Top 10 Largest Cities or Towns of Uzbekistan
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1.
Tashkent
2.
Namangan
3.
Andijan
4.
Samarkand
5.
Fergana
6.
Qarshi
7.
Nukus
8.
Jizzax
9.
Bukhara
10.
Xorazm
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Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country in
Central Asia. It is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising 12 provinces, 1 autonomous republic, and 1 independent city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five countries:
Kazakhstan and the
Aral Sea to the north;
Tajikistan to the southeast;
Kyrgyzstan to the northeast;
Afghanistan to the south; and
Turkmenistan to the southwest.
Once part of the
Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid
Empires, the region which today includes the
Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early
16th century by nomads who spoke an
Eastern Turkic language. This region was subsequently incorporated into the
Russian Empire in the
19th century, and in 1924 it became a bordered constituent republic of the
Soviet Union, known as the
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (
Uzbek SSR). It subsequently became the independent Republic of Uzbekistan on 31
August 1991 (officially, as of the following day). Most of Uzbekistan's population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak Uzbek, a language belonging to the family of
Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan's economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, and natural gas.
Despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which deter foreign investment and imports in favour of domestic 'import substitution'.
Uzbekistan is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage.
The country's official language is Uzbek, spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population.
Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population.
Minorities include
Russians (5.4%) and others (13.5%). A majority of Uzbeks (54%) are non-denominational Muslims. Uzbekistan is a member of the
CIS,
OSCE, UN, and the
SCO.
Uzbekistan has an area of
447,400 square kilometres (172,700 sq mi). It is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the
CIS countries, it is the 5th largest by area and the 3rd largest by population.
Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres (885 mi) from west to east and 930 kilometres (580 mi) from north to south. Bordering Kazakhstan and the Aral Sea to the north and northwest, Turkmenistan to the southwest, Tajikistan to the southeast, and Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Uzbekistan is one of the largest
Central Asian states and the only Central Asian state to border all the other four. Uzbekistan also shares a short border (less than
150 km or 93 mi) with Afghanistan to the south.
Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country. It is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world (that is, a country completely surrounded by landlocked countries), the other being
Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, none of its rivers lead to the sea.
Less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert (
Kyzyl Kum) and mountains.
The first people known to inhabit the Central Asian region of modern-day Uzbekistan were
Iranian nomads who arrived from the northern grasslands of what is now Kazakhstan sometime in the
1st millennium BC[dubious – discuss]. These nomads, who spoke Iranian dialects, settled in Central Asia and began to build an extensive irrigation system along the rivers of the region[dubious – discuss][citation needed]. At this time, cities such as
Bukhoro (Bukhara),
Samarqand (Samarkand) and Chash (Tashkent) began to appear as centres of emerging government and high culture. By the
5th century BC, the Bactrian,
Soghdian, and
Tokharian states dominated and ruled over the region.
As
China began to develop its silk trade with the
West, Iranian cities took advantage of this commerce by becoming centres of trade. Using an extensive network of cities and rural settlements in the province of Mouwaurannahr (a name given the region after the
Arab conquest) in Uzbekistan, and further east in what is today
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Soghdian intermediaries became the wealthiest of these Iranian merchants. As a result of this trade on what became known as the
Silk Route, Bukhoro and Samarqand eventually became extremely wealthy cities, and at the time Transoxiana (Mawarannahr) was one of the largest, most influential and powerful
Persian provinces of antiquity.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan