PROFILE
Region: Central Asia
Climate: Continental, Seasonal, Incredibly Cold at Times
Leader(s): Shavkat Mirziyoyev, since 2003 (at time of writing)
Population: 31.576.400
Capital: Tashkent
Largest City: Tashkent
Currency: Uzbekistan Som
Languages: Uzbek, Karakalpak, Russian
Currency: Uzbekistan Som
Languages: Uzbek, Karakalpak, Russian
Independence: 1991, from the Soviet Union
Territories or Colonies: None
Territories or Colonies: None
THE FACTS
Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (of course), is a country in Central Asia. It's one of the "stans" which besides Pakistan and Afghanistan are incredibly obscure countries most people haven't heard of, like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ugrigstan and Kyrgyzstan. One of those is fake, but you probably don't know which one is.
Uzbekistan is culturally similar to Central Russia, as they were part of the USSR, and Uzbek people come from several different ethnic groups. The country is about as big as California, with about as many people as California and has a pretty low standard of living.
EARLY HISTORY (????-700s)
Uzbekistan has been an important country since the time of Rome. Before then the land was settled by nomads that moved east from Mesopotamia (also called the cradle of civilization), which I guess makes the "stans" the "awkward teenage years of civilization". Uzbekistan, like Yemen benefited greatly from its position in the world. Central Asia is so central it literally has the word Central in its name, just like the MIDDLE East. Central Asian civilizations like the city state of Samarqand, for examponnected different people from China, to Java to Kenya to Rome. This fostered the specializale, benefitted greatly from the Silk Road. The Silk Road is the network of trade routes in Asia, Europe, Africa and Indonesia. It wasn't necessarily a single road, but a sort of ancient interstate that ction of industry in different countries. India and Java sold Spices to China and Rome, while China sold silk to the Romans.
Central Asia, however, took a different approach. They basically entered into the hotel business. All across Central Asia, in Uzbekistan and surrounding countries stopping places popped up. They were sort of proto-truckstops. They had places to sleep, food, often mosques or churches and even an Ancient Cinnabon. If you were a trader crossing the vast steppe of Uzbekistan you'd fucking cry tears of joy if you saw a place to stop after walking for months across arid, desolate nothingness.
In the 400s BCE, the Persians saw the profit that could be gained in annexing all of this land, so the Persians walked north a bit and easily conquered the land. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan both spoke dialects of Persian and were culturally similar, since they had migrated mostly from what is now Iraq and Iran. Persia finally annexed Transoxiana (read Central Asia) to their increasingly large list of things they wanted.
Transoxiana's prime location was perfect for trade between Persia, China, Rome, Indonesia and Africa, and therefore was one of the most vital Persian colonies. It was constantly attacked because when your colony is in such a prime location, it's almost taunting other Empires that they can't rake in the wealth from it.
Uzbekistan's early pre-Islamic history is marked with people coming up to it and being like "hey Uzbekistan, we're gonna, like, colonize you and take all of your trade money" and Uzbekistan was like "dammit, not again." Uzbekistan has been conquered by the likes of the Mongols, the Persians, Alexander the Great and the Arabs, in a relatively short period of time.
Alexander the Great is noted to have one of the largest empires in the world and I will discuss him in greater detail in the Greece post. Coinage from his empire has been found as far east as Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and remember he traveled all that way from Northern Greece.
As BCE turned to CE, Uzbekistan was enjoying the fruits of its lucky location, as well as dealing with the negative things that come with that, like constant invasion. In 200 BCE to 100 BCE the market for Chinese Silk in Greece and Rome was growing, after all what are you gonna make Togas out of, so the Chinese needed a way of shipping their valuables: Silk and Porcelain to Europe. They used something called the Silk Road, which is a network of trade routes that zig-zag around Eurasia. If you include Indian Ocean Trade Routes, the Silk Road stretched from the two ends of the known world. From Rome in the west, to Manila in the east, to Zanzibar in the south, and at the center was the Persian Empire and its star province Transoxiana.
When you're the center of trade, you invariably become the center of arts and culture, ask London, Istanbul and New York, among many others, and Transoxiana was no different. It became a crossroads for religion, and culture. The culture of the region blended east with west, with the indigenous culture of the Central Asian steppe. You had Chinese influence (many residents were Buddhist), Persian influence (many residents were Zoroastrian, the monotheistic religion of the Persians) and Christianity from the Levant was present.
This changed in the 700s CE though when the new Caliphates of Arabia, based on the new religion of Islam, which at this point was only about seventy years old. Think of it like how Scientology is perceived today. Throughout the Eighth Century the various Caliphates, especially the Umayyad Caliphate led by Qutaybah ibn Muslim (who is so Muslim, his name is Muslim) arrived in Transoxiana, after crossing the treacherous deserts of Iraq, Iran and the southern steppe of Central Asia.
The Muslims main goal was to transform the religiously diverse population into Muslims. There were already some Muslims, primarily from Persia in the south which had converted years prior.
The Muslims, probably more importantly were after that Cash Money, and Transoxiana was still flush with Cash Money. The Silk Road was still the primary system of transporting goods across Eurasia all the way until the early 13th Century, when the Crusades turned this relatively stable and holy-war-free zone into a battlefield. Darn Crusades!
But in the 8th Century the Silk Road was still the bees knees, and the Muslims knew this and wanted to capitalize on it, but this period of success wasn't meant to last and in less than 150 years the Caliphates lost control of the region. Their religious footprint remained, but their political control didn't. In fact, Muslims are still the dominant religion today, with 90% of the population identifying as Muslim.
Until the 1200s when the Mongols happened, the region was controlled by a series of ethnically Turkish dynasties and sultanates and empires that traveled east to the region.
This time was a time of relative stability. There was some fighting between the Turkish empires, as to who would rule the region but the steady influx of money from China and the East, as well as Europe and Africa brought immense wealth to the region.
Transoxiana's prime location was perfect for trade between Persia, China, Rome, Indonesia and Africa, and therefore was one of the most vital Persian colonies. It was constantly attacked because when your colony is in such a prime location, it's almost taunting other Empires that they can't rake in the wealth from it.
Uzbekistan's early pre-Islamic history is marked with people coming up to it and being like "hey Uzbekistan, we're gonna, like, colonize you and take all of your trade money" and Uzbekistan was like "dammit, not again." Uzbekistan has been conquered by the likes of the Mongols, the Persians, Alexander the Great and the Arabs, in a relatively short period of time.
Alexander the Great is noted to have one of the largest empires in the world and I will discuss him in greater detail in the Greece post. Coinage from his empire has been found as far east as Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and remember he traveled all that way from Northern Greece.
As BCE turned to CE, Uzbekistan was enjoying the fruits of its lucky location, as well as dealing with the negative things that come with that, like constant invasion. In 200 BCE to 100 BCE the market for Chinese Silk in Greece and Rome was growing, after all what are you gonna make Togas out of, so the Chinese needed a way of shipping their valuables: Silk and Porcelain to Europe. They used something called the Silk Road, which is a network of trade routes that zig-zag around Eurasia. If you include Indian Ocean Trade Routes, the Silk Road stretched from the two ends of the known world. From Rome in the west, to Manila in the east, to Zanzibar in the south, and at the center was the Persian Empire and its star province Transoxiana.
When you're the center of trade, you invariably become the center of arts and culture, ask London, Istanbul and New York, among many others, and Transoxiana was no different. It became a crossroads for religion, and culture. The culture of the region blended east with west, with the indigenous culture of the Central Asian steppe. You had Chinese influence (many residents were Buddhist), Persian influence (many residents were Zoroastrian, the monotheistic religion of the Persians) and Christianity from the Levant was present.
MUSLIM CONQUEST TO THE KHANS(700s-1200)
The Muslims main goal was to transform the religiously diverse population into Muslims. There were already some Muslims, primarily from Persia in the south which had converted years prior.
The Muslims, probably more importantly were after that Cash Money, and Transoxiana was still flush with Cash Money. The Silk Road was still the primary system of transporting goods across Eurasia all the way until the early 13th Century, when the Crusades turned this relatively stable and holy-war-free zone into a battlefield. Darn Crusades!
But in the 8th Century the Silk Road was still the bees knees, and the Muslims knew this and wanted to capitalize on it, but this period of success wasn't meant to last and in less than 150 years the Caliphates lost control of the region. Their religious footprint remained, but their political control didn't. In fact, Muslims are still the dominant religion today, with 90% of the population identifying as Muslim.
Until the 1200s when the Mongols happened, the region was controlled by a series of ethnically Turkish dynasties and sultanates and empires that traveled east to the region.
This time was a time of relative stability. There was some fighting between the Turkish empires, as to who would rule the region but the steady influx of money from China and the East, as well as Europe and Africa brought immense wealth to the region.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16218972
http://www.uzbekistan.org/uzbekistan/history/
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