Kishlak

(from Turkic kyshlak, literally “winter hut”), a settlement in Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan.

Before the October Revolution of 1917,kishlaki were either permanent settlements or the winter domiciles of a seminomadic population. Kishlaki were categorized according to how they were grouped as follows: (1) cluster kishlak, where several kishlaki were merged or were grouped close to one another; these were known collectively by a single name and constituted a single commune, although each small unit had its own name and mosque and was settled by a single family-kin group; (2) large kishlak, which resulted when the first type expanded, the small units forming blocks of a single settlement; and (3) scattered kishlak, which comprised separate farmsteads located at considerable distances from one another but united into a single commune by the common irrigation of their fields by one canal. The houses in most kishlaki were crowded together, and there were winding little streets and culs-de-sac. In the mountain kishlaki, the buildings were constructed in tiers. Before unification with Russia, many of the larger kishlaki were enclosed by a wall. They were governed by elders who were protégés of the nobility.

In Soviet times, a complete transformation of the kishlaki has taken place. Contemporary kolkhoz and sovkhoz settlements do not differ from urban-type settlemens in layout or utilities. According to the Constitution, the inhabitants of kishlaki elect their own executive organs, the kishlak soviets of working people’s deputies.