1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chimkent

CHIMKENT, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Syr-darya, 70 m. by rail N.N.E. of Tashkent. Pop. (1897) 10,756, mostly Sarts. It occupies a strategical position at the west end of the valley between the Alexander range and the Ala-tau (or Talas-tau), at the meeting of commercial routes from (1) Vyernyi and Siberia beyond, from the north-east, (2) the Aral Sea and Orenburg (connected with it by rail since 1905) to the north-west, and (3) Ferghana and Bokhara to the south. The citadel, which was stormed by the Russians in 1864, stands on high ground above the town, but is now in ruins. Chimkent is visited by consumptive patients who wish to try the koumiss cure. It has cotton mills and soap-works.