Place · city

Ashgabat

Also known as Ashkhabad, Poltoratsk

Ashgabat is the capital and largest city of Turkmenistan, on the northern edge of the Kopet Dag mountains. Founded as a Russian fort in 1881, it became the administrative centre of the Transcaspian region and from 1924 the capital of the Turkmen SSR, bearing the name Poltoratsk from 1919 to 1927. An earthquake in 1948 destroyed it and killed tens of thousands, and since independence it has been rebuilt in white marble.

Ashgabat
Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Bahá'í FaithSpread

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Transcaspian GovernmentTurkmen SSR

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ashgabat. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashgabat
MLA
“Ashgabat.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashgabat. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Ashgabat.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashgabat.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ashgabat’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashgabat (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻