Download History of Uzbekistan

History of Uzbekistan
The Uzbekistan land was once part of the ancient Persian empire and was later
conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. During the 8th century, the nomadic
Turkic tribes living there were converted to Islam by invading Arab forces who dominated the
area. The Mongols under Ghengis Khan took over the region from the Seljuk Turks in the 13th
century, and it later became part of Tamerlane the Great's empire and that of his successors
until the 16th century. The Uzbeks invaded the territory in the early 16th century and merged
with the other inhabitants in the area. Their empire broke up into separate Uzbek principalities,
the khanates of Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand. These city-states resisted Russian expansion into
the area but were conquered by the Russian forces in the mid-19th century.
The territory was made into the Uzbek Republic in 1924 and became the independent
Uzbekistan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1925. Under Soviet rule, Uzbekistan concentrated on
growing cotton with the help of irrigation, mechanization, and chemical fertilizers and
pesticides, causing serious environmental damage.
In June 1990, Uzbekistan became the first central Asian republic to declare that its own
laws had sovereignty over those of the central Soviet government. Uzbekistan became fully
independent and joined with ten other former Soviet republics on Dec. 21, 1991, in the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Population and cities of Uzbekistan
Population (2005 est.): 26,851,195 (growth rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 26.2/1000; infant
mortality rate: 71.1/1000; life expectancy: 64.2; density per sq mi: 155
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Tashkent, 3,457,500 (metro. area), 2,155,400 (city
proper)
Economic summary of Uzbekistan
GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $47.59 billion; per capita $1,800.
Real growth rate: 4.4%.
Inflation: 3%.
Arable land: 11%.
Agriculture: cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain; livestock.
Industries: textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, gold petroleum, natural
gas, chemicals.
Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc,
tungsten, molybdenum.
Exports: cotton 41.5%, gold 9.6%, energy products 9.6%, mineral fertilizers, ferrous metals,
textiles, food products, automobiles.
Import: machinery and equipment 49.8%, foodstuffs 16.4%, chemicals, metals
Major trading partners: Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Tajikistan, Poland, South Korea, Kazakhstan,
U.S., Germany, China, Turkey.