Gates of Tashkent

The Gates of Tashkent, in present-day Uzbekistan, were built around the town at the close of the 10th century, but did not survive to the present.

The gates formed a part of the city fortifications, which had been constructed around the new settlement on the banks of the Bozsuv canal (the canal starts from the right shore of the Chirchik river) at the intersection of caravan roads from the Tien Shan Mountains.

There were twelve gates: Labzak, Takhtapul, Karasaray, Sagban, Chagatay, Kukcha, Samarkand, Kamalan, Beshagach, Koymas, Kokand and Kashgar.

General Mikhail Grigorevich Cherniaev had only 3,000 men under his command against a city with a 25-kilometer-long wall, 12 gates and 30,000 defenders.

The local nobility and inhabitants of Tashkent felt little loyalty towards the authority of the Kokand khanate, therefore they preferred to surrender the town to Russians.