Jizzakh (Uzb. Jizzax / Jizzakh) is a city of regional subordination in the Jizzakh region of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Administrative, economic, cultural, scientific and educational center of the Jizzakh region, a major transport hub connecting the center and west of Uzbekistan with the eastern regions. The city is on the way between the two capitals of Uzbekistan: the modern capital – Tashkent, and the ancient – Samarkand. The population of the city is 165.0 thousand inhabitants (January 2015). The area is about 100 km² (9640 ha).

Geography
Jizzakh is located in the valley of the Sanzar River, at the northern foot of the Nuratau Mountains, in the southern part of the Mirzachul steppe, 180 km southwest of Tashkent, 90 km northeast of Samarkand. The city borders on the Jizzakh and Galla-Aral regions of the Jizzakh region.

Climate
The climate in Jizzakh is warm and temperate. Much more precipitation falls in winter than in summer. There is little rainfall throughout the year. The climate is classified as Csa by the Köppen-Geiger system. The average annual temperature in Jizzakh is 15.6 °C. The average rainfall per year is 370 mm.

Origin of the name
There are several points of view about the origin of the city’s name:
The scientific point of view is inclined to the version that the name of the city comes from the Sogdian “dizak” – in translation “a small fortress, a small fort”.
The following legend has some distribution: the city is located in a mountainous area, next to limestone outcrops on the surface. Often passing along the Great Silk Road, merchants stopped in this area. Using stones lying nearby as a hearth, and later pouring water over them (to extinguish a fire), the merchants saw how the stone hissed and turned white. This became the basis for the emergence of the name Jizzakh from the Sogdian “jizz” – “hissing”, and “ok” (in Turkic) – “white”.
As an urban legend: in the summer there is a strong heat in the city and for a long time this area was called “duzah” – translated from Arabic as “hell”.
Another folklore version of the origin of the name: a combination of the words “zhiz” (from Uzbek) – here in the sense of “burning heat” due to high summer temperatures and “zah” – “dampness, cold” due to severe cold winter weather.

History
Jizzakh arose at the point of convergence of ancient caravan roads based on 300 years BC on the Great Silk Road, in an oasis on the way from the Ferghana Valley and the Tashkent oasis to Samarkand. In the writings of ancient Greek authors, the city of Gaza is mentioned, a large settlement along with such a city as Kiropol. The exact location of the city of Gaza has not been established, but it is generally accepted that it was located halfway from Sogd to Shash and further to Fergana and Semirechye. On the basis of which scientists identify the city of Gaza as the ancient Jizzakh.
For the first time, under the name “Dizak”, it is mentioned as a city that has existed since ancient times in the Faknon region of the ancient country of Ustrushana, which by that time had entered the possession of the Arab Caliphate, in the works of Arab geographers and travelers Ibn-Khaukal and Al-Mukadassi.
In the 9th-10th centuries it was part of the Samanid state, in the 11th-12th centuries in the state of the Karakhanids and the state of Khorezmshahs. In 1220, it was invaded by the troops of Genghis Khan, which led to the extermination of the population and the complete destruction of the city, as a result of which Jizzakh fell into decay. In the 14th to 15th centuries, it was revived as part of the state of Timur and turned into a major administrative, trade and economic center of the country.
From 1500 to 1599, Jizzakh was part of the Bukhara Khanate, headed by the Sheibanid dynasty, and then the Ashtarkhanids.

From 1756 to 1866, Jizzakh was part of the Bukhara Emirate, headed by the Uzbek Mangyt dynasty.
By the beginning of the 1860s, Jizzakh was the administrative center of the Jizzakh bekdom as part of the Bukhara Emirate, surrounded by a double wall and a deep moat. The population of the city was 20 thousand people.
On October 11, 1866, Jizzakh was besieged by a Russian detachment under the command of General D.I. Romanovsky, numbering two thousand people. After 7 days, the city was taken as a result of the assault. According to M. A. Terentyev, out of 11 thousand people who defended the city, only 2,000 were professional soldiers, and about 6,000 people died. Losses among the civilian population are not taken into account by him.

Since 1887, Jizzakh became a county town of the Samarkand region.
In 1916, Jizzakh was one of the centers of the anti-Russian anti-colonial Turkestan uprising.
Since 1924, the regional center of the Syrdarya region.
In 1917, Sharaf Rashidov was born in the city, who subsequently led the Uzbek SSR for 24 years.
During the Soviet period, the city was rebuilt, erected industrial enterprises, the population increased. On December 29, 1973, Jizzakh became the administrative center of the newly formed Jizzakh region. After the abolition of the Jizzakh region on September 6, 1988, it was the center of the Syrdarya region until February 16, 1990, when the Jizzakh region was restored.

Famous people associated with the city
Lebedev Sergey Nikolaevich (born April 9, 1948, Jizzakh (Uzbek SSR)) – CIS Executive Secretary since October 2007, Russian intelligence officer, General of the Russian Army, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (2000-2007).
Rashidov Sharaf Rashidovich (October 24 (November 6), 1917, Jizzakh – October 31, 1983, Tashkent) – Soviet party and statesman, writer. Leader of the Uzbek SSR for 24 years as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR (1959-1983).