Syr-Darya Oblast. Ilan Utinsk Gorge. Cliff Formations of Ilan Utinsk Gorge
1865
This photograph of the Djalan-Uty (or Ilan Utinsk) Gorge in present-day Uzbekistan is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871–72 under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general (1867–82) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories were called. The small Djalan-UtyRiver flows in the region southwest of Tashkent in the direction of the town of Jizzakh, located in the northern part of Imperial Russia’s Samarkand Oblast. Settled as early as the 10th century, Jizzakh was on the fabled Silk Road. In the fall of 1866, Jizzakh occupied a strategic place in the Russian campaign against the Emir of Bukhara, who had hoped to defend the town and block the path to Samarkand. During initial maneuvers, a body of troops encamped on a meadow near the opening to the Djalan-Uty Gorge. In October 1866 Russian forces took Jizzakh, thus successfully concluding that year’s campaign. In 1867 Syr Darya Oblast was created as part of the formation of the governor-generalship of Turkestan. The following year Samarkand fell to a Russian force led by von Kaufman. This dramatic view of the gorge’s cliffs conveys the harsh topography of the region, in which ancient rivers cut deep channels through the arid landscape.
- Filename
- 3884.jpg
- Copyright
- acku Afghanistan
- Image Size
- 1800x2266 / 212.7KB
- Contained in galleries
- UZBEKISTAN