Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. It covers 448,978 km2 (173,351 sq mi), and none of its rivers reach the sea.

Tashkent is the capital. Uzbek, written in both Cyrillic and Latin letters, is the official language, while Russian serves as a common second language and Tajik is spoken around Samarkand and Bukhara. Eastern Iranian peoples founded kingdoms in Khwarazm, Sogdiana and Bactria in the 8th to 6th centuries BC, and the land later belonged to the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires. After the Arab conquest of the 8th century, its cities grew rich on the Silk Road and became centers of the Islamic Golden Age. Timur founded the Timurid Empire in the 14th century, and under Ulugh Beg Samarkand became a center of science. Before Russian rule the region was divided among the Emirate of Bukhara and the khanates of Khiva and Kokand. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in 1924, and independence was declared on 31 August 1991.

The secular state has a semi-presidential government and a parliament called the Oliy Majlis, and its regions include the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. Gold, copper and uranium are mined, Uzbekneftegaz leads the oil and gas sector, and the Soviet era made the country a large grower of cotton and melons. Farms also produce carrots on a large scale, though less than a tenth of the land is irrigated cropland.

UNESCO lists Itchan Kala in Khiva, the historic centers of Bukhara and Shakhrisyabz, Samarkand and the modernist architecture of Tashkent among its World Heritage Sites. Shashmaqam, a classical music of six modes, arose in Bukhara in the late 16th century. Plov of rice, meat, carrots and onions is the signature dish, and green tea is served all day in teahouses called chaikhanas. Kurash, a form of traditional wrestling, has its international association here. Rustam Kasimdzhanov became FIDE world chess champion in 2004, and the cyclist Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won the green jersey of the Tour de France three times.