Türkmenabat is located at an altitude of 187 m (614 ft) on the banks of the Amu Darya River, near the border with Uzbekistan.

Türkmenabat was the hub in an intersection of three routes of the Great Silk Road leading to Bukhara, Khiva and Merv.

The modern city was founded in 1886, when Russian Cossacks settled in Uralka in what is now the eastern part of Türkmenabat, naming their settlement New-Chardjuy.

After the revolution of 1917, during which the Bolsheviks came into power in Russia, communists merged the former Central Asian oblasts of the Russian Empire along with the former Khanates of Khiva (Khorezm) and Bukhara into republics on the basis of nationality.

From the article about Chardjuy in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (beginning of the 20th century): Chardjuy is an urban settlement formed near the Amu-Darya station (1070 c. from Krasnovodsk) of the Central Asian Railway, on the left bank of the Amu-Darya River, on land ceded by the emir of Bukhara to the Russian government.

Chardjuy is an important trade center, where goods going to Bukhara, Khiva, and partly to Afghanistan, are loaded onto river vessels.

(military supplies, sugar, timber, building material, iron, flour, tea, rice, etc.

This regional dialect is a hybrid of the Turkmen and Uzbek languages, which have heavily influenced the area's culture and customs.

In March 2017, two new bridges, one for rail and one for motor vehicles, were opened for crossing the Amu Darya at Türkmenabat.

A new terminal of Turkmenabat International Airport opened in 2018, located in a newly annexed part of the city at its southern edge.

Previously popular Dial-up has almost lost its position, at the same time actively developing wireless technology Wi-Fi.

People throughout the country come to Türkmenabat to purchase local, Chinese, Turkish, Uzbek and Russian goods.

Dünýa bazar has many sections, including those for jewelry, home appliances, clothes, dairy products, and automobiles.

Zaton, an artificial beach located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the center of the city, is a major recreational area.