Kerki

Kerki, a town belonging formerly to Bokhara, central Asia, about 120 miles S. of Bokhara city, on the left bank of the Amu-Daria or Oxus. An important place both commercially and strategically, it is the halting-place of the caravans trading from Bokhara to Herat, and stands near the chief ferry over the Oxus. The fortress, consisting of a high mud wall, flanked by bastions, was in 1885 strengthened by Russia, who in May 1887 occupied it, and garrisoned it with regular troops.