Ashgabat (Turkmen. Aşgabat; Russ. Ashkhabad; Pers. ʿAshqābād), the capital of the Republic of Turkmenistan-located between desert and mountains in the far south, near the Iranian border-grew from a small settlement (of the same name) of Tekke Turkmen, which was established in 1818 on the location of former Ali-Eli Turkmen settlements near several archaeologically significant sites, including the former Parthian capital Nisa. In 1869 the Russians built a fortress near the original settlement. Ashgabat gained importance with the 1881 Russian annexation of Turkmenistan, which was subsequently renamed Transcaspia.