Denov

Denov stands between the Surkhandarya and Sangardak rivers, near the mountains that enclose the upper valley. Its name, recorded as Dehinav, means “new village”. The nearby ruins of Budrach mark the older city of Chaghaniyan, once the centre of a region of the same name; Denov grew north of that earlier town.

By the seventeenth century, the writer Mahmud ibn Wali described Dehinav as a fortified town with a fine bazaar, a large mosque and a khanqah. Under the Khanate of Bukhara it became a centre of caravan trade, and its crafts included leatherworking, weaving and embroidery. The Sayyid Atalik madrasa, dating from the sixteenth century, was among the largest institutions of its kind in Central Asia and bears witness to the town's religious life.