The Farghana (Farghāna) Valley , situated in the southeastern corner of present-day Uzbekistan and surrounded by the Tien Shan and Pamir mountain ranges, has been both a crossroads of civilisations and one of the most densely populated regions of Central Asia since ancient times. In the arid climate of Central Asia, the Farghana Valley offers fertile soil and an abundance of water, drawn primarily from the annual snowmelt that feeds the Narin, Qara Darya, and Syr Darya rivers and the hundreds of kilometres of canals that irrigate nearly every part