province. This is one of the best-preserved oasis cities on the ancient Silk Road.[6]

The capital of Mary Region is the city of

Baýramaly (Russian: Байрам-Али), Ýolöten (Iolotan, Russian: Иолотань), and Serhetabat (Russian: Серхетабад, formerly Turkmen: Guşgy, Russian
: Кушка) on the border with Afghanistan.

Administrative divisions

Districts

As of 9 November 2022, Mary Province (Mary welaýaty) is subdivided into 9 districts (Turkmen: etrapy; etraplar (plural)):[7][8][9]

  1. Baýramaly District
  2. Garagum District
  3. Mary District
  4. Murgap District
  5. Sakarçäge District
  6. Tagtabazar District
  7. Türkmengala District
  8. Wekilbazar District
  9. Ýolöten District

By parliamentary decree of 9 November 2022, two districts, Oguzhan and Serhetabat, were abolished and their land distributed to other districts.[7]

Municipalities

As of January 1, 2017, the province includes 8 cities (города or şäherler), 14 towns (посёлки or şäherçeler), 143 rural or village councils (сельские советы or geňeşlikler), and 329 villages (села, сельские населенные пункты or obalar).[9][8]

In the list below, cities with "district status" are bolded:

Economy

Agriculture

Mary Province: area and production of selected crops, 2017–2019[10]
area, thousand hectares production, thousand tonnes
2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019
Cereals and legumes 223.0 181.4 182.6 409.8 286.4 422.4
Cotton 165.0 165.0 165.0 327.6 337.2 330.5
Vegetables 7.3 7.6 7.6 177.5 177.9 178.2

Industry

Mary Province: Production of selected industrial and processed goods, 2017–2019[11]
2017 2018 2019
Electricity, million kwh 8,074.7 8,260.8 8,831.7
Natural gas, billion m3 20.6 24.8 26.6
Gas condensate, thousand tonnes 45.7 47.4 42.7
Mineral fertilizers, NPK basis, thousand tonnes 324.4 318.5 256.7
Bricks, million 179.3 178.0 201.6
Cotton lint, thousand tonnes 99.9 63.6 89.8,
Wool, degreased, thousand tonnes 4.0 4.0 4.0
Cotton yarn, thousand tonnes 17.3 17.9 19.1
Cotton textile, million m2 43.6 46.0 47.2
Unrefined vegetable oil, thousand tonnes 25.3 26.0 13.2
Flour, thousand tonnes 168.0 176.6 173.6

History

Panorama of the Margush ruins in Mary Province, Turkmenistan

Prehistory

Gonur Tepe archeological sites.[12][13]

Founding of Merv

Kashgaria, and penetrated into China as far as the province of Gansu
early in the 8th century.

Merv achieved some political spotlight in February 748 when

Abbasid
dynasty at Merv, and set out from the city to conquer Iran and Iraq and establish a new capital at Baghdad. The goldsmith of Merv famously challenged Abu Muslim to do the right thing and not make war on fellow Muslims. The goldsmith was put to death.

In the latter part of the 8th century, Merv became obnoxious to Islam as the centre of heretical propaganda preached by al-Muqanna "The Veiled Prophet of Khorasan". Present Turkmenistan was ruled by

Saffarid conquest. During their dominion, Merv, like Samarkand and Bokhara, was one of the great schools of learning, and the celebrated historian Yaqut studied in its libraries. Merv produced several scholars in various branches of knowledge, such as Islamic law, Hadith
, history, literature, and the like.

Arrival of the Turkmen

In 1055 Seljuk forces entered

Turkmen
.

Mongols and Timurids

In 1157, the Seljuk dynasty came to an end in the province of

Khwarezm and burned the city of Merv to the ground. The Mongol leader ordered the massacre of Merv's inhabitants as well as the destruction of the province's farms and irrigation works, which effectively ended the Iranian dominance in urban areas and agricultural communities of Khwarezm. These areas were soon repopulated by the Turkmen who survived the invasion and had retreated northward to the plains of Kazakhstan or westward to the shores of the Caspian Sea. After the division of the Mongol Empire, present Turkmenistan was passed to the Chagatai Khanate, except the southernmost part belonged to Ilkhanate
.

Khiva and the Persians

The invasion of the Khan of Khiva,

Teke Turkmen
, then living on the Tejen River in today's Turkmen-Afghan borderlands, were forced by the Persians to migrate northward. Khiva contested the advance of the Tekes, but ultimately, by about 1856, the latter became the sovereign power of southern and southeastern parts of present Turkmenistan.

Lieutenant Colonel C.E. Stuart reported that in the 1830s the Teke tribe began to settle in the lower Murghab River delta near Merv, which, he said, they destroyed around 1855. From here the Teke extended their reach to

Kizil-Arvat (today's city of Serdar), ultimately splitting into the Ahal Teke, located between Kizil-Arvat and Gawars (an area Stuart called "Daman-i-Kuh"), and the Merv (today Mary) Teke, mainly between the Tejen and Murghab Rivers. Edmund O'Donovan
described Merv as of 1881 as

...a heap of melancholy ruins. There are remains of baths, and palaces, and ramparts crumbling around, with nothing living but snakes and jackals to be seen, or perhaps some wandering Turkoman looking out for his sheep...This is all that remains of Merv...[15]

O'Donovan also asserted that as of 1881

The Turkomans of Merv have only been twenty-six years in the oasis. They formerly inhabited the district around
Tejend river. They were driven from there twenty-seven years ago by the Persians, who objected to the neighbourhood of persons so disagreeable as to insist in carrying off Persian men, their wives, and daughters, and selling them at 5L per head in Bokhara.[15]

Russian Empire

Following Russia's defeat of the combined Ahal and Merv Teke army at the

, both to allow delivery and supply of troops guarding the border with Afghanistan, and to haul out cotton produced in the Murghab River valley.

Soviet period

Following the Russian Revolution, Soviet power was fully in place by 1924, when the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was created. The name "Merv" was changed to "Mary" in 1937. The region initially was directly under control of the Turkmen SSR government, but in 1939 Mary oblast' (Russian: Mарыйская область, Turkmen: Mary oblasty) was created. It was abolished in 1963, then re-established in 1970.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Turkmenistan: Regions, Major Cities & Towns - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  2. ^ Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000–2004, National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005.
  3. ^ Social-economic situation of Turkmenistan in 2000, National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2001, pp. 137–138 (in Russian).
  4. ^ Social-economic situation of Turkmenistan in 2001, National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2002, pp. 107–109 (in Russian).
  5. ^ World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001). "Badkhiz-Karabil semi-desert". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  6. ^ Bonneville, Patrick and Hemono, Philippe. 2006. The World Heritage. Bonneville Connection, Quebec
  7. ^ a b "Постановление Меджлиса Милли Генгеша Туркменистана" (in Russian). Электронная газета «Золотой век». 10 November 2022.
  8. ^ a b Türkmenistanyň Mejlisi (2010–2018). "Türkmenistanyň dolandyryş-çäk birlikleriniň Sanawy". Türkmenistanyş Mejlisiniň Karary. Ashgabat.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) This document is reproduced online at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Districts_in_Turkmenistan.
  9. ^ a b "Административно-территориальное деление Туркменистана по регионам по состоянию на 1 января 2017 года". Archived from the original on 2018-07-08. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
  10. ^ Türkmenistanyň Ýyllyk Statistik Neşiri 2019 Ýyl (in Turkmen, Russian, and English). Ashgabat: State Committee of Statistics of Turkmenistan. 2020. p. 67.
  11. ^ Türkmenistanyň Ýyllyk Statistik Neşiri 2019 Ýyl (in Turkmen, Russian, and English). Ashgabat: State Committee of Statistics of Turkmenistan. 2020. pp. 49–50.
  12. ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "State Historical and Cultural Park "Ancient Merv"" (PDF). whc.unesco.org. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  13. ^ "History & Culture". turkmenistanembassy.org. Archived from the original on November 10, 2001. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  14. ^
    OCLC 45380435
    .
  15. ^ .
  16. ^ "Столица и области Туркменской ССР". Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика (in Russian). Ashgabat: Изд-во Чувашского обкома КПСС. 1984. p. 486.

External links

37°0′N 62°0′E / 37.000°N 62.000°E / 37.000; 62.000