Kurgan (Курган), the capital of the Kurgan Oblast, Russia, is one of the oldest cities in Siberia (geographical position: 55°28' N, 65°21' E). It was founded in 1553, then called Tsaryowo Gorodishche (Царёво Городище), and renamed to its present name in 1782. Kurgan is on the Trans-Siberian railway line, between Yekaterinburg and Omsk.
Its population has risen from 10.600 in 1897 to 106.100 in 1956 and to 368.300 in 1998 and has since fallen slightly to 361.500 (as of 2001).
Kurgan type barrows were characteristic of Bronze Age nomadic peoples of the steppes, from the Altai to the Caucasus and Romania.
The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture" until it encompasses the entire pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.
In the Kurgan hypothesis, the entire pontic steppes are considered the PIE Urheimat, and a variety of late PIE dialects is assumed to have been spoken across the region.
KURGAN TEPE (Qu@rg@onteppa in Tajik orthography; Kurgan-Tyube in Russian), provincial capital and former province of Tajikistan.
Kurgan Tepe was 12,600 km2 in extent; its population was 946,000 in 1986 (EST VIII, pp.
The city of Kurgan Tepe, the administrative center of the former province of Kurgan Tepe and the present K_atla@n, stands at an altitude of 430 m on the middle course of the Vakòæ, 95 km south of the capital.
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