Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country. Its 27.3 million
people, concentrated in the south and east of the country, are
nearly half the region's total population. Uzbekistan had been one
of the poorest republics of the Soviet Union; much of its population
was engaged in cotton farming in small rural communities. The
population continues to be heavily rural and dependent on farming
for its livelihood. Uzbek is the predominant ethnic group. Other
ethnic groups include Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak
2.5%, and Tatar 1.5%. The nation is approximately 90% Sunni Muslim,
1% Shiite Muslim, and 5% Eastern Orthodox. Uzbek is the official
state language; however, Russian is the de facto language for
interethnic communication, including much day-to-day government and
business use.
The educational system has achieved 97% literacy, and the mean
amount of schooling for both men and women is 9 years. However, due
to budget constraints and other transitional problems following the
collapse of the Soviet Union, texts and other school supplies,
teaching methods, curricula, and educational institutions are
outdated, inappropriate, and poorly kept. Additionally, the
proportion of school-aged persons enrolled has been dropping.
Although the government is concerned about this, budgets remain
tight. Similarly, in health care, life expectancy is long, but after
the breakup of the Soviet Union, health care resources have
declined, reducing health care quality, accessibility, and
efficiency. Uzbekistan continues to enjoy a highly educated and
skilled labor force. |
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Located in Central Asia between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers,
Uzbekistan has a long and interesting heritage. The leading cities
of the famous Silk Road--Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva--are located
in Uzbekistan, and many well-known conquerors passed through the
land. Alexander the Great stopped near Samarkand on his way to India
in 327 B.C. and married Roxanna, daughter of a local chieftain.
Conquered by Muslim Arabs in the eighth century A.D., the indigenous
Samanid dynasty established an empire in the 9th century. Genghis
Khan and his Mongols overran its territory in 1220. In the 1300s,
Timur, known in the west as Tamerlane, built an empire with its
capital at Samarkand. Uzbekistan's most noted tourist sites date
from the Timurid dynasty. Later, separate Muslim city-states emerged
with strong ties to Persia. In 1865, Russia occupied Tashkent and by
the end of the 19th century, Russia had conquered all of Central
Asia. In 1876, the Russians dissolved the Khanate of Kokand, while
allowing the Khanates of Khiva and Bukhara to remain as direct
protectorates. Russia placed the rest of Central Asia under colonial
administration, and invested in the development of Central Asia's
infrastructure, promoting cotton growing and encouraging settlement
by Russian colonists.
In 1924, following the establishment of Soviet power, the Soviet
Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan was founded from the territories
including the Khanates of Bukhara and Khiva and portions of the
Ferghana Valley that had constituted the Khanate of Kokand. During
the Soviet era, Moscow used Uzbekistan for its tremendous cotton
growing and natural resource potential. The extensive and
inefficient irrigation used to support the former has been the main
cause of shrinkage of the Aral Sea to less than a third of its
original volume, making this one of the world's worst environmental
disasters. Uzbekistan declared independence on September 1, 1991. |
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