Rasht Valley

The Rasht Valley (Tajik: Водии Рашт) is located in Tajikistan and composes a significant portion of the Region of Republican Subordination, including the six districts of Jirgatol, Rasht, Roghun, Tavildara, Tajikobod and Nurabad. Historically the Rasht Valley has been called Karotegin or Karategin. During the 1992-1997 Tajikistan Civil War, the region was a stronghold for forces opposed to the government of Emomalii Rahmon and became the site of numerous battles. Notably, four members of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan were murdered in the Garm district in 1998.

From the 1920s until 1955 the Rasht Valley was within the Gharm Oblast.

Karotegin is the historic name of the Rasht Valley and a historic political region in pre-Soviet Central Asia that is today part of Tajikistan. The Karotegin region was also named Garm, though Garm is also the name of a city and the Garmi ethnic group. Karotegin frequently appears in its alternative spellings,Qaratagin, Qarategin,Qaratigin, Karategin, Karatigin and Karateghin, in literature from the 1990s and earlier. Karategin was an independent region in Central Asia for many centuries. The native princes, who claimed to be descended from Alexander the Great, were independent until 1868, although their allegiance was claimed in an ineffective way by Kokand. The Emirate of Bukhara took advantage of internal political feuds and conquered the region, along with Darvaz, in 1877.

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