The Geography of Uzbekistan: At the Crossroads of the Silk Road

296 Pages·2022·53.596 MB·English

by  Lola Gulyamova

World Regional Geography Book Series
Lola Gulyamova
The Geography
of Uzbekistan
At the Crossroads of the Silk Road
World Regional Geography Book Series
Series Editor
E. F. J. De Mulder, DANS, NARCIS, Utrecht, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
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Lola Gulyamova
The Geography of Uzbekistan
At the Crossroads of the Silk Road
Lola Gulyamova
Geological Prospecting and Mining Metallurgy Faculty
Tashkent State Technical University (named after Islam Karimov)
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
ISSN 2363-9083 ISSN 2363-9091 (electronic)
World Regional Geography Book Series
ISBN 978-3-031-07872-9 ISBN 978-3-031-07873-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07873-6
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
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To my parents, Rabija Axmedova and Khadji Akbar Gulyamov,
who were devoted to this country.
Preface
In 1996–1997, during my Fellowship under the Fulbright Program in the USA, my colleagues
called me “the Russian professor.” Only a few knew about Uzbekistan, and usually geogra-
phers asked me to show its location on a map relative to China and Pakistan. The country was
locked not just geographically but also informationally. Today, one may find information about
this “terra incognita” in the news, on the internet, and in academic journals.
The main purpose of writing this book is to bring together different views, opinions, and
insights into the current state of the country and its prospects for the future.
It is not easy to describe in one book the historical roots and geographical features of
Uzbekistan. It is a unique country in the Central Asian region because of its central location at
the crossroads of the Great Silk Route. Today, this route is vital for strengthening political,
economic, and cultural ties between East and West through the lands of Uzbekistan.
This book, which is based on a literature review of publications by local and foreign authors,
covers just part of a big issue in a rapidly changing world and discusses Uzbekistan from geo-
graphic, cultural, and historical perspectives.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan Lola Gulyamova
vii
Acknowledgments
I thank Dr. Arthur Guljamow, Mrs. Dilyora Rahimova, and Mr. Behruz Habibullaev for their
technical assistance during the preparation of this book. My deep appreciation to late Mr.
Shavkat Boltaev from Bukhara and Mrs. Magfirat Mumnova for their permission to use images,
the State Committee for Land Resources, Geodesy, Cartography and State Cadastre of the
Republic of Uzbekistan for the permission to publish maps from the Atlas Physical Geography
of Central Asia and Uzbekistan, the Geological Survey of America, the Society of Economic
Geologists, and NASA Earth Observatory for the permission to share their materials.
ix
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Gem of Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Contributions to Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Central Asia and Uzbekistan in the Works of Ancient Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.1 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4.2 Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4.3 Solar Radiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.4 Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4.5 Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.6 Flora and Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4.7 Flora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.8 Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.5 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.6 The Revival of the Great Silk Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.7 Common Resources, History, and Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2 Historical Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.1 State Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.1.1 Ancient History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.1.2 Medieval Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.1.3 Colonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.1.4 The Soviet Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.1.5 Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2 Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.1 Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.2 The Electoral System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.3 After Karimov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.3 Cultural Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.3.1 Historical Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.3.2 Cultural Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3.3 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3.4 Gender Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.3.5 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3.6 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.3.7 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.3.8 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.3.9 Newspapers and Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
xi
xii Contents
2.4 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.4.1 Ancient Monuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.4.2 Modern Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.5 Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.5.1 Bread Is Sacred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.5.2 The Tea Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.5.3 Uzbek Cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.5.4 Fruit and Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
2.6 Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2.7 Traditions and Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2.7.1 Weddings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
2.7.2 T he Birth of a Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
2.7.3 Consecration of the Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
2.8 Holidays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
2.8.1 New Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
2.8.2 Navruz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
2.8.3 Religious Holidays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.9 Arts and Crafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.9.1 Cold Steel from Fergana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.9.2 Gold Embroidery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2.9.3 Carpet Weaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2.9.4 Embroidery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.9.5 Ceramics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.9.6 Silk Fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.9.7 Copper Embossing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
2.9.8 Wood Carving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3 Geography of Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.1 Global Geological Processes and Geology of Uzbekistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.1.1 Geological Evolution of Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.1.2 Geological Evolution of Uzbekistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.1.3 Earthquakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.2 Mineral Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.2.1 Gas and Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.2.2 Coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
3.2.3 Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3.2.4 Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.2.5 Uranium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.2.6 Ferrous Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.2.7 Nonferrous Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.2.8 Groundwater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.2.9 Loess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
3.2.10 Gemstones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
3.2.11 Oil Shale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.3 Energy Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.3.1 Coal Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.3.2 Gas and Oil Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.3.3 Hydropower and Thermal Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.3.4 Alternative Energy Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.4 Land Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.4.1 Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.4.2 A gricultural Land Resources and Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132