{{Infobox settlement |official_name = Daroot-Korgon |native_name = Дароот-Коргон |pushpin_map =Kyrgyzstan |mapsize =200px |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = [[Kyrgyzstan]] |subdivision_type1 = Region |subdivision_name1 = [[Osh Region|Osh]] |subdivision_type2 = District |subdivision_name2 = [[Chong-Alay District|Chong-Alay]] |image_skyline = Daroot-Korgon (Chong-Alay) skyline.jpg |leader_title = |leader_name = |established_title = |established_date = |area_total_km2 = |area_footnotes = |population_as_of = 2021 |population_total = 6421 |population_density_km2 = |timezone = |utc_offset = +6 |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = {{coord|39|33|12|N|72|12|0|E|region:KG|display=inline,title}} |elevation_m = 2469 |area_code = |website = }} '''Daroot-Korgon''' (also ''Daraut-Kurghan'' or ''Darautkorgon'' or ''Daroot-Qurghan'') is a village in the western [[Alay Valley]] of [[Osh Region]], [[Kyrgyzstan]]. It is the capital of [[Chong-Alay District]]. Its population was 6,421 in 2021.<ref name=pop21>{{cite Kyrgyzstan population 2021}}</ref> It is about 90 km west of [[Sary-Tash]] on the river [[Vakhsh (river)|Kyzyl-Suu]]. To the north is a route to [[Osh]] via the [[Tengizbay]] pass, used by Russian explorers before the construction of the road though [[Sary-Tash]].
To the south, the Altyn River flows north through a deep valley in the [[Trans-Alay Range]]. At the head of the valley is a Tajik border post and then [[Altyn Mazar]] on the river [[Muksu]] which flows west to join the Kyzyl-Suu. South of this is the foot of the [[Fedchenko Glacier]].
The village of [[Kara-Shybak]] is {{convert|3|km|abbr=on|0}} to the south, and [[Kyzyl-Eshme]] is {{convert|5|km|abbr=on|0}} to the east.
[[Aurel Stein]] suggested that this was the location of the "[[Stone Tower (Ptolemy)|Stone Tower]]" that [[Ptolemy]] in his famous treatise [[Geography (Ptolemy)|''Geography'']] wrote as the place where caravans from the Chinese and Roman Empires met and exchanged goods.<ref>John E. Hill, Through the Jade Gate,2015, Appendix E. quoting Stein(1932), pp 22-23 and Stein(1928), vol II, pp-847-850. Hill's extract does not explain Stein's reasons. <br/>If this is true the route east to [[Kashgar]] is obvious. The route west would have gone about 25 miles south up the Altyn River and down a 2000-foot slope to the Tadjik border post at Altyn Mazar ('Golden Shrine'). It would follow the Muksu 55 miles west to its junction with the Kyzyl-Suu. It would then follow the [[Vakhsh River]] about 140 miles west-southwest until the country becomes flat and then southwest to [[Balkh]]. Alternatively the route could have followed the Kyzyl-Suu west until its junction with the Muksu. The hill above Altyn Mazar looks difficult. but if the Kyzyl-Suu route were used there would be no reason for Daroot-Korgan to be a landmark, unless it was some kind of border post.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kansu, and Eastern Īrān Carried Out and Described under the Orders of H.M. Indian Government (4 Volumes).|last=Stein|first=Aurel|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1928|location=Oxford|pages=847–51 (Vol 2).}}</ref> Other scholars, however, disagree with this identification, though it remains one of four most probable sites for the Stone Tower.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=Riaz |title=The Stone Tower: Ptolemy, the Silk Road, and a 2,000-Year-Old Riddle |publisher=Penguin Viking |year=2022 |isbn=978-0670093625 |location=Delhi |pages=131, 134 (Map 4), 164–66 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dean|first=Riaz|year=2015|title=The Location of Ptolemy's Stone Tower: the Case for Sulaiman-Too in Osh|journal=The Silk Road|volume=13|pages=77}}</ref>
==Population== {{Historical populations |title = |align = none |percentages = pagr |2009|4726 |2021|6421 |footnote= Note: resident population; Sources:<ref name=pop21/><ref name=census09>{{cite Kyrgyzstan census 2009|Osh|220}}</ref> }}In the [[Book of Han]] (2nd century AD), the population of this town, situated in the Alai Valley, is recorded at the time as 1,030.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hulsewe and Loewe |first=A. F. P. and M. A. N. |title=China in Central Asia, the Early Stage: 125 bc–ad 23. Leiden: Brill. |publisher=Brill |year=1979 |isbn=978-9004058842 |location=Leiden |pages=138, fn 355 |language=English}}</ref>
Many [[Little Pamir|Pamir Kyrgyz]] have resettled from [[Afghanistan]] to Daroot-Korgon in the 21st century, straining the village's resources.<ref>{{cite AV media |date= 31 August 2022 |title= Памирские кыргызы: исчезающий народ <nowiki>|</nowiki> АЗИЯ 360° |trans-title= Pamir Kyrgyz: A disappearing people <nowiki>|</nowiki> Asia 360° |language= Russian, Kyrgyz |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apm-xFFKT8Y |access-date= 2 September 2022 |publisher= Настоящее Время. Док}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Chong-Alay places}}
[[Category:Populated places in Osh Region]]
{{Osh-geo-stub}}