Uzbekistan - oozbĕkĭstänˈ, officially Republic of Uzbekistan, republic (1995 est. pop. 23,089,000), 173,552 sq mi (449,500 sq km), central Asia. The republic borders on Afghanistan in the south, on Turkmenistan in the southwest, on Kazakhstan in the west and north, and on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the east. Tashkent, the capital, and Samarkand are the chief cities.

Land, People, and Government

The terrain of the republic encompasses two unequal sections: the larger northwest area, which is part of the Kyzyl Kum desert; and the smaller southeast area, which has fertile loess soil and touches on the Tian Shan mountain system. The Aral Sea lies on the northwest frontier. Central Asia's two major rivers—the Amu Darya and Syr Darya—pass through Uzbek territory. The Khiva oasis is irrigated by the Amu Darya, the fertile Fergana Valley by the Syr Darya and its tributaries, the Tashkent oasis by the Chirchik and Angren rivers, and the Samarkand and Bukhara oases by the Zeravshan. Uzbekistan has a dry continental climate. Administratively, there are 12 wiloyats and one autonomous republic, the Karakalpak Republic.

The Uzbeks, a Turkic-speaking group who have a Persian culture and are mostly Sunni Muslims, make up 80% of the population. Russians (who live mostly in the cities) constitute more than 5%, and there are Tajik, Kazakh, and Tatar minorities. Under a 1992 constitution, Uzbekistan has an elected 250-member parliament, with an elected president as head of state; a referendum in 2002 extended the president's term to 7 years. In practice, most opposition parties are banned, opposition figures are monitored and frequently jailed, and the president rules in an autocratic manner.

Economy

Uzbekistan's rivers and many irrigation canals furnish water for the cotton crop, the country's main export. Large quantities of rice also come from Uzbekistan (notably from the Zeravshan valley). Other crops include cereals, alfalfa, fruits, wine grapes, kenaf, sesame, tobacco, and sugarcane. There is extensive use of irrigation for farming. The diversion of water for irrigation from the tributaries of the Aral Sea is drying up the sea and reducing the flow of freshwater in the region. Livestock are raised in the more arid western areas; Uzbekistan also produces Karakul sheep pelts. Cotton, silk, and wool provide the basis for Uzbekistan's extensive textile industry. Traditional crafts such as silk dying and carpet weaving, discouraged under Soviet rule, have enjoyed a renaissance since independence.

Industrialization increased after the transfer during World War II of many industries from European Russia to the less vulnerable Uzbek region. Machine building, metallurgy, food processing, and the manufacture of chemicals, fertilizer, and building materials are leading industries. Uzbekistan has more than 20 hydroelectric power plants. The Trans-Caspian RR and the Great Uzbek Highway are the republic's main transportation routes.

Uzbekistan is rich in mineral resources. The Fergana Valley, an important cotton, silk, and wine region, is also the site of oil fields. Western Uzbekistan has large natural-gas deposits. Coal, gold, zinc, copper, tungsten, molybdenum, lead, fluorspar, and uranium are also found.

History

Early History

Uzbekistan was the site of one of the world's oldest civilized regions. The ancient Persian province of Sogdiana, it was conquered in the 4th cent. b.c. by Alexander the Great. Turkic nomads entered the area in the 6th cent. a.d. It passed in the 8th cent. to the Arabs, who introduced Islam, and in the 12th cent. to the Seljuk Turks of Khwarazm. Jenghiz Khan captured the region in the 13th cent., and in the 14th cent. Timur made his native Samarkand the center of his huge empire. The realm was much reduced under his successors, the Timurids, and began to disintegrate by the end of the 15th cent.

Throughout these turbulent times, the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent, situated on major trade routes to China, India, Persia, and Europe, were centers of prosperity, culture, and fabulous luxury. In the early 16th cent., the Uzbek, formerly called Sarts, invaded the region from the northwest. A remnant of the empire of the Golden Horde, they took their name from Uzbeg Khan (d. 1340), from whom their dynasty claimed descent. Later in the 16th cent., the Uzbek leader Abdullah extended his domain over parts of Persia, Afghanistan, and Chinese Turkistan; but the empire soon broke up into separate principalities, notably Khiva, Kokand, and Bukhara.

Modern History

Weakened by internecine warfare, these states were conquered by Russian forces, who took Tashkent in 1865, Samarkand and Bukhara in 1868, and Khiva in 1873. Kokand was annexed outright to the Russian empire, but Khiva and Bukhara remained under their native rulers as vassal states of Russia. Efforts by Uzbek leaders to establish a European-style democratic republic in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917 were unsuccessful.

In 1918 the Turkistan Autonomous SSR was organized on Uzbek territory, in 1920 the Khorezm and Bukhara People's Republics were established, and finally, in 1924, the Uzbek-populated areas were united in the Uzbek SSR. Tajikistan was part of the Uzbek SSR until 1929, when it became a separate republic. In 1936 the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous SSR was joined with Uzbekistan. In 1956 and 1963, the Mirzachul Steppe ("Hungry Steppe") was transferred from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. Some of the area was returned in 1971.

In June, 1990, the Uzbek parliament passed a resolution declaring the republic's sovereignty. Islam Karimov, who had been named Uzbekistan's Communist party chief in 1989 and given the new title of president earlier in 1990, initially did not oppose the abortive coup of Aug., 1991, in Moscow, but he denounced it when it failed. On Aug. 31, Uzbekistan was declared independent, and it joined the Commonwealth of Independent States in December. During the same month, Karimov was elected president by popular vote.

Karimov began a crackdown against political opponents, some of whom were jailed; at the same time, some free-market reforms were undertaken. Karimov also established controls on devout Muslims, which grew increasing harsh and indiscriminate during the late 1990s, when such Muslims were among the few remaining critics of his rule. In 1995, in a referendum in which voters' preferences could be observed by election officials, Karimov won an overwhelming endorsement to remain in office until the year 2000.

Several people were killed by car bombs outside government offices in Tashkent in Feb., 1999, in an apparent attempt on the president's life; a number of radical Islamists were held in connection with the bombings. In Jan., 2000, Karimov was reelected to the presidency, again by a lopsided majority. In August there were clashes with Uzbek Islamic guerrillas who had crossed into Uzbekistan from bases in Tajikistan. The following year, Uzbekistan allowed U.S. forces to use bases there in its campaign against Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban; the U.S. campaign there also weakened Uzbek Islamic guerrillas supported by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In 2002, after a referendum that was criticized by Western nations, Karimov's term was extended to Dec., 2007. In Mar., 2004, there was an outbreak of terrorist violence in Tashkent and Bukhara in which several dozen people died. Islamic groups were blamed for the attacks, but international rights groups said that Karimov's rigid authoritarian regime created a climate that fostered Islamic militancy.

Bibliography

See S. Akinev, Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (1986); E. A. Allworth, The Modern Uzbeks (1990).

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