Samarqand Province is a viloyat (province) of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

 located in the center of the country in the basin of Zarafshan River. It borders with Tajikstan, Navoiy Province

Navoiy Province

Navoiy Province is a viloyat of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country. The Kyzyl-Kum Desert takes up a large portion of its territory, which is the largest of the provinces of Uzbekistan except for the autonomous Karakalpakstan Republic. Navoiy Province borders with Kazakhstan,...

, Jizzakh Province

Jizzakh Province

Jizzakh Province is a viloyat of Uzbekistan located in the center of the country. It borders with Tajikstan to the south and south-east, Samarqand Province to the west, Navoiy Province to the north-west, Kazakhstan to the north, and Sirdaryo Province to the east. It covers an area of 20,500 km²...

 and Qashqadaryo Province

Qashqadaryo Province

Qashqadaryo Province , is a viloyat of Uzbekistan, located in the southern part of the country in the basin of the Qashqadaryo River and the western slopes of the Pamir Mountains. It borders with Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Samarqand Province, Buxoro Province and Surxondaryo Province. It covers...

. It covers an area of 16,400 km². The population is estimated to be around 2,322,000, with some 75% living in rural areas.

Samarqand Province was established on January 15, 1938, and is divided into 14 administrative districts. The capital is Samarqand

Samarkand

Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...

 (pop est 368,000 inhabitants). Other major towns include Bulung‘ur, Juma

Juma (town)

Djuma or Dzhuma is a town in the Samarkand province of Uzbekistan. The population is about 65,000 people....

, Ishtixon, Kattaqo‘rg‘on, Urgut

Urgut

Urgut is a town in the Samarqand Province of Uzbekistan and the capital of Urgut District. It is known for the grove of platans, some of which are more than 1000 years old. Urgut is located in mountainous areas....

, and Oqtosh.

The climate is a typically arid continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

.

Samarkand is the 2nd largest center for economy, science, and culture in Uzbekistan, after Tashkent

Tashkent

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

. The Institute of Archeology at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan is based at Samarqand. The Province's UNESCO World Heritage Site architectural monuments are world famous, and make Samarkand the largest center for international tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 in the country.

Samarqand Province also has significant natural resources

Natural Resources

Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...

, including construction materials such as marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

, granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

, limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

, carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....

, and chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

. The Province's major agricultural activities are cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 and cereal growing, winemaking

Winemaking

Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...

 and sericulture

Sericulture

Sericulture, or silk farming, is the rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk.Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied. According to Confucian texts, the discovery of silk production by B...

. In terms of industry, metal processing (spare parts for automobiles and combines), food processing

Food processing

Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...

, textiles, and ceramics

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 industries are the most active in the area.

The province has a well-developed transport infrastructure, with over 400 km of railways and 4100 km of surfaced roads. The telecommunication infrastructure is also well developed.

Administrative divisions

	District name	District capital
1	Bulungur District Bulungur District Bulungur District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Bulungur....	Bulungur
2	Ishtikhon District Ishtikhon District Ishtikhon District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Ishtikhon....	Ishtikhon
3	Jomboy District Jomboy District Jomboy District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Jomboy....	Jomboy
4	Kattakurgan District Kattakurgan District Kattakurgan District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Paishanba....	Paishanba
5	Koshrabot District Koshrabot District Koshrabot District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Koshrabot....	Koshrabot
6	Narpay District Narpay District Narpay District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Oqtosh....	Oqtosh
7	Nurobod District	Nurobod
8	Oqdarya District Oqdarya District Oqdarya District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Laish....	Laish
9	Pakhtachi District Pakhtachi District Pakhtachi District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Ziadin....	Ziadin
10	Payariq District Payariq District Payariq District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Payariq....	Payariq
11	Pastdargom District Pastdargom District Pastdargom District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Juma....	Juma
12	Samarqand District Samarqand District Samarqand District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Gulabad....	Gulabad
13	Toyloq District Toyloq District Toyloq District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Toyloq....	Toyloq
14	Urgut District Urgut District Urgut District is a district of Samarqand Province in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Urgut. It is located near the Zarafshan Mountains. There is a Navrouz festival every spring equinox.-Economy:...	Urgut Urgut Urgut is a town in the Samarqand Province of Uzbekistan and the capital of Urgut District. It is known for the grove of platans, some of which are more than 1000 years old. Urgut is located in mountainous areas....

Latinization of district names according to Samarqand regional web site on gov.uz