Mary

Mary is the capital city of Mary Province in Turkmenistan. Former names include Merv, Meru and Margiana. The city is an oasis in the Karakum Desert, located on the Murghab river. In 2009, Mary had a population of 123,000, up from 92,000 in the 1989 census.Merv was an oasis city on the Silk Road. It was occupied by Imperial Russia in 1884, triggering the Panjdeh Incident between Afghan forces and the Imperial Russian Army. The modern settlement was founded later that year as a Russian military and administrative post.Mary was developed by the Soviet Union as a center for cotton production through the use of extensive irrigation. In 1968, huge reserves of natural gas were discovered 20 kilometers west of the city.