Xojeli

Xojeli is a city in central Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, and the administrative centre of the Xojeli District. Its population was around 83,400 people as of 2026. The article says there has been a settlement at Xojeli since prehistoric times, in the Amu Darya river delta, where several natural hills rise slightly above the flat surface in the south-west. The area has been occupied since at least the Neolithic, with the structures at the Gyaur Kala fortress dating to around 4000 BCE, and it is part of the Mizdahkan archeological complex with several Islamic mausoleums. Before the early Muslim conquests in the 8th century Mizdahkan was a vital Zoroastrian city. Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, so Xojeli has no coast.