Termez [key], city (1991 pop. 99,000), capital of Surkhandaryo region, S Uzbekistan, a port on the Amu Darya River, near the Afghanistan border. It is the center of an agricultural region and has cotton and food processing and brick and tile industries. The major highway between Russia and Afghanistan runs through the city. The temperature rises as high as 122℉ (50℃) in Termez, one of the hottest cities in central Asia. Part of the Bactrian kingdom in the 1st cent. b.c., Termez later developed as a river port and feudal trade center. Termez was a primary transit point during the Soviet occupation (1979–89) of Afghanistan. Remains of a 9th-century fortress and relics of iron, ceramics, and Buddhist pottery have been unearthed there.
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