|
AsiaNC > Uzbekistan > Introduction
| U Z
B E K I S T A N |
| Succulent
shashlyk kebabs dripping spicy juice on a skewer with tumblers of steaming tea at
an Uzbek choikhana: the highway makes its way past this, stringing together tea
stalls, gold toothed fruit vendors, doppy capped men, blue mosaic, brown landscape,
white cotton fields, the fertile Ferghana, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent… The Silk
Road meets Timurleng meets the Soviet Union meets Central Asian Republic. |
 |
F A C
T B O X |
| Full Country Name |
Republic
of Uzbekistan |
| Capital |
Tashkent
(or Toshkent) |
| Area |
447,400
sq km or 172,700 sq miles |
| Population |
24,755,519
(July 2000 estimate) |
| People |
80%
Uzbek, 5.5% Russian, 5% Tajik, 3% Kazakh, 2.5% Karakalpak, 1.5% Tatar 2.5% others
including Koreans |
| Language |
Mainly
Uzbek, Russian and Tajik |
Religion |
Secular
state. 88% Muslim, mostly Sunni, 9% Eastern Orthodox, 3% others |
| Government |
Republic |
| Head of State |
President
Islam Karimov |
|
|
|
