evidence: The Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan: What to visit in 2024! [...] While places like Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva remain in the spotlight, the Fergana Valley, this 22,000 sq. km. salient in the east part of Uzbekistan, is a markedly different region, culturally, geographically, and ethnically. [...] Fergana, unlike the other cities in the Fergana Valley, is a relatively new city. Only founded in 1876, after the Russian conquest of the Kokand Khanate, the city’s initial name was Noviy (New) Margilan, then it changed its name to Skobelev, its first governor.