Fergana Oblast

Fergana Oblast Ферганская область (Russian)
Oblast
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire as of 1914
Country	Russian Empire
Governorate-General	Turkestan
Established	1876
Abolished	1917
Capital	Skobelev (modern-day Fergana)
Area
• Total	160,141 km2 (61,831 sq mi)
Population  (1897)
• Total	1,572,214
• Density	9.8/km2 (25/sq mi)

The Fergana Oblast was an oblast (province) of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day Fergana Valley. It was created in 1876 when the territories of the former Khanate of Kokand were annexed to Russia (except for the oblasts of Syr-Darya Oblast and Semirechye Oblast, which were part of the khanate before Russian conquest between 1853 and 1865). Its administrative center was the city of Skobelev (which is in modern-day Fergana).

The Oblast was disbanded after the Russian Revolution and on April 30, 1918 the region became a part of the Turkestan ASSR.

Administrative division

As of 1897, the Fergana Oblast was divided into 5 uyezds:

Uyezd	Uyezd city (pop.)	Area, versta2	Population
Fergana	Novy Margelan (8,928)	14,069.1	321,860
Andizhan	Andizhan (47,627)	13,333.2	360,267
Kokand	Kokand (81,354)	13,212.6	364,658
Namangan	Namangan (62,017)	15,273.4	363,789
Osh	Osh (34,157)	65,252.7	161,640

Demographics

As of 1897, 1,572,214 people populated the oblast. Turkified Sarts (a name used for Tajiks) constituted the majority of the population. Significant minorities included Kyrgyz and Tajiks. The total Turkic-speaking population numbered 1,439,989 (91.6% of the total population of the oblast).

Ethnic groups in 1897

Group	Number	Percentage
Sarts	788,989	50.2%
Unspecified Turkic dialects	261,234	16.6%
Kyrgyz	201,579	12.8%
Uzbeks	153,780	9.8%
Tajiks	114,081	7.3%
Uyghurs	14,915	0.9%
Karakalpaks	11,056	0.7%
Russians	8,140	0.5%
Kipchak	7,584	0.5%
Jews	1,378	...
TOTAL	1,572,214	100%