Namangan, city in eastern Uzbekistan, on the northern edge of the Fergana Valley. Namangan is about 430 km (about 265 mi) east of Toshkent, about 65 km (about 40 mi) west of Andijon, and about 75 km (about 45 mi) north of Fergana. The Qoradaryo and Naryn rivers join together to form the Syr Darya just outside the southern edge of the city. Namangan has recently become a center for oil exploration and production in Uzbekistan and has a few oil refineries. There is an important antimony mine (an important steel alloy used to make batteries) just outside the city. Cotton growing and processing remains a major economic activity. Fruits and vegetables are grown in the foothills surrounding Namangan. The North Fergana Canal diverts water from the Syr Darya to supply most of Namangan's water needs. To the north, in the mountains just inside Kyrgyzstan, is a nature preserve called Sary-Chelek.
Namangan was known to have been a settlement in the 15th century, and a part of the khanate (state) of Kokand (present-day Quqon) by the middle of the 18th century. After annexation by the Russians in 1876, cotton production and processing became the increasingly dominant economic activity. Namangan suffered a destructive earthquake in 1926. Population (1994) 341,000.
