Andijon, city and administrative center in far eastern Uzbekistan in Andijon province, at the southeastern edge of the Fergana Valley. Andijon is about 475 km (about 295 mi) east of Toshkent, and about 45 km (about 30 mi) west of Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Andijon is a center for oil production and has a few oil refineries. Cotton growing and processing remain the dominant economic activities.
Andijon sits on an ancient riverbed (Say River) and is known to have existed since the 9th century on a trade route into western China. Andijon was the 15th-century capital of the Fergana Valley, and in the 18th and 19th centuries a part of the Kokand khanate (state), centered in present-day Quqon. In 1876 Andijon was captured by Russian forces. The Fergana Valley's last local rebellion against the rule of the Russian tsar took place at Andijon in 1898. An earthquake destroyed most of the old part of the city in 1902, killing more than 4000 people. The Babur Literary Museum is in Andijon. The museum is named after Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, who was born in Andijon in 1483 and founded the Mughal Empire of northern India. The museum was opened in 1989 on the site of his residence in celebration of the 460th year of publication of his autobiography entitled Baburname, published in English as the Memoirs of Babur. Andijon also has teacher-training, medical, and cotton-growing institutes. (1994) 303,000.
