Leninabad Oblast

part of the Tadzhik SSR. It was formed on Dec. 23, 1970 (it existed previously from Oct. 27, 1939, to Mar. 28, 1962). Area, 26,100 sq km. Population, 1,031,000 (1973). It is divided into 12 raions and has nine cities and 20 urban-type settlements. Its center is the city of Leninabad.

Natural features. Leninabad Oblast is located in the northern part of the republic. The northern part of the oblast is occupied by the Kurama Range (elevations to 3,769 m) and the Mogoltau massif (elevations to 1,624 m), which belong to the Tien-Shan system. The southern part is occupied by the Turkestan Range (to 5,509 m), the Zeravshan Range (to 5,489 m), and the Gissar Range (northern slope), which belong to the Gissar-Alai mountain system. Between the Kurama and Turkestan ranges lies the western part of the Fergana Valley, which is crossed by the Syr Darya River. The Turkestan and Zeravshan ranges are separated by the Zeravshan Valley. The climate is continental and dry. Winters on the plains are mild (average January temperature, — 1.1°C) and summers are hot (average July temperature, 28°C); precipitation totals 150 mm a year, but in some places it is 300 mm (it falls primarily in the spring and winter). A hot dry wind sometimes blows. In the mountains it is cooler at elevations of about 1,000 m (the average January temperature is — 4°C; the average July temperature, 26°C), and precipitation totals more than 400 mm a year. At elevations of 2,500 m the average January temperature is — 9°C, the average July temperature is 15°C, and precipitation reaches 800 mm a year. The most important rivers are the Syr Darya and the Zeravshan. The Syr Darya’s tributaries include the Isfara, Khodzhabakyrgan, and Aksu rivers. The Zeravshan rises from the glacier of the same name, which is 25 km long; its tributaries are the Fandar’ia, Kshtut, and Magian. The rivers are fed by snow and glaciers, have large reserves of hydroelectric energy, and are used for irrigation. The largest lakes are Iskanderkul’ (which is in the Gissar Range) and Oksukon (which is in the north of the oblast and is known for its therapeutic muds).

The soils on the plains are light sierozems, and in the mountains the soils are dark sierozems, giving way to chestnut, mountain-forest, and mountain-meadow soils. There is desert-steppe vegetation in the virgin sections of plains (wormwoods and Alhagi) and tugai vegetation in river valleys. The slopes of ranges at elevations up to 1,000 m are occupied by wormwood-saltwort or wormwood-grass steppes. At elevations of 1,500–1,700 m and above there are forb mountain steppes; forests—chiefly of woody juniper and shrubs—are also encountered. Higher up, fescue and fescue-feather grass steppes are found in some regions; starting at 2,500–3,000 m there are subalpine and alpine meadows, which serve as primary summer pastures (in particular, in the upper course of the Zeravshan and its tributaries).

Mammals found in Leninabad Oblast include the Vulpes vulpes caragan and corsac (foxes), the Tolai hare, badger, boar, Siberian ibex, and snow leopard. Birds include the pheasant and snow cock. There are trout, common carp, Turkestan barbel, Old World minnows, and sheatfish in the rivers and lakes.

Population. Leninabad Oblast is inhabited by Tadzhiks, Uzbeks, Russians, Tatars, Kirghiz, Ukrainians, and other nationalities. Average population density is 39.5 persons per sq km (1973), with population density of the rural population greatest in the Fergana Valley (more than 100 persons per sq km). The urban population is 391,000 (38 percent). The main cities are Leninabad, Ura-Tiube, Kanibadam, Isfara, Kairakkum, Pendzhikent, Sovetabad, Shurab, and Chkalovsk.

Economy. Prior to the Great October Socialist Revolution, the territory occupied by Leninabad Oblast was a backward outland of tsarist Russia. Handicraft industry connected with the initial processing of raw materials predominated (chiefly silk-weaving enterprises). Under Soviet power there have been fundamental transformations in the economy of the oblast: old enterprises have been reconstructed and new ones built, and large-scale mechanized agriculture has been created.

The oblast accounts for more than one-third of the industrial output of the republic and a sizable proportion of the agricultural production. There is coal mining (Shurab), oil drilling (Nefteabad and Kim), and mining and dressing of ores of lead and zinc (Altyn-Topkan, Kurusai, and Kansai), bismuth (Adrasman), tungsten and molybdenum (Chorukh-Dairon), and antimony and mercury (the Anzob mining and dressing combine). The Kairakkum Hydroelectric Power Plant (capacity, 126 megawatts) is located on the Syr Darya. There are metalworking plants (Leninabad and Kanibadam) and plants producing lowvoltage apparatus (Adrasman) and lighting equipment (Isfara). Light industry and food-processing industry are dominant in terms of the value of output. Large enterprises in the field of light industry include a silk combine (Leninabad), a factory for knitted outer wear (Ura-Tiube), and a rug and carpet combine (Kairakkum). In the food-processing industry large enterprises include canning combines (Kanibadam, Leninabad, and Isfara) and a winery (Leninabad). In addition, cotton-ginning, vegetable-oil, flour-milling, and building-materials plants and various wineries are operating.

There are 81 kolkhozes and 32 sovkhozes in the oblast (1972). Irrigation plays an important role in farming (the Bol’shoi Fergana Canal, Severnyi Fergana Canal, and Kairakkum Reservoir). Work is being done to develop the virgin lands of the Golodnaia and Dal’verzin steppes. The planted area comprises 231,000 hectares (ha), 58 percent of which is irrigated. Of the 70,000 ha under industrial crops (1972), cotton is cultivated in the Fergana Valley, and tobacco in the Zeravshan Valley. Grains (rice, wheat, and barley) and vegetables are cultivated. Leninabad Oblast provides about 25 percent of the raw cotton, 86 percent of the tobacco, 32 percent of the rice, and 25 percent of the vegetables harvested in the republic. The oblast has one-half the area of orchards and vineyards of the Tadzhik SSR. Sericulture is developed in the Fergana Valley (more than 40 percent of the cocoons prepared in the republic).

There is meat-and-milk cattle raising in the valleys (259,000 cattle at the end of 1972) and sheep and goat raising in the foothills and mountains (850,000).

Transportation is by railroad (the Khavast-Kokand transit line, with branches to Leninabad and Shurab), highways (from Leninabad to Dushanbe, Tashkent, the Fergana Valley, and elsewhere), and Union-wide and local airlines.

Education, cultural affairs, and public health. In the 1972–73 academic year there were 282,500 students in 754 general educational schools of all types, 5,600 students in 18 vocational-technical schools, 10,400 students in 11 secondary specialized schools, and 7,600 students in the pedagogical institute in the city of Leninabad. At the beginning of 1972 there were 21,200 children enrolled in 182 preschool institutions.

As of Jan. 1, 1973, the oblast had 371 general libraries (2.4 million copies of books and journals), the republic’s Rudaki Museum of History and Local Lore in Pendzhikent, the oblast museum of history and local lore in Leninabad, and the Isfara Museum of History and Local Lore, and five theaters (a theater of musical comedy in Leninabad, theaters of music and drama in Kanibadam and Nau, and a theater of drama and comedy and a mobile theater in Chkalovsk). There were also 302 clubs, 331 film projection units, and extracurricular institutions—25 palaces and houses of pioneers, four stations for young technicians, two stations for young naturalists, three children’s excursion and tourist bases, and 17 children’s sports schools.

The oblast newspapers are the Khakikati Leninobod (Leninabad Pravda, published in Tadzhik, since 1930) and Leninabadskaia pravda (since 1934). Television broadcasts from Dushanbe, Tashkent, and Moscow are relayed, as are radio broadcasts from Moscow and Dushanbe; the city radio station of Leninabad carries local broadcasts (about one hour a day).

As of 1973 there were 96 hospital institutions in Leninabad Oblast with 9,800 beds (9.5 beds per 1,000 persons) and 1,300 doctors (one doctor per 793 persons). Lake Oksukon has therapeutic mud; there are health resorts in Khavatag (a balneological clinic) and Shakhristan (climatic therapy), sanatoriums, and workers’ resorts.