Iron Gate (Central Asia)

The Iron Gate (Uzbek: Buzgalaxona; Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰢𐰼:𐰴𐰯𐰍, romanized: Temir qapïγ in Orkhon and Tonyukuk inscriptions; Persian: دربند Darband, Chinese: 鐵門關; pinyin: Tiěménguān), is a defile between Balkh and Samarkand. It breaks up the mountains which extend from the Hisar range south towards the Amu Darya. In ancient times it was used as the passage between Bactria and Sogdia and was likely of great importance to any power in the region. Its name comes from the belief that an actual gate, reinforced with Iron, stood in the defile. It is located to west from Boysun, Surxondaryo Region. Although its exact location is debatable, it is usually considered to be the 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) pass on the road from Samarkand (Uzbekistan) to Balkh (Afghanistan) and close to Qarshi city. According to historian Lev Gumilev its present name is "Buzgala".