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| Uzbekistan | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
Uzbekistan’s mixed topography provides divergent wildlife habitats. In the steppes the endangered saiga antelope can be found, as well as roe deer, wolves, foxes, and badgers. The desert monitor, a large lizard that can reach lengths of 1.6 m (5 ft), thrives in the Qyzylqum desert, along with a type of gazelle and a number of rodent species. The river deltas are home to wild boars, jackals, and deer, with a variety of pink deer living in the Amu Darya delta. The Turan (or Caspian) tiger is now extinct: The last one was killed in the Amu Darya delta in 1972. The endangered snow leopard, which has long been hunted illegally for its prized fur, lives in the eastern mountains. The mountains also are home to several types of mountain goat, including the Alpine ibex (characterized by enormous, back-curving horns), as well as lynx, wild boars, wolves, and brown bears.
| Uzbekistan | Communications | Back to Top |
general assessment: antiquated and inadequate; in serious need of modernization domestic: the domestic telephone system is being expanded and technologically improved, particularly in Tashkent and Samarqand, under contracts with prominent companies in industrialized countries; moreover, by 1998, six cellular networks had been placed in operation - four of the GSM type (Global System for Mobile Communication), one D-AMPS type (Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System), and one AMPS type (Advanced Mobile Phone System) international: linked by landline or microwave radio relay with CIS member states and to other countries by leased connection via the Moscow international gateway switch; after the completion of the Uzbek link to the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable, Uzbekistan will be independent of Russian facilities for international communications; Inmarsat also provides an international connection, albeit an expensive one; satellite earth stations - NA (1998)
| Uzbekistan | Culture | Back to Top |
During the 1980s religious practice surged, transforming many aspects of Uzbek life, especially in the towns of the Fergana Valley and other concentrations of Muslim believers. This resurgence affected the republic's cultural life through the increased activities of religious schools, neighbourhood mosques, religious orders, and religious publishing ventures and through the Islamic Renaissance Party.
With the ancient cities of Bukhoro, Samarqand, and Khiva within its borders, Uzbekistan contains Central Asia’s oldest and most important cultural centers. Islam has been the dominant cultural tradition since the 8th century. During the Soviet period cultural development was restricted under the dogma of socialist realism, which forbade topics that were deemed nationalist—in many cases actually religious—and mandated that literature and art extol Communist themes. However, folk art continued to be produced during certain periods of Soviet history and has enjoyed a great renaissance since the late 1980s.
Over the centuries, the territory of what is now Uzbekistan has produced great scholars, poets, and writers whose heritage has enriched the general culture of humanity. The scholar and encyclopaedist al-Biruni, who lived in the 11th century, produced a series of geographic works about India and a wide range of writings in the natural sciences and humanities. In the 15th century the astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg founded a famous observatory in Samarkand. The late 15th-century scholar, poet, and writer 'Ali Shir Nava'i greatly advanced Turkic-language literature and was also a talented artist and composer.
| Uzbekistan | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches:
Army, Air and Air Defense Forces, Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard
Military manpower - military age:
18 years of age
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 6,550,587 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 5,318,418 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 274,602 (2001 est.)
| Uzbekistan | International Disputes | Back to Top |
occasional target of Islamic insurgents based in Tajikistan and Afghanistan
| Uzbekistan | Economy | Back to Top |
In the mid-20th century the Soviet rulers of Uzbekistan intentionally developed the region as a supplier of raw materials for industrial processing elsewhere in the USSR and for export. It was during this time that Soviet planners implemented the disastrous shift to cotton production. That legacy is felt today. Uzbekistan’s economy is dependent upon cotton exports and therefore rises and falls as world prices fluctuate. Industries such as textile mills that could process the country’s raw materials are still underdeveloped. Uzbekistan must import food, despite potentially very fertile farmland.
Uzbekistan is among the world's leading cotton producers. The country also produces and exports a large volume of natural gas. Known for its orchards and vineyards, Uzbekistan is also an important region for raising Karakul sheep and silkworms. Uzbekistan's mineral and oil and gas reserves are substantial.
Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 10% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's third largest cotton exporter, a large producer of gold and oil, and a regionally significant producer of chemicals and machinery. Following independence in December 1991, the government sought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tight controls on production and prices. Faced with high rates of inflation, however, the government began to reform in mid-1994, by introducing tighter monetary policies, expanding privatization, slightly reducing the role of the state in the economy, and improving the environment for foreign investors. The state continues to be a dominating influence in the economy and has so far failed to bring about much-needed structural changes. The IMF suspended Uzbekistan's $185 million standby arrangement in late 1996 because of governmental steps that made impossible fulfillment of Fund conditions. Uzbekistan has responded to the negative external conditions generated by the Asian and Russian financial crises by tightening export and currency controls within its already largely closed economy. Economic policies that have repelled foreign investment are a major factor in the economy's stagnation. A growing debt burden, persistent inflation, and a poor business climate led to stagnant growth in 2000, with little improvement predicted for 2001.
| Uzbekistan | Education | Back to Top |
Education is supervised by two national agencies, the Ministry of People's Education (for primary, secondary, and vocational education) and the Ministry of Higher Education (for postsecondary education). In 1993 Uzbekistan had 9,834 preschool centers, most of which were run by state enterprises for the children of their employees. An estimated 35 percent of children ages one to six attend such schools, but few rural areas have access to preschools. In the early 1990s, enterprises began closing schools or transferring them to direct administration of the Ministry of People's Education. A modest government construction program adds about 50,000 new places annually--a rate that falls far short of demand. Although experts rate most of Uzbekistan's preschools as being in poor condition, the government regards them as contributing vitally to the nutrition and education of children, especially when both parents work, a situation that became increasingly frequent in the 1990s.
In 1993 enrollment in regular and vocational schools, which covered grades one through eleven (ages six through sixteen), was 4.9 million of the estimated 5.7 million children in that age-group. Because of funding shortages, in 1993 the period of compulsory education was shortened from eleven to nine years. The infrastructure problem of schools is most serious at the primary and secondary levels; the government categorizes 50 percent of school buildings as unsuitable, and repair budgets are inadequate. Construction of new schools has been delayed because the boards of capital construction of the two education ministries do not have direct control over contractor pricing or construction practices at local levels. School nutritional levels often are below state standards; an estimated 50 percent of students do not receive a hot meal. In 1992 about 5,300 of Uzbekistan's 8,500 schools had double shifts; because most of these schools were rural, this situation affected only 25 percent of students, however.
In 1993 an estimated 220,000 students were in vocational training programs, with about 100,000 students graduating annually from 440 schools. Working in close cooperation with local employers, the schools choose from 260 trades to offer instruction conforming with industrial needs. In the post-Soviet era, vocational curricula were modified to accommodate an upsurge in light industry. Experts agree that, as the national economy diversifies and expands, the vocational program must expand its coverage of key industries and streamline its organization, which suffered disorientation in its transition from the rigid Soviet system.
In 1992 some 321,700 students were enrolled in institutions of higher learning; of those, about 43 percent were in evening or correspondence courses. The enrollment represented about 19 percent of the seventeen to twenty age-group, a decrease from the more than 23 percent reported in 1990. In 1992 enrollment declined because an entrance examination was used for the first time, Russian emigration continued, and the economy's demand for college graduates fell. Experts predicted that the government would restrict admittance levels until its policies succeed in expanding the economy. Fifty-three institutions of higher learning, many with productive research programs, were active in 1993. Higher education is hindered, however, by a shortage of laboratories, libraries, computers and data banks, and publishing facilities to disseminate research findings.
The state higher education system includes three universities, located at Nukus, Samarqand, and Tashkent. Tashkent State University, which has 19,300 students and 1,480 teachers, is the largest university in Central Asia; it has sixteen full departments, including three devoted to philology and one to Asian studies. Some twenty research institutes offer courses in specialized areas of medicine, veterinary science, and industry and technology. Another thirty institutes of higher learning offer postsecondary studies in medicine, agriculture, teaching, engineering, industrial technology, music, theater, economics, law, pharmacy, and political science; seventeen of the latter category are located in Tashkent.
Education is compulsory in Uzbekistan until the ninth grade. Nearly the entire adult population can read and write. Illiteracy was high before the Soviet period but was virtually eliminated by 1970 as a result of the Soviet Union’s emphasis on free and universal education. Uzbekistan’s education system continues to follow the Soviet model in most respects, although some changes have been introduced since independence, such as a greater emphasis on Uzbek history and literature. So far the government has been unable to meet the Soviet level of funding for schools. Teachers are generally poorly paid, and new textbooks are in short supply.
| Uzbekistan | Government | Back to Top |
Government: Constitution, adopted 1992, provides for strong presidency, with power to appoint government and dissolve legislature. In practice, authoritarian state with all power in executive and suppression of dissent. Referendum, 1995, extended term of President Islam Karimov to 2000. Local government with little autonomy; judiciary ineffective.
Politics: Successor to Communist Party, People's Democratic Party, dominates legislature and government; other major legal party, Fatherland Progress Party, has no opposition role; opposition parties weak, fragmented, many excluded by government and their leaders exiled or jailed.
Foreign Relations: To avoid domination by Russia, wide relations sought, early 1990s. Major goal cooperation among Central Asian states, which fear domination by Uzbekistan. Free-trade zone with Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and cooperation on Aral Sea matters are major steps. Economic and military dependence on CIS, especially Russia, continues. Renewed economic ties with Iran, Turkey, possible major role in Economic Cooperation Organization. Major aid programs from United States, Western Europe, mid-1990s.
| Uzbekistan | History | Back to Top |
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan was the third largest Soviet republic by population and the fourth largest in territory. Because it has a population that is more than 40 percent of the combined population of the five Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union, and because it has rich natural resources, many experts believe that Uzbekistan is likely to emerge as the dominant new state in Central Asia. But Uzbekistan's history also has given rise to serious problems: deeply rooted ethnic tensions; serious economic, political, and environmental challenges; and an uncertain security and foreign policy environment. Like its neighbors in Central Asia, Uzbekistan emerged suddenly from more than sixty years within a highly structured, and in many ways protective, political and economic system. In the years following that emergence, survival has depended on the development of new international relationships as well as on solutions to the dilemmas of the Soviet era. By 1996 Uzbekistan showed signs of progress in both directions.
The first people known to have occupied Central Asia were Iranian nomads who arrived from the northern grasslands of what is now Uzbekistan sometime in the first millennium B.C. These nomads, who spoke Iranian dialects, settled in Central Asia and began to build an extensive irrigation system along the rivers of the region. At this time, cities such as Bukhoro (Bukhara) and Samarqand (Samarkand) began to appear as centers of government and culture. By the fifth century B.C., the Bactrian, Soghdian, and Tokharian states dominated the region. As China began to develop its silk trade with the West, Iranian cities took advantage of this commerce by becoming centers of trade. Using an extensive network of cities and settlements in the province of Mawarannahr (a name given the region after the Arab conquest) in Uzbekistan and farther east in what is today China's Xinjiang Uygur Auton-omous Region, the Soghdian intermediaries became the wealthiest of these Iranian merchants. Because of this trade on what became known as the Silk Route, Bukhoro and Samarqand eventually became extremely wealthy cities, and at times Mawarannahr was one of the most influential and powerful Persian provinces of antiquity.
The wealth of Mawarannahr was a constant magnet for invasions from the northern steppes and from China. Numerous intraregional wars were fought between Soghdian states and the other states in Mawarannahr, and the Persians and the Chinese were in perpetual conflict over the region. Alexander the Great conquered the region in 328 B.C., bringing it briefly under the control of his Macedonian Empire.
In the same centuries, however, the region also was an important center of intellectual life and religion. Until the first centuries after Christ, the dominant religion in the region was Zoroastrianism, but Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Christianity also attracted large numbers of followers.
| Turkmenistan | Introduction | Back to Top |
Uzbekistan, republic in Central Asia, bordered on the west and north by Kazakhstan, on the east by Kyrgyzstan, on the south-east by Tajikistan, and on the south by Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. It was formerly the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Uzbekistan includes the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic (Qoraqalpoghiston), which occupies about 37 per cent of Uzbekistan's territory. Uzbekistan's land area totals about 447,400 sq km (172,750 sq mi). Toshkent is the capital and chief industrial and cultural centre.
Official Name- Republic of Uzbekistan| Uzbekistan | Land | Back to Top |
N/A
| Uzbekistan | Languages | Back to Top |
The official state language is Uzbek. It is a member of the Eastern Turkic, or Karluk, language group. There are several Uzbek dialects. The written language that preceded modern Uzbek was written in an Arabic script, and Arabic letters continued to be used for about a decade after the creation of a modern Uzbek language under the Soviets. In the late 1920s, however, the Soviet government decreed that a Latin-based alphabet be used instead. Then in 1940 the government imposed a modified Cyrillic script (the script of the Russian language). In 1993 the government of independent Uzbekistan resolved to gradually revert to the Latin alphabet. Most ethnic minorities in Uzbekistan tend to speak their own native languages. Russian was the preferred language during the Soviet period and is still widely used in the cities.
| Uzbekistan | Legal | Back to Top |
Legal system: evolution of Soviet civil law; still lacks independent judicial system Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Executive branch: chief of state: President Islom KARIMOV (since 24 March 1990, when he was elected president by the then Supreme Soviet) head of government: Prime Minister Otkir SULTONOV (since 21 December 1995) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president with approval of the Supreme Assembly elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 9 January 2000 (next to be held NA January 2005); note - extension of President KARIMOV's original term for an additional five years overwhelmingly approved - 99.6% of total vote in favor - by national referendum held 27 March 1995; prime minister and deputy ministers appointed by the president election results: Islom KARIMOV reelected president; percent of vote - Islom KARIMOV 91.9%, Abdulkhafiz DZHALALOV 4.2% Legislative branch: unicameral Supreme Assembly or Oliy Majlis (250 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 5 December and 19 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2004) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NDP 48, Self-Sacrificers Party 34, Fatherland Progress Party 20, Adolat Social Democratic Party 11, MTP 10, citizens' groups 16, local government 110, vacant 1 note: not all seats in the last Supreme Assembly election were contested; all parties in the Supreme Assembly support President KARIMOV Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Supreme Assembly)
| Uzbekistan | Life | Back to Top |
Uzbeks are among the most traditional of the Central Asian peoples. Traditional clothing is often worn on a daily basis, although Western-style clothing is also worn in the cities. Traditional men’s wear includes brightly colored striped robes, black boots, and embroidered skullcaps or turbans. Women wear colorful silk, cotton, or velvet dresses and head scarves. The Uzbek cuisine is distinctive, yet some Uzbek dishes, such as palov, are eaten throughout Central Asia. (Palov is a pilaf of rice, meat, vegetables, and sometimes dried fruit.) Other staples of the Uzbek diet include kabob (barbecued kebabs, especially mutton), laghmon (long, thick noodles often used in soups), and many varieties of bread, called non. Green tea is a common beverage. Common recreational activities include soccer and wrestling, and traditional horseback games are played on special occasions. One such game, known by various names throughout Central Asia (including ulaq, baiga, and buzkashi), is said to date from the days of Genghis Khan in the 13th century.
| Uzbekistan | organization | Back to Top |
AsDB, CCC, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer)
| Uzbekistan | People | Back to Top |
The population of Uzbekistan, estimated in 1994 at about 23 million, is the largest of the Central Asian republics, comprising more than 40 percent of their total population. Growing at a rapid rate, the population is split by ethnic and regional differences. The Russian component of the population shrank steadily in the years after independence.
Relative to the former Soviet Union as a whole, Uzbekistan is still largely rural: roughly 60 percent of Uzbekistan's population lives in rural areas. The capital city is Tashkent, whose 1990 population was estimated at about 2.1 million people. Other major cities are Samarqand (population 366,000), Namangan (308,000), Andijon (293,000), Bukhoro (224,000), Farghona (200,000), and Quqon (182,000).
The population of Uzbekistan is exceedingly young. In the early 1990s, about half the population was under nineteen years of age. Experts expected this demographic trend to continue for some time because Uzbekistan's population growth rate has been quite high for the past century: on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, only Tajikistan had a higher growth rate among the Soviet republics. Between 1897 and 1991, the population of the region that is now Uzbekistan more than quintupled, while the population of the entire territory of the former Soviet Union had not quite doubled. In 1991 the natural rate of population increase (the birth rate minus the death rate) in Uzbekistan was 28.3 per 1,000--more than four times that of the Soviet Union as a whole, and an increase from ten years earlier.
These characteristics are especially pronounced in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan (the Uzbek form for which is Qoroqalpoghiston Respublikasi), Uzbekistan's westernmost region. In 1936, as part of Stalin's nationality policy, the Karakalpaks (a Turkic Muslim group whose name literally means "black hat") were given their own territory in western Uzbekistan, which was declared an autonomous Soviet socialist republic to define its ethnic differences while maintaining it within the republic of Uzbekistan. In 1992 Karakalpakstan received republic status within independent Uzbekistan. Since that time, the central government in Tashkent has maintained pressure and tight economic ties that have kept the republic from exerting full independence.
Today, the population of Karakalpakstan is about 1.3 million people who live on a territory of roughly 168,000 square kilometers. Located in the fertile lower reaches of the Amu Darya where the river empties into the Aral Sea, Karakalpakstan has a long history of irrigation agriculture. Currently, however, the shrinking of the Aral Sea has made Karakalpakstan one of the poorest and most environmentally devastated parts of Uzbekistan, if not the entire former Soviet Union.
Because the population of that region is much younger than the national average (according to the 1989 census, nearly three-quarters of the population was younger than twenty-nine years), the rate of population growth is quite high. In 1991 the rate of natural growth in Karakalpakstan was reportedly more than thirty births per 1,000 and slightly higher in the republic's rural areas. Karakalpakstan is also more rural than Uzbekistan as a whole, with some of its administrative regions (rayony ; sing., rayon ) having only villages and no urban centers--an unusual situation in a former Soviet republic.
The growth of Uzbekistan's population was in some part due to in-migration from other parts of the former Soviet Union. Several waves of Russian and Slavic in-migrants arrived at various times in response to the industrialization of Uzbekistan in the early part of the Soviet period, following the evacuations of European Russia during World War II, and in the late 1960s to help reconstruct Tashkent after the 1966 earthquake. At various other times, non-Uzbeks arrived simply to take advantage of opportunities they perceived in Central Asia. Recently, however, Uzbekistan has begun to witness a net emigration of its European population. This is especially true of Russians, who have faced increased discrimination and uncertainty since 1991 and seek a more secure environment in Russia. Because most of Uzbekistan's population growth has been attributable to high rates of natural increase, the emigration of Europeans is expected to have little impact on the overall size and demographic structure of Uzbekistan's population. Demographers project that the population, currently growing at about 2.5 percent per year, will increase by 500,000 to 600,000 annually between the mid-1990s and the year 2010. Thus, by the year 2005 at least 30 million people will live in Uzbekistan.
High growth rates are expected to give rise to increasingly sharp population pressures that will exceed those experienced by most other former Soviet republics. Indeed, five of the eight most densely populated provinces of the former Soviet Union--Andijon, Farghona, Tashkent, Namangan, and Khorazm--are located in Uzbekistan, and populations continue to grow rapidly in all five. In 1993 the average population density of Uzbekistan was about 48.5 inhabitants per square kilometer, compared with a ratio of fewer than six inhabitants per square kilometer in neighboring Kazakstan. The distribution of arable land in 1989 was estimated at only 0.15 hectares per person. In the early 1990s, Uzbekistan's population growth had an increasingly negative impact on the environment, on the economy, and on the potential for increased ethnic tension.
With an estimated 25,155,064 inhabitants in 2001, Uzbekistan has the largest population of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the third largest population of all the former Soviet republics (after Russia and Ukraine). The country’s population growth rate is 1.6 percent per year due to relatively high birthrates. The average population density is 56 persons per sq km (146 per sq mi), although population density is far higher in the Fergana Valley, the most densely settled area in Central Asia.
Uzbeks make up about three-fourths of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Tatars, Kyrgyz, Ukrainians, Kazaks, and Karakalpaks. The Uzbeks speak a language belonging to the southeastern, or Chagatai (Turki), branch of the Turkic language group. The Uzbeks are Sunnite Muslims, and they are considered to be among the most devout Muslims in all of Central Asia. They are also the least Russified of the Turkic peoples formerly under Soviet rule, and virtually all of them still claim Uzbek as their primary language. The majority of Uzbeks live in rural areas. Two-fifths of the population of Uzbekistan lives in urban areas; the urban population has a disproportionately high number of non-Uzbeks. Slavic peoples—Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians—held a large proportion of administrative positions. In the late 1980s and early '90s, many Russians and smaller numbers of Jews emigrated from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states, changing the ethnic balance and employment patterns in the region.
| Uzbekistan | Politics | Back to Top |
Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party [Anwar JURABAYEV, first secretary]; Democratic National Rebirth Party (Milly Tiklanish) or MTP [Aziz KAYUMOV, chairman]; Fatherland Progress Party [Anwar Z. YOLDASHEV]; People's Democratic Party or NDP (formerly Communist Party) [Abdulkhafiz JALOLOV, first secretary]; Self-Sacrificers Party or Fidokorlar National Democratic Party [Ahtam TURSUNOV, first secretary] Political pressure groups and leaders: Birlik (Unity) Movement [Abdurakhim PULAT, chairman]; Erk (Freedom) Democratic Party [Muhammad SOLIH, chairman] was banned 9 December 1992; Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan [Abdumanob PULAT, chairman]; Independent Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan [Mikhail ARDZINOV, chairman]
| Uzbekistan | Provinces | Back to Top |
12 wiloyatlar (singular - wiloyat), 1 autonomous republic* (respublikasi), and 1 city** (shahri); Andijon Wiloyati, Bukhoro Wiloyati, Farghona Wiloyati, Jizzakh Wiloyati, Khorazm Wiloyati (Urganch), Namangan Wiloyati, Nawoiy Wiloyati, Qashqadaryo Wiloyati (Qarshi), Qoraqalpoghiston* (Nukus), Samarqand Wiloyati, Sirdaryo Wiloyati (Guliston), Surkhondaryo Wiloyati (Termiz), Toshkent Shahri**, Toshkent Wiloyati note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)
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