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Balkan Region
Balkan Region (Turkmen: Balkan welaýaty, Балкан велаяты) is the westernmost of the five regions of Turkmenistan. Clockwise from north it borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east), Iran (south), and the Caspian Sea (west). The capital city is Balkanabat, formerly known as Nebit Dag. The region's boundaries are identical to those of the former Krasnovodsk Oblast', a Soviet-era province of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic with its capital in the city of Krasnovodsk. This oblast was liquidated and restored repeatedly in the 20th century, concluding with its abolition in 1988. However, the administrative boundaries of the region were restored in 1991 when Balkan Region was established with its capital being moved to Nebit Dag which was later renamed Balkanabat.
The province covers 139,270 square kilometers and counts 529,895 residents (2022 estimate). A large minority of these are nomadic herding families. Its population density of 3.8 persons per square kilometer is the lowest in Turkmenistan.
Other cities include: Bereket, Türkmenbaşy, Gumdag, Gyzylarbat, Hazar, Etrek, and Esenguly.
Balkan Region has significant hydrocarbon reserves, which in 2019 accounted for 13.9% of Turkmenistan's natural gas production and 93.1% of its petroleum production. It also generated 15.4% of the country's electric power. Due to the very low water supply, agriculture is negligible, and only 4.5% of Turkmenistan's arable lands are within the province.
Off its Caspian shores, the Balkan Region includes the island of Ogurja Ada, the largest in the Caspian Sea.
It seems that in the plain between the two ranges of the Balkan Mountains there was a small settlement area and an old town called Balkhan. The exact location of this town is not known. According to Yakut, the city of Balkhan was situated along the old road near Amu Darya, in the Balkan region, east of the Gulf of Krasnovodsk, and close to the small town of Khwarezm, which later became known as Abivard. Muqaddasi mentions a ruined town called Balkhan, saying it had been destroyed, and notes that people of Nisa and Abivard would go there in search of pasture for their cattle and for commerce. Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur also refers to this mountain under the name Balkhan. Barthold believed that the name Balkhan derives from the Persian word bālākhāna (upper house).
The Balkan Mountains apparently served as a refuge for the ancient tribes of Baitak and Mavarannahr. In 416/1025, Mahmud of Ghazni gave the Turkmens of north of Jeyhun (Amu Darya) permission to settle to the south of this river. Some of them spread in Abivard, Serakhs, and Nisa, while others spread out over the plains of Balkhan. These Turkmens, in their new settlement, soon engaged in looting and destruction. In the north of Nishapur, a severe battle took place. During this battle, about forty thousand Turkmens were killed, and the survivors fled to “the Balkhan mountains.”
In the 6th/12th century, the Salor Turkmen tribe, including the branches of Teke, Saryk, and Sarik, settled in the Balkhan region and along the shores of the Uzboy river. In the 8th/14th century, the Yomut Turkmens also spread to this area and occupied parts of the Balkhan Gulf. In the 10th/16th century, under Shah Tahmasp I (1524–1576), the presence of Yomut groups in the Balkan Mountains was reported.
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Balkan Region
Balkan Region (Turkmen: Balkan welaýaty, Балкан велаяты) is the westernmost of the five regions of Turkmenistan. Clockwise from north it borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east), Iran (south), and the Caspian Sea (west). The capital city is Balkanabat, formerly known as Nebit Dag. The region's boundaries are identical to those of the former Krasnovodsk Oblast', a Soviet-era province of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic with its capital in the city of Krasnovodsk. This oblast was liquidated and restored repeatedly in the 20th century, concluding with its abolition in 1988. However, the administrative boundaries of the region were restored in 1991 when Balkan Region was established with its capital being moved to Nebit Dag which was later renamed Balkanabat.
The province covers 139,270 square kilometers and counts 529,895 residents (2022 estimate). A large minority of these are nomadic herding families. Its population density of 3.8 persons per square kilometer is the lowest in Turkmenistan.
Other cities include: Bereket, Türkmenbaşy, Gumdag, Gyzylarbat, Hazar, Etrek, and Esenguly.
Balkan Region has significant hydrocarbon reserves, which in 2019 accounted for 13.9% of Turkmenistan's natural gas production and 93.1% of its petroleum production. It also generated 15.4% of the country's electric power. Due to the very low water supply, agriculture is negligible, and only 4.5% of Turkmenistan's arable lands are within the province.
Off its Caspian shores, the Balkan Region includes the island of Ogurja Ada, the largest in the Caspian Sea.
It seems that in the plain between the two ranges of the Balkan Mountains there was a small settlement area and an old town called Balkhan. The exact location of this town is not known. According to Yakut, the city of Balkhan was situated along the old road near Amu Darya, in the Balkan region, east of the Gulf of Krasnovodsk, and close to the small town of Khwarezm, which later became known as Abivard. Muqaddasi mentions a ruined town called Balkhan, saying it had been destroyed, and notes that people of Nisa and Abivard would go there in search of pasture for their cattle and for commerce. Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur also refers to this mountain under the name Balkhan. Barthold believed that the name Balkhan derives from the Persian word bālākhāna (upper house).
The Balkan Mountains apparently served as a refuge for the ancient tribes of Baitak and Mavarannahr. In 416/1025, Mahmud of Ghazni gave the Turkmens of north of Jeyhun (Amu Darya) permission to settle to the south of this river. Some of them spread in Abivard, Serakhs, and Nisa, while others spread out over the plains of Balkhan. These Turkmens, in their new settlement, soon engaged in looting and destruction. In the north of Nishapur, a severe battle took place. During this battle, about forty thousand Turkmens were killed, and the survivors fled to “the Balkhan mountains.”
In the 6th/12th century, the Salor Turkmen tribe, including the branches of Teke, Saryk, and Sarik, settled in the Balkhan region and along the shores of the Uzboy river. In the 8th/14th century, the Yomut Turkmens also spread to this area and occupied parts of the Balkhan Gulf. In the 10th/16th century, under Shah Tahmasp I (1524–1576), the presence of Yomut groups in the Balkan Mountains was reported.