Urgench (Uzbek: Urganch / Урганч) is city (1989 pop. 126,380), and the capital of the Khorezm Province, southern Uzbekistan, on the Amu Darya River and the Shavat canal. It is 450 km west of Bukhara across the Kyzyl Kum Desert. It is located at latitude 41° 32' 60N longitude 60° 37' 60E, at an altitude of 91 meters. Xorazm Province, (Uzbek: Xorazm viloyati / Хоразм вилояти) or (Khorezm Province) as it is still more commonly known, is an administration division, or viloyati of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country in in the lower reaches of the Amu-Darya River. ... The Amu Darya (Darya means river) rises in the Pamirs and flows mainly north-west through the Hindu Kush, Uzbekistan to join the Aral Sea in a large delta. ... Bukhara (بُخارا in Persian, Buxoro or Бухоро in Uzbek (the Cyrillic alphabet was officially phased out for Uzbek after independence); Бухара in Russian; also Boxara in Tatar) is one of the major cities of Uzbekistan, and capital of the Bukhara region (Bukhoro Wiloyati). ... The Kyzyl Kum (Uzbek: red sand; also called Qyzylqum) is a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. ...

The history of the city goes back to the second half of the 18th century. The city should not be confused with the city of Konya-Urgench (also known as "Old Urgench" or "Gurgench") in Turkmenistan. The city of "Old Urgench" was relocated to Urgench after the Amu Darya river changed course in the 16th century, leaving the old town high and dry. "New Urgench" was a trade center of the Khiva khanate. Ruins of Muhammad IIs palace in Old Urgench. ... Khiva (alternative names include Khorasam, Khoresm, Khwarezm, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Chiwa and Chorezm) is a city in present day Uzbekistan, in the Khorezm Province. ...

Modern Urgench is a Soviet city, with a plethora of Soviet monuments and cotton motifs adorning everything possible, from street lights to apartment houses. Of note is a monument to the 20 Komsomol members killed by Tekke basmachi on the banks of the Syr Darya in 1922, and a large statue to Muhammed al-Khwarizmi, the 9th century local mathematician who invented algebra, outside the Hotel Urgench. A flat, drab place, it is the main gateway for tourists to Khiva 35 km to the southeast, whose old city, known as Itchan Kala, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Soviet redirects here. ... Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist Union of Youth. The organisation served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age... The Basmachi Revolt, or Basmachestvo as it is called in the Russian language, was an uprising against Soviet rule in Central Asia. ... Syr Darya (also known as Syrdarya or Sirdaryo) is a river in Central Asia. ... Soviet postage stamp commemorating the 1200th anniversary of Muhammad al‑Khwarizmi in 1983. ... A mathematician is a person whose area of study and research is mathematics. ... Algebra is a branch of mathematics which studies structure and quantity. ... One of the gates before the Russian Revolution. ... UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1946. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ...