Uzbekistan, in the ancient cradle between the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, is the most historically fascinating of the Central Asian republics.The history of Uzbekistan, its culture and statehood, foreign economic and social ties of the territory is more than 2.5 millennia. Uzbekistan's freedom loving population fought for its independence against all foreign invaders during centuries. Situated on the crossroads of the Great Silk Road, the region played an important role in the dialogue of different civilizations. its flourishing in the ancient times, then during the reign of the Samanids and Timurids is connected with the involvement of the region in the international economic interrelations.Within it are some of the oldest towns in the world, some of the Silk Road's main centres and most of the region's architectural splendours.
Uzbekistan has been governed since 1989 by Islam Karimov when he took over as head of the Uzbek Communist party (now the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, PDPU). Uzbekistan assumed independence in 1991 upon the break up of the Soviet Union. The PRPU, with Karimov at its head, has held power continuously ever since, occasionally in alliance with allied parties such as the Progress of the Fatherland party. He has been re-elected several times, most recently in 2000, with overwhelming majorities and against nominal opposition. In April 2002, Karimov won a referendum to extend the length of his current term from five to eight years, guaranteeing that he will remain in power until at least 2008. Domestic opposition is divided between secular democratic forces and Islamic parties. Erk (Freedom), Birlik (Democracy), and a third organization, Adolat (Justice), comprising the secular opposition, have combined in the Democratic Opposition Co-ordinating Council. All three are currently banned although, a more relaxed attitude recently on the part of the government has allowed them to organize openly.
The most powerful Islamic party in Uzbekistan is the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), whose allies in other former Soviet Central Asian republics have made substantial headway. There has been some armed opposition to the government from militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The Karimov government has taken an uncompromising line against any and all opposition. It has a dreadful human rights record, with political prisoners running into tens of thousands and the systematic use of torture of detainees.
As far back as in the pre-Islamic period, Zoroastrism -- the world spread religious system was born on the territory of the present day Uzbekistan (in Khorezm) and became common property of all mankind. There was formed the highest technological culture of those times: town-planning, irrigation systems, armory, silk-weaving, cultivation of grain, cotton, grapes and fruits. In those times local technologies and master-craftsmen (Ustos) were highly valued and appreciated. The synthetic character is rather typical for this particular civilization: Combination of achievements gained by the Sogdians, peoples of Khorezm, Turks, India, China, Iran, Middle East and by Hellenism.
The history of Central Asia under Soviet rule is one of exploitation. Uzbekistan was used, as it had been under the tsars, as a place of internal exile.
The government points to the strife in neighboring Tajikistan where a civil war was fought throughout the 1990s and where Uzbek peacekeepers have been engaged in support of the Tajik government. The Uzbek government has received welcome support from the United States - the latter has formally classified the IMU as a ‘terrorist’ organization. Uzbekistan has played a valuable role in recent American military campaigns in Afghanistan (with whom it shares a border) and Iraq: the American military now have a relatively small but permanent and growing presence in the country. This has been of some concern to the Russians, who have military bases in most of the former Soviet republics but not Uzbekistan.
Culture of Uzbekistan is one of the brightest and original cultures of East. It is inimitable national music, dances and painting, unique national kitchen and clothes. The Uzbek national music is characterized as variety of subjects and genres. The songs and tool plays according to their functions and forms of usage can be divided into two groups: performed in the certain time and under the certain circumstances and performed at any time. The songs connected with customs and traditions, labor processes, various ceremonies, dramatized entertainment representations and games belong to the first group.
vast quantities of cotton are produced in formerly arid areas fed by artificial irrigation schemes. Uzbekistan continues to consume over three-quarters of the water available to the ex-Soviet Central Asian Republics. The result of this ill-conceived plan has been one of the world’s greatest ecological catastrophes in the Aral Sea, once among the world’s largest inland seas, which has been deprived of the bulk of its river sources and has consequently contracted to one-third of its original size. The country has substantial natural resources - especially natural gas, which is an important export earner - and oil. Uzbekistan also boasts the world’s largest opencast gold mine and has deposits of silver, uranium, copper, lead, zinc and tungsten. Machinery and vehicles account for the bulk of manufacturing output. Agriculture is the main component of Uzbekistan’s economy. Livestock is reared in the steppes while a variety of crops, including grains, fruit and vegetables, are grown in the more fertile valleys.
Uzbek food is similar to that of the rest of Central Asia. There are dozens of variations of this dish. Shashlyk (skewered chunks of mutton barbecued over charcoal – kebabs – served with sliced raw onions) and lipioshka (rounds of unleavened bread) are served in restaurants and are often sold on street corners and make an appetizing meal.Plov is the staple food for both every day and celebrations, and usually consists of chunks of mutton, shredded red and yellow carrot and rice fried in a cast iron or aluminum pot. Uzbeks pride themselves on the quality and variety of their bread. Samsa (samosas) are also sold in the street, but the quality is variable. Manty are large boiled dumplings stuffed with meat and shorpa is a meat and vegetable soup. During the summer and autumn, there is a wide variety of fruit: grapes, pomegranates, apricots – which are also dried and sold at other times of the year – and, dwarfing them all, mountains of honeydew and watermelons. In general, hotel food shows a strong Russian influence: borcht is a beetroot soup, entrecote is well-done steak, cutlet are grilled meat balls and strogan is the local equivalent of Beef Stroganoff. Pirmeni originated in Ukraine and are small boiled dumplings of meat and vegetables, similar to ravioli, sometimes served in a vegetable soup. There are a number of restaurants that serve both European and Korean food (Stalin transported many Koreans from their home in the east of the former Soviet Union, believing them to be a security threat). There is a hard-currency restaurant at the top of the Hotel Uzbekistan that serves Chinese and Korean food.
Tea is the staple drink of Central Asia, and chai-khanas (tea houses) can be found almost everywhere in Uzbekistan, full of old men chatting the afternoon away with a pot of tea in the shade. Beer, wine, vodka, brandy and sparkling wine (shampanski) are all widely available in restaurants. Kefir, a thick drinking yogurt, is often served with breakfast.
Islam is by far the dominant religious faith in Uzbekistan. In the early 1990s, many of the Russians remaining in the republic (about 8 percent of the population) were Orthodox Christians. An estimated 93,000 Jews also were present. Despite its predominance, Islam is far from monolithic, however. Many versions of the faith have been practiced in Uzbekistan.
Full Name: Republic of Uzbekistan
Area: 447400 km2.
Population: 27 million people.
Population growth rate: 1.65%
Capital: Tashkent.
Currency: Uzbekistan Sum (Sum)
Languages: official language:zbek; other language; Russian, Tajik.
Religion: 88% Muslim (mostly Sunnis), 9% Eastern Orthodox
Location: Central Asia.
|
