{{Short description|Town in Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox settlement | official_name = Murghob | native_name = {{native name|tg|Мурғоб}}<br />{{native name|ru|Мургаб}} | image_skyline = Murghab east entry.jpg | image_caption = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Tajikistan | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_relief = yes | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Tajikistan | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Tajikistan}} | subdivision_type1 = [[Regions of Tajikistan|Region]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Gorno-Badakhshan]] | subdivision_type2 = [[Districts of Tajikistan|District]] | subdivision_name2 = [[Murghob District]] | established_title = | established_date = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | population_as_of = 2015 | population_footnotes = | population_total = 7,468 | population_urban = | population_metro = | population_density_km2 = | timezone = [[UTC+5]] | utc_offset = | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|38|10|08|N|73|57|54|E|region:TJ|display=it}} | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_ft = 11869 | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | footnotes = | other_name = Murghab }} [[File:Children group, Murghab, Tajikistan.JPG|thumb|Children in Murghob, 2008]]
'''Murghob''' ({{langx|tg|Мурғоб}}) or '''Murghab''' ({{langx|ru|Мургаб}}, ''Murgab'', from the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''margh-ab'', meaning 'prairie river') is the capital of [[Murghob District]] in the [[Pamir Mountains]] of [[Gorno-Badakhshan]], [[Tajikistan]]. With a population of just under 7,500, Murghob is the only significant town in the eastern half of Gorno-Badakhshan. It is the highest town in Tajikistan (and of the former [[Soviet Union]]) at 3,650 meters above sea level. It is where the [[Pamir Highway]] crosses the [[Bartang]] river.<ref name=jambi>[http://untj.org/jambi-project/index.php/maps-statistics/demography Jamoat-level basic indicators], United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 5 October 2020</ref>
The [[M41 highway|Pamir Highway]] goes north to [[Sary-Tash]] and on to [[Osh]] in [[Kyrgyzstan]] and southwest to the region's capital [[Khorugh]]. Another road goes east over the [[Kulma Pass]] to the [[Karakoram Highway]] in China connecting to [[Tashkurgan Town|Tashkurgan]] to the south and [[Kashgar]] to the north.
== History == [[File:Russian Officials (with Pamirski Post in the background).jpg|thumb|left|Russian officials standing in front of Pamirsky Post, 1915]]
From 1892 to 1893, a fortification named Shadzhansky Post ({{langx|ru|Шаджанский пост}}) existed on the site of the current town of Murghob.<ref>[http://ulgrad.ru/?p=113507%D0%92 A resident of the Ulyanovsk region helped close the "blank spots" of Russia's border history in the Pamirs.] Ulgrad.ru.</ref> Some historical records attest that, in 1893, the [[Imperial Russian Army]] established Pamirsky Post ({{langx|ru|Памирский пост}}, {{literally|[[Pamir Mountains|Pamir]] post}}) in the area as the main Russian fortification in the Pamir Mountains.<ref>P. Peters. "The Pamirs of Nikolai Korzhenevsky".</ref> It was to be their most [[Russian conquest of Central Asia|advanced military outpost into Central Asia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/pamirs/murghab/|title=Murghab Travel Guide|website=Caravanistan|language=en-US|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref> Other records published much later state that Pamirsky Post was actually established elsewhere on 26 July 1903, as a new barracks near the village of Kuni Kurgan.<ref>S. Afzalshoev. "Historical discoveries of the "Russian Pamir". Impulse Newspaper. 2015. No. 2 (208). p. 7.</ref>
The modern town of Murghob was constructed during the period of Soviet rule in Tajikistan as a rest stop along the [[Pamir Highway]]. The old Soviet outpost closed in 2002, causing economic hardship partially offset by a rise in tourism.<ref name="Guardian2021">{{cite news |last1=Pattisson |first1=Pete|display-authors=etal|title='No one comes here any more': the human cost as Covid wipes out tourism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/aug/19/no-one-comes-here-any-more-the-human-cost-as-covid-wipes-out-tourism |access-date=22 August 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=19 August 2021}}</ref>
== Climate == Murghob has an alpine [[tundra climate]] (''ET'') in the [[Köppen climate classification]]. The average annual temperature is {{convert|-3.9|°C|°F}}. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of {{convert|8.7|°C|°F}} and the coolest month is January with an average temperature of {{convert|-18.7|°C|°F}}. The average annual precipitation is {{convert|347.7|mm|in|abbr=on}} and has an average of 87.1 days with precipitation. The wettest month is May with an average of {{convert|45.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} of precipitation and the driest month is September with an average of {{convert|10.9|mm|in|abbr=on}} of precipitation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Weatherbase|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=603156&cityname=Kara-Balta%2C+Ch%FCy%2C+Kyrgyzstan&units=metric|website=weatherbase.com|accessdate=1 August 2014}}</ref>
{{Weather box|location = Murghob |metric first = y |single line = y | Jan mean C = -18.7 | Feb mean C = -16.8 | Mar mean C = -9.9 | Apr mean C = -2.7 | May mean C = 0.8 | Jun mean C = 5.1 | Jul mean C = 8.7 | Aug mean C = 8.5 | Sep mean C = 4.0 | Oct mean C = -2.2 | Nov mean C = -9.0 | Dec mean C = -14.7 |year mean C = |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 27.6 |Feb precipitation mm = 29.4 |Mar precipitation mm = 40.2 |Apr precipitation mm = 38.4 |May precipitation mm = 45.1 |Jun precipitation mm = 28.4 |Jul precipitation mm = 22.0 |Aug precipitation mm = 19.9 |Sep precipitation mm = 10.9 |Oct precipitation mm = 22.8 |Nov precipitation mm = 29.4 |Dec precipitation mm = 33.6 |year precipitation mm = 347.7 |Jan humidity = 59.5 |Feb humidity = 60.2 |Mar humidity = 56.0 |Apr humidity = 52.0 |May humidity = 50.1 |Jun humidity = 43.1 |Jul humidity = 43.4 |Aug humidity = 44.8 |Sep humidity = 43.5 |Oct humidity = 45.9 |Nov humidity = 49.7 |Dec humidity = 56.3 |year humidity = 50.4 |unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm |Jan precipitation days = 6.6 |Feb precipitation days = 7.7 |Mar precipitation days = 8.7 |Apr precipitation days = 9.0 |May precipitation days = 11.0 |Jun precipitation days = 9.0 |Jul precipitation days = 8.4 |Aug precipitation days = 6.5 |Sep precipitation days = 5.0 |Oct precipitation days = 4.9 |Nov precipitation days = 4.6 |Dec precipitation days = 5.7 |source 1 = {{cite web | url = http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=605181&cityname=Murghab-Tajikistan | title = Climate of Murghob | publisher = Weatherbase | accessdate =1 August 2014}} }}
== References == {{portal|Tajikistan}}
=== Citations === {{Reflist}}
=== Sources === {{refbegin}} * [http://www.pamirs.org/images/maps/gbaorm.gif "Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan: Trekking Routes" (map)]. www.pamirs.org. Retrieved 25 August 2005. * Jennings, David. (18 – 25 July 2004) [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173823/http://www.davidjennings.net/weblog/archives/2004_07.html "Sixty One Degrees: An Occasional Journal of an Asia-overland adventure"]. {{refend}}
{{Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province}}
[[Category:Populated places in Gorno-Badakhshan]]
{{Tajikistan-geo-stub}}