103 articles
Oral, Kazakhstan
Oral (Uralsk, formerly Yaitsky gorodok), city on the Ural River at the Chagan confluence in northwestern Kazakhstan, center of West Kazakhstan Region; founded 1613 by Yaik Cossacks, renamed 1775 after Pugachev's revolt; population about 234,000.
Osh
Osh (Ош) is Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, in the eastern Fergana Valley at the Ak-Buura river, a 3,000-year-old Silk Road hub with UNESCO-listed Sulaiman-Too; 333,629 residents (2022), 700 km from Bishkek.
Pākdasht
Pākdasht (پاکدشت) is a city and the center of Pakdasht County in Tehran Province, Iran, about 20 km southeast of Tehran, known for greenhouse flowers and plants.
Panjakent (Панҷакент)
Panjakent (Панҷакент, also Penjikent) is a city in the Zarafshan Valley of western Tajikistan near Samarkand, gateway to the ruins of the ancient Sogdian city of Panjikent (5th-8th centuries), Sarazm, and the Seven Lakes.
Pavlodar
Pavlodar (Павлодар), city in northeastern Kazakhstan on the Irtysh, oblast center; founded 1720 as Koryakovsky outpost, city status 1861, named for Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich; about 370,600 residents in 2026.
Petropavl
Petropavl (Qyzylzhar), city in northern Kazakhstan, administrative center of North Kazakhstan Region; founded 1752 as a Russian fortress on the Ishim River, rail junction, population about 222,000.
Qā’em Shahr
Qā’em Shahr (Persian: قائمشهر), formerly Shahi, is a city in northern Iran's Mazandaran province, capital of Qaem Shahr County, with about 205,000 people in 2016.
Qarchak
Qarchak (قرچک), city and county capital in Tehran Province, Iran, 20 km southeast of Tehran; grew from brick-kiln village to 269,158 county population; home of the 7,000-year-old Pardis mound and Qarchak Prison.
Qarshi
Qarshi, also rendered Karshi, is a city in southern Uzbekistan and the administrative center of Kashkadarya Region, built on the ancient city of Nasaf and celebrated under UNESCO auspices in 2006 as 2,700 years old.
Qazvin
Qazvin (قزوین), city in northwestern Iran 130 km west of Tehran; Safavid capital 1548-1596/98 under Tahmasb and Abbas I before Isfahan; known for Chehel Sotun pavilion, Ali Qapu gate, Sa'd al-Saltaneh caravanserai, and Bāghestān gardens.
Qods
Qods, also known as Shahr-e Qods, is a city in Tehran province, Iran, about 20 km west of central Tehran on the Tehran–Karaj corridor, formed in 1989 from four villages.
Qom (قم)
Qom (قم) is a city in central Iran, 125 km southwest of Tehran, a leading Shiite seminary center and pilgrimage city around the Fatima Masumeh Shrine, with over one million census population and severe water scarcity.
Ramsar, Iran
Ramsar, Iran: resort city in western Mazandaran Province on the Caspian coast, formerly Sakht Sar, famed for hot springs, high natural background radiation, Pahlavi-era palaces, and the 1971 Ramsar wetlands Convention.
Rasht (رشت)
Rasht (رشت), capital of Gilan province and largest Iranian Caspian coast city, at 5 m elevation between the Zarjub and Gowhar-rud rivers; UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy since 2015, historic silk-trade hub and 1920-21 Socialist Republic of Persia capital.
Rustavi (რუსთავი)
Rustavi (რუსთავი) is a city in Kvemo Kartli, Georgia, 27 km from Tbilisi; a medieval town destroyed in 1265 and refounded in 1948 around the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant, with about 130,100 residents.
Samarkand
Samarkand, Uzbek city on the Zerafshan River, founded 7th century BC as Afrasiab, Timurid capital in the 14th–15th centuries, UNESCO World Heritage site since 2001 with Registan, Bibi-Khanum, Shakhi-Zinda, Gur-Emir.
Sanandaj
Sanandaj (Kurdish Sine, Persian سنندج), capital of Kurdistan Province in western Iran, founded 1638 as Ardalan dynasty capital, Kurdish-speaking, UNESCO Creative City of Music since 2019, population around 500,000.
Sari (city)
Sari (ساری), capital of Mazandaran province in northern Iran between the Alborz foothills and the Caspian Sea; largest city of the province, caviar and paper industry center, ECO tourism capital 2022, site of Baha'i Constitutional Revolution activity.
Sāveh
Saveh (Sāveh, ساوه), city in northern Markazi province, Iran, halfway between Tehran and Hamadan; Seljuk Jameh Mosque, pomegranate and fig farming, legendary vanished Lake of Saveh, Saveh Dam (1994), saline polluted aquifer.
Semey
Semey (Семей), formerly Semipalatinsk until 2007, is a city of about 314,000 in northeastern Kazakhstan on the Irtysh River, administrative center of Abay Region since 2022, founded 1718, near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.
Shāhīn Shahr
Shahin Shahr (شاهینشهر) is Iran's first planned new town, founded 1971, 19 km north of Isfahan; county seat, industrial hub near HESA and the refinery, population about 173,000.
Shahrīār
Shahrīār (شهریار) is a fast-growing city in Tehran Province, Iran, seat of Shahrīār County on Tehran's western fringe; population grew from 40,058 (1996) to 309,607 (2016), with a cold semi-arid climate.
Shiraz (شیراز)
Shiraz (شیراز), capital of Fars province in southwestern Iran, sixth-largest city (~1.5 million), famed for gardens, wine, poets Sa'di and Hafez, Zand-era monuments, and nearby Persepolis.
Shusha (Շուշի)
Shusha (Şuşa; Armenian Shushi, Շուշի) is a mountain city in Nagorno-Karabakh founded in 1753 by Panah Ali Khan as capital of the Karabakh khanate, occupied 1992-2020, now Azerbaijan's declared cultural capital.
Shymkent (city)
Shymkent (Шымкент, formerly Chimkent) is Kazakhstan's third-largest city and a city of republican significance since 2018, an industrial and transport hub of the south near Tashkent, with about 1.32 million residents in 2026.
Sīrjān
Sīrjān (سیرجان), city in Kerman province, southeastern Iran; medieval main town of Kerman on the Fars–Bam–Hormuz–Sistan roads. Old city (Shahre Qadim) later replaced by Qal'eh Sang, Bagh Bamid, and Qajar-era Sa'idabad, the present site.
Stepanakert
Stepanakert, called Khankendi (Xankəndi) by Azerbaijan, is the main city of Nagorno-Karabakh: NKAO administrative center from 1923, renamed for Bolshevik Stepan Shaumyan, de facto capital of the unrecognized republic until Azerbaijan's September 2023 takeover.
Sumgait
Sumgait (Sumqayıt) is an industrial city on Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula, 30 km from Baku, founded 1944, city status 22 November 1949; population about 325,000-341,000, chemical and metallurgical industries, Sumgait Industrial Park, and a documented industrial pollution legacy.
Tabriz (تبریز)
Tabriz (تبریز), largest city of northwest Iran and capital of East Azerbaijan province, about 1.6 million people; first Safavid capital from 1501, rebuilt after the 1780 earthquake, home of the UNESCO-listed Historic Bazaar.
Taraz (Тараз)
Taraz (Тараз) is a city in Zhambyl Region, southern Kazakhstan, on the Silk Road Talas valley route; first recorded in 568 AD, a Karakhanid center, home to the Aisha-Bibi Mausoleum, population about 490,000.