Orkhon

Orkhon (also spelled Orhon) is a name that most commonly refers to features in central Mongolia. The Orkhon River is a major river in the region, running through the central highlands and giving its name to the surrounding Orkhon Valley.

The Orkhon Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located along the Orkhon River. It preserves a dense concentration of historical monuments spanning roughly the 6th to the 16th centuries, including the ruins of the ancient capital Karakorum and sites associated with the Mongol and Turkic polities that once dominated the region. The landscape reflects the long history of trade, state formation, and religious life in medieval Mongolia.

The Orkhon inscriptions, also known as the Orhon inscriptions, are a pair of early Turkic memorial inscriptions erected in the early 8th century by the Göktürk Khaganate. They are among the oldest known writings in Old Turkic and provide important linguistic and historical information about early Turkic peoples. The inscriptions were discovered in the 19th century and deciphered by the Danish linguist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893.

In modern usage, the name Orkhon is also used in Mongolian toponyms for districts and settlements along the river, reflecting the enduring geographic and cultural significance of the river and valley.