Uzbekistan

Although Uzbeks have lived in the area of present-day Uzbekistan for centuries, a national Uzbek political entity was formed for the first time in the 1920s. The region of present-day Uzbekistan was the site of the ancient Persian province of Sogdiana and was conquered by Macedonian leader Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and by the Arabs in the 8th century AD. It was incorporated in the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan in the 13th century and the Mongol empire of Tamerlane in the 14th century. The Uzbek khanates of Bukhoro (also spelled Bukhara) and Khiva emerged in the 16th century, and the Qùqon (Kokand) khanate was formed in the 18th century. Russian control was extended over the region between 1865 and 1873, with Khiva and Bukhoro remaining vassal states of Russia. The development of a czarist-controlled cotton base in the area led to several large-scale conflicts between Russians and indigenous peoples. Uzbeks and other locals protested changes in land tenure and the decreased availability of foodstuffs, which were both the direct result of czarist efforts to replace traditional crops with cotton. Several large-scale irrigation construction projects were suspended after local workers revolted against poor working conditions and low wages. In 1916 Uzbeks and other Central Asians participated in a widespread revolt against czarist authorities in which thousands died. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Soviet power was fiercely resisted by the basmachi, a nationalist guerrilla movement in the Uzbek region that continued to fight Soviet forces into the 1920s. Under the Soviets a new set of political entities were established. The Khiva and Bukhoro vassal states retained their previous territories and were designated independent People's Soviet Republics in 1920. They never gained any real independence, however, and their separate designations were soon abolished altogether. In 1924 the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was created from territory included in the former Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) and the former Khiva and Bukhoro People's Soviet Republics. Until 1929 the former Tajik ASSR remained part of the Uzbek SSR, and the former Karakalpak ASSR did not become part of the Uzbek SSR until 1936. Territory was transferred several times between the Kazakh SSR, which is now the republic of Kazakstan, and the Uzbek SSR in the period after World War II (1939-1945). In August of 1991 Uzbekistan declared its independence. After the collapse of the USSR later that year, Uzbekistan joined with 10 other former Soviet republics to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  The chief political figure in Uzbekistan is President Islam Karimov, who won 86 percent of the vote in an election held shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Under Karimov's direction, all political opposition has been crushed. The civil war that began in 1992 in the neighboring republic of Tajikistan prompted even more political pressure on opposition groups. Uzbek authorities restricted the flow of refugees from Tajikistan, banned Tajik political and social organizations in Uzbekistan, and closed the Tajik University at Samarqand. Uzbekistan joined the United Nations (UN) in 1992. Since independence, Uzbekistan has struggled to support its shrinking economy. While many of the other Central Asian republics have begun to reform their economies into free markets, Uzbekistan has delayed such reforms and maintained close ties to Russia. In 1994 Uzbekistan joined the Partnership for Peace program of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). A 1995 referendum called by parliament extended President Karimov's term until the year 2000.