Taloqan
city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan
Taloqan, also written as Taleqan or Taluqan, is a city in northern Afghanistan, serving as the capital of Takhar Province. It is within the jurisdiction of Taloqan District and has an estimated population of 284,990 people. Ethnically, they are Tajiks, Uzbeks, Pashtuns and Hazaras.
Taloqan is home to Takhar University, which is in the northwestern part of the city. The Taloqan Airport is a few miles to the north.
The city has a number of bazaars, business centers, public parks, banks, hotels, restaurants, mosques, hospitals, universities, and places to play sports or relax.
Taloqan sits at an altitude of 876 m (2,874 ft) above sea level, and has a land area of 107 km2 (41 sq mi) with 28,691 dwelling units in it. The city is administratively divided into 6 city districts (nahias). There is a major road that passes through the city, linking it with nearby Kunduz in the west and Fayzabad in Badakhshan Province in the northeast.
History
The old city to the west on the riverside was described by Marco Polo in 1275 CE as:
"a castle called Taikhan, where there is a great corn-market, and the country round is fine and fruitful.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Taloqan” as city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q477238. Authority coordinates are 36.736, 69.535. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1275.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Taloqan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Taloqan primary sources, Taloqan archive and Taloqan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Taloqan”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Taloqan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.