Turkistan Region,[a] formerly known as South Kazakhstan Region[b] from 1992 to 2018 and Chimkent Region[c] from 1963 to 1991, is the southernmost region of Kazakhstan, bordering Uzbekistan. It had a population of 2,088,510 as of the 2022 Kazakhstan census.
This region and Atyrau Region are Kazakhstan's two smallest regions; both are about 117,300 square kilometers in area.
Turkistan Region borders the neighboring country of Uzbekistan (and is also very near the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent), as well as three other Kazakhstan regions: Karaganda Region (to the north), Kyzylorda Region (to the west), and Jambyl Region (to the east).
The region had a population of 2,088,510 as of 2022; 2,469,367 (2009 census results);[6]1,978,339 (1999 census results).[6]
The Region was created as South Kazakhstan Oblast in Kazakh SSR of Soviet Union. Between 1962 and 1992 it was named Chimkent Oblast. The administrative center of the Region was Shymkent. On 19 June 2018 Shymkent was taken out of the Region and subordinated directly to the government of Kazakhstan, the administrative center moved to Turkistan, and the Region renamed Turkistan Region.[7]
Administrative divisions
As of 2013, the region was administratively divided into eleven districts and the cities of Shymkent, Arys, Kentau, and Turkistan.[8]
Excavations of the Kul-Tobe settlement near the village of Saryaryk on the terrace of the Arys River (42°29′32″N68°57′45″E / 42.49222°N 68.96250°E / 42.49222; 68.96250) on the territory of the South Kazakhstan region in 2006, made by Kazakh archaeologists led by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A. N. Podushkin, according to some statements, allow to identify the culture of Kangju with the peoples of the Scythian circle.[9] Ceramics (large jugs or persimmons) and weapons (arrowheads, knives, bows and daggers) were found in three graves of nomad warriors who lived about two thousand years ago. 13 epigraphic monuments were found on ceramic bricks-tables — two almost complete texts and eleven fragments.[10] Writing after decryption is defined as alphabetic, lowercase, Aramaic, which also includes ideograms. It marks one of the eastern dialects of the proto-Iranian language. Paleographic and linguistic analysis of the Kultobin script showed that it dates from the II — beginning of the III century AD, that is, more than a century older than the so-called "Old Sogdian letters".[11]
Excavations of the Tutta Cave, the oldest cave in the country, located in the Turkestan region on the territory of the Syrdarya–Turkestan State Regional Natural Park, it was discovered in the middle of the last century, but excavations began in 2017. The cave is being explored as part of a European Union project, and archaeologists from Germany, Greece, and Spain are involved. Household items of primitive man, who presumably lived during the Stone Age, have been found.[12]
1 2 "Население Республики Казахстан"[Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan] (in Russian). Департамент социальной и демографической статистики. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
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Kazakhstan 
