Daroot-Korgon Explained
| Official Name: | Daroot-Korgon |
| Native Name: | Дароот-Коргон |
| Pushpin Map: | Kyrgyzstan |
| Mapsize: | 200px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Kyrgyzstan |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Osh |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Chong-Alay |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 6421 |
| Utc Offset: | +6 |
| Coordinates: | 39.5533°N 72.2°W |
| Elevation M: | 2469 |
Daroot-Korgon (also Daraut-Kurghan or Darautkorgon or Daroot-Qurghan) is a village in the western Alay Valley of Osh Region, Kyrgyzstan. It is the capital of Chong-Alay District. Its population was 6,421 in 2021. It is about 90 km west of Sary-Tash on the river Kyzyl-Suu. To the north is a route to Osh via the Tengizbay pass, used by Russian explorers before the construction of the road though Sary-Tash.
To the south, the Altyn River flows north through a deep valley in the Trans-Alay Range. At the head of the valley is a Tajik border post and then Altyn Mazar on the river Muksu which flows west to join the Kyzyl-Suu. South of this is the foot of the Fedchenko Glacier.
The village of Kara-Shybak is 3km (02miles) to the south, and Kyzyl-Eshme is 5km (03miles) to the east.
Aurel Stein suggested that this was the location of the "Stone Tower" that Ptolemy in his famous treatise Geography wrote as the place where caravans from the Chinese and Roman Empires met and exchanged goods.[1] [2] Other scholars, however, disagree with this identification, though it remains one of four most probable sites for the Stone Tower.[3] [4]
Population
In the Book of Han (2nd century AD), the population of this town, situated in the Alai Valley, is recorded at the time as 1,030.[5]
Many Pamir Kyrgyz have resettled from Afghanistan to Daroot-Korgon in the 21st century, straining the village's resources.[6]
Notes and References
- John E. Hill, Through the Jade Gate,2015, Appendix E. quoting Stein(1932), pp 22-23 and Stein(1928), vol II, pp-847-850. Hill's extract does not explain Stein's reasons.
If this is true the route east to Kashgar is obvious. The route west would have gone about 25 miles south up the Altyn River and down a 2000-foot slope to the Tadjik border post at Altyn Mazar ('Golden Shrine'). It would follow the Muksu 55 miles west to its junction with the Kyzyl-Suu. It would then follow the Vakhsh River about 140 miles west-southwest until the country becomes flat and then southwest to Balkh. Alternatively the route could have followed the Kyzyl-Suu west until its junction with the Muksu. The hill above Altyn Mazar looks difficult. but if the Kyzyl-Suu route were used there would be no reason for Daroot-Korgan to be a landmark, unless it was some kind of border post.
- Book: Stein, Aurel. Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kansu, and Eastern Īrān Carried Out and Described under the Orders of H.M. Indian Government (4 Volumes).. Clarendon Press. 1928. Oxford. 847–51 (Vol 2)..
- Book: Dean, Riaz . The Stone Tower: Ptolemy, the Silk Road, and a 2,000-Year-Old Riddle . Penguin Viking . 2022 . 978-0670093625 . Delhi . 131, 134 (Map 4), 164–66 . English.
- Dean. Riaz. 2015. The Location of Ptolemy's Stone Tower: the Case for Sulaiman-Too in Osh. The Silk Road. 13. 77.
- Book: Hulsewe and Loewe, A. F. P. and M. A. N. . China in Central Asia, the Early Stage: 125 bc–ad 23. Leiden: Brill. . Brill . 1979 . 978-9004058842 . Leiden . 138, fn 355 . English.
- 31 August 2022 . Памирские кыргызы: исчезающий народ | АЗИЯ 360° |trans-title= Pamir Kyrgyz: A disappearing people | Asia 360° . Russian, Kyrgyz . 2 September 2022 . Настоящее Время. Док.
