Nicole Horning - Uzbekistan

U ZBEKISTAN IS A COUNTRY THAT IS ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF the U.S. state of California. Located in Central Asia, it is a landlocked country that is mostly desert. Two major rivers, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, run through the country. At one point, the Aral Sea was a major part of Uzbekistan. The Republic of Karakalpakstan within Uzbekistan had a fishing port on the Aral Sea. However, as the rivers were diverted for agricultural practices, they no longer emptied into the Aral Sea. As a result, the Aral Sea is around 10 percent of the size it used to be, and what remains are dried salt beds. This has greatly affected Uzbekistan and its people, taking a damaging toll on their health. For example, the area of Karakalpakstan has high incidences of deadly diseases because of the dangerous pesticides saturating the area. These leftover pesticides and the dried salt from the Aral Sea blow around during windstorms and create health problems. Additionally, even though the use of dangerous pesticides ended decades ago, the soil is still saturated with them, and they get into the crops.

Islam Karimov was president of Uzbekistan until his death in 2016.

GOVERNMENT

Uzbekistan has its own government and culture. After spending many years under the control of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan had an equally repressive presidentIslam Karimov. Because of its Soviet past and Karimovs leadership, Uzbekistan became known to outsiders for having one of the most repressive governments in the world. When Karimov died in 2016 and Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power as president, the country started to open up. Mirziyoyev recognized the government did not serve people as well as it should and instituted a series of reforms. He has worked to improve some of the countrys human-rights abuses, such as forced labor and child labor. However, while the amount of people forced into working on cotton fields has been drastically reduced, it is still not completely eliminated. The use of forced labor has caused some companies to boycott cotton grown in Uzbekistan. These companies will continue to boycott the countrys cotton until forced labor is completely eliminated.

TOURISM

One area that is opening up is tourism. In the past, Uzbekistan wasnt open to touristsin fact, the borders were closed down, and the country only recently started to open them back up in 2018. One of Mirziyoyevs goals is to bring more tourists into the country. Part of this is through the Uzbekistan Film Commission that started at the end of 2018 through one of Mirziyoyevs decrees. The hope behind this decree is to increase tourism in the country and promote Uzbekistan as a location for films.

Uzbekistan is an extremely old countrypeople were living in the area now known as Uzbekistan around 55,000 to 70,000 years ago. There have been many invaders who took over the area throughout the years, and there is a lot of history there, as shown by the amount of ancient architecture. The blue domes of buildingsas well as the blue and green tiles combined in intricate patterns outside palaces, mosques, and mausoleumsare alluring to many visitors. These architectural masterpieces are renowned among tourists, especially in main cities such as Samarqand, Bukhara, Tashkent, and Khiva.

Uzbekistan is known for ornate architecture such as the ceiling of this mausoleum in Khiva.

CULTURE

Uzbekistan has a population of more than 30 million people as of July 2020. It is the 45th most populous country in the world. The population is mostly Muslim, with around 88 percent of the population following Islam and the rest of the population following other religions. The country is also fairly young, with 45 percent of the population being between 25 and 54 years old.

Uzbekistan is commonly known for the distinctive blue and teal domes of its buildings.

Because of the Silk Roads path through Uzbekistan and the exchange of ideas and food as a result of this ancient trade route, Uzbekistan has a very rich culture. Religion, family, and food are very important to Uzbekistanis. In fact, in addition to its vibrant, eye-catching architecture, Uzbekistan is becoming renowned to outsiders for its cuisine. For example, in 2018, food video blogger Mark Wiens was invited to do a food tour of Uzbekistan. His videos were a hit and were viewed more than 10 million times, with many people becoming curious about regional foods such as