The word Darband comes from Persian: “dar” means “door”, “gorge”; “band” means “firm”, “closed”, “barrier”. The village has a history of several hundred years and served as a transit point in the past. The road passing through the village was considered the shortest route connecting the western part of the Emirate of Bukhara with its eastern part.
During excavations carried out by the Uzbek-French expedition of Claude Rapin and Sh. Rahmonov, layers of the Greco-Bactrian period (3rd–2nd centuries BC) were discovered in the central part of the wall. There were fortifications here, such as a guard post controlling the road.
In antiquity and the Middle Ages, the main road connecting the northern and central provinces of Central Asia (Samarkand, Bukhara and Chach) with Bactria-Tokharistan and India passed through the valley of the Sho‘rob river. To the west of Darband was the famous mountain pass — the Iron Gate. The Iron Gate was first mentioned by the Chinese traveller Xuanzang in the 630s.
It should be noted that the specialists of the “Uzdavyerloyiha” institute develop projects for establishing the protection zones of hydrographic objects, and in 2023 the institute’s III Youth Forum was also held in the Surkhandarya region. At that forum, young people analysed field research and topographic surveys, geobotanical data and additional research on water bodies.