a city and the administrative center of Chardzhou Oblast, Turkmen SSR. Landing on the left bank of the Amu Darya at the place where the river is crossed by the Krasno-vodsk-Tashkent railroad line. Starting point of the Chardzhou-Kungrad-Makat railroad line. Population, 113,000 (1977; 51,000 in 1939).

Chardzhou originated in the 1880’s as a Russian fortified settlement in the Bukhara Khanate. In 1886 it became a city—Novyi Chardzhui—and a commercial and transportation center of Middle Asia; since 1888 it has been served by the Middle Asian Railroad. Part of the Turkestan ASSR from 1918 to 1924, the city became part of the Turkmen SSR in 1924 and acquired its present name in 1937. Chardzhou has been an oblast capital since 1939, with an interruption from 1963 to 1970.

Chardzhou has a silk combine, a factory for the spinning and weaving of wool, a cotton-ginning plant, and enterprises for the production of wadding, knitwear and other clothing, footwear, and Karakul skins. The food-processing industry is represented by a meat-packing plant, a milk plant, a winery, and a licorice factory. The city also has a superphosphate plant, a repair shop, a furniture factory, and a factory for the production of building materials.

In addition to a pedagogical institute, Chardzhou has textile, medical, and river transport technicums and medical and music schools. The city’s cultural and scientific institutions include a museum of history and local lore, the Turkmen Sericulture Experiment Station, and a land-reclamation experiment station.