Primitive communal system

Paleolithic

The early periods of activity on the territory of Uzbekistan date back to the Middle Paleolithic (see Mousterian time), which are represented by the found dwellings in the Baysun-Tau mountains and labor tools in Samarkand. In the Quaternary period, when the climate was more moderate and the average temperature was three degrees lower, mammoths, primitive bulls and horses, beavers, peat deer and other animals lived. Less dramatic climate fluctuations contributed to wider human settlement, traces of which were found in the Kara-Kum and Kyzyl-Kum deserts.

In 1931-1948. An expedition with the participation of G.V. Parfenov and A.P. Okladnikov discovered a Neanderthal skeleton in the Surkhandarya region. In 1937-1947 The expedition of Tolstov S.P. and Gulyamov Ya.G. discovered sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages that had common features with the settlements of southeastern Europe and western Siberia.

Neanderthals lived here in the Late Paleolithic; their burial, discovered in the Teshik-Tash grotto, belongs to the Mousterian culture. In particular, the burial of a person aged 8-9 years was discovered, which gives grounds to talk about the most ancient ritual of human burial in the CIS. The child's body was placed in a hole lined with mountain goat bones. Findings at the excavation site suggest that people at that time obtained food by hunting and gathering. Primitive tools (mainly for cutting up carcasses) were made of stone, although tools made of wood (burnt spearheads of which were used in hunting) and bones (for sharpening tools) have also been found, which suggests the first attempts of ancient people to cope with the new material.

On the territory of Uzbekistan, monuments of the middle stage of wildness have not yet been studied.

Mesolithic and Neolithic

15-12 thousand years ago the transition to the Mesolithic began. Characteristic monuments are the primitive site in Samarkand, the upper layers of the soil of the Machay cave in the Baysun region, rock carvings in the Shibad region, etc.

To process stone tools during this period, people began to use the “squeezing technique” method, the principle of which is described in the works of a Spanish writer of the 17th century. Torquemada and the English explorer of the 19th century. Edward Belcher. The bow began to be used as a hunting weapon, and the bone arrowheads and hooks found indicate the emergence of fishing as a full-fledged economic sector.

An idea of ​​the living conditions on the plains was given by a site discovered in Samarkand on the slope of the Ivanovskaya gully, on which traces of fireplaces, stone hearths and an artificially created dugout were found. Almost all labor tools were made of flint stone, but round granite pebbles were also found as throwing weapons, which were also used to make bolas. Meadow and steppe species of animals were mainly used as food, among which the wild horse was common. Tools and sites typical of a society of the highest level of savagery are found in the central part of the Kyzyl-Kum, in the northern part of the Kara-Kum of Turkmenistan and the Kara-Tau desert in Kazakhstan and other desert and semi-desert areas.

The developed Neolithic is characterized by a transition to a lower stage of barbarism, as evidenced by the site on the western outskirts of Kyzyl-Kum near the banks of the Amu Darya River, the site along Uzgun in the northern part of the Karakum Desert, cave shelters in the Surkhandarya region and individual finds in the Tashkent, Fergana, Samarkand and Surkhandarya regions. The peculiarity of these sites is the presence of the so-called. "notched weapon". Tools take the form of microliths. Primitive pottery making, mountain herding and weaving are developing. These facts indicate connections between Khorezm and the steppe cultures of Kazakhstan, southeastern Europe, and southern cultures like Anau.

The inhabitants of the lower stage of barbarism were characterized by a sedentary lifestyle, as evidenced by the composition of the faunal remains of food waste and the location of sites along the banks of reservoirs. During the large Khorezm expedition of 1939 under the leadership of S.P. Tolstov, the existence of a sedentary lifestyle is confirmed by the discovery of an ancient dwelling at the Dzhanbas-kala site, which is an ellipse 24 by 17 meters and built of wood with reed ceilings. In the middle of the room there was a large fireplace for religious purposes, around which there were small hearths for household purposes. The number of inhabitants of this dwelling was approximately estimated at 100/125 people. This period was determined by S.P. Tolstoy as the “Kelteminar culture”, dating from the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The finds found here give some idea of ​​the degree of development of the economy among the inhabitants of Southern Uzbekistan. Individual finds characteristic of the period of lower barbarism were also found in the ancient settlement of Termez, the caves of Shirabad and the areas of Tashkent, Samarkand and Chust.

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age in the history of Uzbekistan covers the 3rd millennium - the early centuries of the 1st millennium BC.

During this period, the so-called ethnogenetic problem of Uzbekistan, which is still relevant today. The monuments of this era are very similar to the monuments of the Bronze Age in the Volga region, Ukraine and Western Siberia, and there is no similarity with the previously mentioned Anaut culture. In terms of technique, ornament and forms of making pottery from the Bronze Age, it is very close to the monuments of the Andronovo, Srubno-Khvalynsk and Catacomb cultures of the Bronze Age in the CIS. A crouched burial mound dating back to this era dates back to ca. Yangi-Yulya in the Tashkent region, which, according to the burial ritual, is closest to the burials of the Srubno-Khvalynsk culture of the Southern Volga region.

First half of the 1st millennium BC is a transitional period characterized by the development of tools made of iron. This period is illuminated not only from material monuments, but also from ancient written sources from China, Iran, Greece, etc. The peoples of Central Asia during this period had lively connections with the peoples of Southeast Europe, Southern Siberia, Iran and Western Asia.

Bactrian-Margiana culture

Head of a priestess or goddess, probably the goddess Nana, marble and chlorite, Bactrian-Margiana culture, circa 2000-1750 BC.

Cultural traditions on the example of seals from the Bronze Age of Margiana.

Approximate area of ​​the Margiana civilization.

The Bactrian-Margiana culture is one of the Bronze Age civilizations that existed in the territory of southern Uzbekistan, eastern Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan and western Tajikistan from the 23rd to the 18th centuries. BC e. - at the same time with the Indus civilization in Pakistan and the Ancient Babylonian kingdom in Mesopotamia. The thesis about the existence of such a civilization was made in 1976 by the Soviet-Greek archaeologist Victor Sarianidi. The Bactrian-Margiana culture is now considered as a local pre-Indo-European culture. It is characterized by unpainted pottery, two-tiered pottery forges, copper and bronze cast items (knives, daggers, mirrors), clay models of carts, and the remains of multi-room houses separated by narrow streets. Highly developed ceramics and jewelry indicate the presence of a large number of artisans in the cities. The seals and other artifacts discovered in the area where the supposed civilization existed belong to an artistic system that is completely different from the civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. In addition, pictograms on one of the seals may indicate the presence of a special writing system in the settlements of the Margiana civilization. As for the Indo-Europeans, apparently the Indo-Iranian ethnos occupied the territory north of the oases of the Margiana civilization and may have had active contact with its carriers. There is also an assumption about the influence of the Jiroft civilization on the Bactrian-Margiana culture. In 2 thousand BC. e. Indo-Iranian (Aryan) tribes invaded the territory of present-day Uzbekistan from the west, destroying the culture of the people who previously lived there. However, after several centuries, cultural development resumed.

Sogd, Khorezm, Bactria, Chach and Fergana during the Archaic period

According to al-Biruni, ancient Khorezmian chronology systems began counting years from the 13th century. BC e. At the beginning of 1 thousand BC. e. Several cultural centers emerged. South of the Aral Sea, along the river. Amu Darya in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. the Khorezm civilization arose, which had developed irrigation. There are reports from ancient authors about the contacts of the inhabitants of Khorezm with the peoples of Colchis on trade routes along the Amu Darya and the Caspian Sea, along which Central Asian and Indian goods went to the Caucasian possessions through the Euxine Pontus (Εὔξενος Πόντος - the other Greek name for the Black Sea). This is confirmed by material culture, elements of which are found in excavations of ancient monuments in the Central Asian Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.

Only one thing can be said: the connections of the peoples of Central Asia with the Western Asian ethnographic world go back to deep, pre-Indo-European antiquity, and without taking into account the role of the Central Asian tribes, the question of the origin of the Japhetic peoples of ancient Western Asia and the states they created can hardly be fully resolved. - Whatever the direction of these connections, Khorezm - “Land of Khwarri (Harri)” cannot but be taken into account in resolving the Khurri problem in its entirety.

S.P. Tolstoy. In the footsteps of the ancient Khorezmian civilization. Part II. Ch. V

The Archaic period in Central Asia ranges from the 6th to the 4th centuries. BC.

agricultural system and ethnic composition of settlements

The division into nomadic and sedentary populations is of great importance in the settlement of Central Asia. Strabo considered the main Scythian tribes to be the Dai (Dakhi), who lived beyond the Caspian Sea (now Southern Turkmenistan), and those who lived to the east - the Massagetae and Saka. The affiliation of the latter tribes with the Scythians is also found in Diodorus Siculus. Characteristically, the term “Scythian” is not used in Achaemenid cuneiform inscriptions: the Persians called these peoples “Sakas,” who were divided into three. Greek historians call the Central Asian peoples Scythians and distinguish among them the Massagetae, Saks and Dais. According to Herodotus, the Massagetae occupied a significant part of the plain in the northern Karakum, the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and, possibly, as far as the lower reaches of the Syr Darya. The Massagetae most likely were not a single people, but a union of different tribes with a common name. After Strabo and Arrian, the Massagetae are no longer mentioned - this tribal union, which according to legend included five nations, split into the western tribes of the Aorsi and Alans, and the eastern ones, which are the ancestors of modern Turkmens.

Fragment of a Khorezm fresco from the 6th-3rd centuries BC. e.

The Khorezmians grew wheat, barley, millet, and raised sheep, cattle and horses. In the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. they headed a large alliance of Saka-Massaget tribes (“Greater Khorezm”), which controlled almost all of Central Asia and part of Eastern Iran. Another center was the region in the basins of the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya rivers, called Sogd (Sogdiana).

The oldest state association of Central Asia is also the Ancient Bactrian kingdom (written sources called it Bakhdi in the Avesta, Baktrish in the Behistun inscription, Bactriana among ancient authors, a kingdom whose origins go far into the past), which had connections with Assyria, New Babylon, Media and Indian princely states. According to ancient historiography, during the period of Assyrian hegemony, in the 9th-7th centuries. BC. there was an "Assyrian campaign" in Bactria to establish control over lapis lazuli. According to Ctesias of Cnidus, who lived at the court of Artaxerxes II (404 - 359 BC), already in the 8th century. BC. There was a large Bactrian kingdom, which was attacked by Assyrian troops led by King Nin, the husband of the legendary Semiramis, and even became part of Assyria. One of the documents says that King Ashurbanipal called troops from Bactria and Sogd for help. Xenophon reports about the siege of Bactria by the Assyrian king. According to Ctesias, during the war between Media and Assyria, the Bactrians first acted as allies of the Assyrians, and then went over to the side of Media. In the 7th-6th centuries. BC. The ancient Bactrian kingdom covered the territories of the valleys of Surkhan, Kashkadarya and Zarafshan, and included Margiana and Sogd. The products of Bactrian craftsmen made of gold, stone and bronze gained fame in China, Persia, and Europe. The largest cities were located on the site of Kyzyltepa, Yer-Kurgan, Uzunkir and Afrasiab. Quintus Curtius Rufus writes: “The nature of Bactria is rich and varied. In some places, trees and vineyards produce an abundance of juicy fruits, the rich soil is irrigated by numerous springs. Where the soil is soft, grain is sown there, and the rest of the land is left for pasture.” The main occupation of the population was irrigated agriculture. Crafts and trade played an important role in the life of society. In the 6th century. BC e. The troops of the Persian Achaemenid power invaded Central Asia.

The Achaemenid Empire in its heyday.

The resistance of the inhabitants of Central Asia was broken. Under kings Cyrus II and Darius I, Khorezm and Sogd became part of the Persian state, supplying the treasury with silver, precious stones and soldiers for the Persian army. There is information that the long and persistent struggle with Bactria ended with the Bactrians recognizing the power of the Achaemenids. After annexing the main sedentary oases, the Persians directly faced the second military-political force - the union of nomadic tribes. At the head of this union was a woman, Tomiris, and the tribes themselves, according to one of the versions telling about these events, were called Massagetae. The Massagetae also had heavy cavalry, and bronze armor was also worn on war horses. Cyrus's army crossed in 530 BC. e. across a large river, most likely through the Amu Darya, and here the Persians initially managed to lure into a trap and destroy part of the enemy army. However, then the troops of Tomiris, after a fierce battle, completely defeated the enemy, and Cyrus himself died. There is even a story that the leader of the nomads ordered to cut off the head of the dead Cyrus and immerse it in a skin filled with blood in order to saturate the bloodthirsty enemy with it. In the 6th century BC. The territory of the city of Marakanda, as well as most of the entire Central Asia, after a long and stubborn struggle, was captured by the Persians, under the leadership of the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. Before the Persians managed to capture the legendary city, the struggle between the two warring camps continued for almost 200 years. Devotedly defending their right to freedom, the local population was an excellent example of courage and heroism. The ancient writer Polienus talks about this time in his historical work. The shabby pages of his work told the world the story of the feat of a shepherd named Shirak from the Sak tribe. He took it upon himself to lead the Persian detachment of King Darius I through secret routes to the rear of the rebel tribesmen. For seven days, the brave shepherd led a detachment of unsuspecting enemies through the desert, leading them further and further with the goal that they would never be able to return back to the civilized world. The cunning, but disastrous plan for Chirac himself was certainly a success. After a week's journey, dying of thirst and heat, the Persians realized the shepherd's true plan. They threatened to kill him if he did not lead them back, but for Chirac there was no way back. His enemies killed him. However, this did not save them from death. Thus, Chirac sacrificed his own life for the small victory that he brought to his people. This legend formed the basis of the wonderful novel by writer Yavdat Ilyasov, “The Path of Wrath.”

The Age of Hellenism and the Great Kushana

Goddess Hwaninda. Bactrian relief. Silver with gilding. Diameter 12 cm. First half of the 2nd century. BC e. Leningrad. Hermitage Museum.

In the 4th century. BC e. the Persian power weakened and then collapsed under the blows of the army of Alexander the Great. In BC e. Alexander entered Sogdiana and occupied its capital - Marakanda (modern Samarkand). But the leader of the local population, Spitaman (Spitamen), raised a rebellion against the Macedonians, which the conquerors, despite cruel punitive measures, could not cope with until the murder of Spitamen by nomads in 328 BC. e. In an effort to consolidate his power over Sogd, Alexander built new cities and restored old ones, populating them with a mixed Greek-Sogdian population. Khorezm gained independence: its king Pharasman (Phrataphernes) led it in 328 BC. e. negotiations with Alexander the Great. In subsequent centuries, Khorezm experienced prosperity: irrigation systems expanded, new cities of Bazar-kala and Dzhanbas-kala, religious centers were built, crafts and art developed. In the II century. BC e. the country came under the supreme authority of the nomadic state of Kangyuy.

Kushan bronze coin.

Under the rule of Mongol rulers

In 1219-1222 Central Asia was captured by the armies of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. The state of the Khorezmshahs quickly collapsed, most cities surrendered (like Bukhara and Samarkand) or were taken (like Urgench), the inhabitants were exterminated or driven into slavery. Many blooming oases were completely destroyed and abandoned. The catastrophe was accompanied by a complete decline of the economy and culture. Before his death in 1227, Genghis Khan divided his vast possessions among his heirs. Khorezm was included in the Jochi ulus (later the Golden Horde). Only in the second half of the 14th century. the Khorezmian lands recovered from the crushing defeat, and majestic buildings reappeared in Urgench. The rest of the territory of modern Uzbekistan became part of the Dzhagatai ulus. The Mongol rulers, constantly fighting among themselves, appointed Muslim merchants as governors of Transoxiana and forced the population to pay heavy taxes. Uprisings (for example, under the leadership of Mahmud Tarabi in Bukhara in 1238) were brutally suppressed. In 1251, a coalition of khans led by the ruler of the Golden Horde, Batu, expelled the descendants of Jaghatai from Transoxiana, but in the 1260s they returned their possessions. During the wars in 1272, Bukhara was destroyed and for a time almost completely depopulated. Some Mongol rulers, seeking to find support among the local population, and Kebek Khan (1318-1326) carried out administrative and financial reforms. But this caused resistance from the nomadic aristocracy, and Kebek’s successor Tarmashirin (1326-1334) died. Transoxiana essentially disintegrated into small possessions competing with each other.

Reign of Timur and Timurids

The warlike conqueror Timur acted as the unifier of the Central Asian territories. In 1370, he took possession of Samarkand, which he turned into the capital of a huge empire that stretched all the way to Asia Minor. Among the devastating campaigns of Tamerlane's armies there were 5 invasions of Khorezm. In 1388, Urgench was captured and completely destroyed, and its inhabitants were resettled in Transoxiana. But the “metropolis” of the power around Samarkand flourished during the reign of Tamerlane. By order of the ruler, the best craftsmen moved to the capital, numerous mosques and mausoleums were built, which are still considered a masterpiece of world architecture. The state created by Tamerlane turned out to be unstable and after his death in 1405 it began to crumble. In the year his grandson, the son of Miran Shah, Khalil Sultan, came to power in Maverannahr. Timur's youngest son Shahrukh (1409-1447) managed to save Khorasan, Afghanistan and Transoxiana. He moved the capital to Herat, and appointed his son Ulugbek, a prominent scientist who caused discontent in the circles of the conservative clergy, as ruler in Samarkand. In 1447, after the death of his father, Ulugbek became the head of the ruling dynasty, but was killed by his son Abd al Latif (-). The following rulers Abu Said (-) and Sultan Ahmed Mirza (-) enjoyed the patronage of the clergy led by the head of the Naqshbandi order, Sheikh Khoja Ahrar. Khorasan (Herat) was ruled by Sultan Hussein Bayqara (-), who patronized culture. At his court, the outstanding poet Alisher Navoi was the vizier.

Uzbek Khanate (-)

Khanate of Khiva (1511-1920)

According to local legends, the famous Sultan Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane, was heading from Samarkand to India through Fergana, where one of his wives gave birth to a boy on the road between Khojent and Kanibadam; the child, nicknamed Altun-bashik (d. in), was sheltered by the Uzbek family of Ming, which was nomadic there (hence the name of the dynasty), and when his origin was revealed, Altun-bashik was proclaimed bey and settled in Askhi. The title of biy became hereditary in his descendants. One of the descendants of Altun-bashik, Abdurakhim-biy, settled in the village of Dikan-Toda, but subsequently his main place of residence became the city of Kokand, which he founded around 1732 and which was originally called Iski-Kurgan or Kala-i-Raim-bai ( after the name of its founder). Abdurakhim-biy, taking advantage of the interregnum in Bukhara, undertook a campaign against this khanate, allegedly occupied Samarkand, Kattakurgan, and reached Shakhrisabz, but limited himself only to making peace with the local ruler and marrying his niece, after which he returned to Khojent, where he was killed by his entourage (around 1740). Abdurahim's brother and successor, Abdukarim-biy, finally settled in Iski-Kurgan, which from that time (1740) received the name Kokand (In fact, Kokand is a city incomparably more ancient. Arab travelers of the 10th century, Istakhri and Ibn-Haukal , they mention the city of Khovakend or Khokand, which, in terms of distance from the Shash River (Syr Darya) and from Asha, corresponds to the present-day Kokand; therefore, one must think that in the 18th century all the activities of the “founders” of this city consisted in the construction of an urda (palace) and the construction of city walls; .).

Abdukarim-biy and Narbuta Beg expanded their possession. However, both Abdukarimbiy and Narbutabiy were forced to pay tribute to China in -1798 (this is the basis for periodic Chinese territorial claims to the states of Central Asia).

Uzbekistan within the USSR

On November 27, 1917, at the IV Extraordinary All-Muslim Congress, held in Kokand, the creation of Turkestan Autonomy (Turkestan Mukhtariat) was announced, headed by the Turkestan Provisional Council, which was headed by Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpayev. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was headed by Mustafa Shokai, but soon due to the departure of Tynyshpayev due to internal disagreements, he became chairman of the government. The Kokand government announced its intention to convene its parliament on March 20, 1918 on the basis of universal direct, equal and secret suffrage. Two thirds of the seats in parliament were allocated to Muslim deputies, and one third to representatives of the non-Muslim population. The existence of such a parliament was supposed to be the first step towards the democratization of Turkestan. By the way, in the government of the Turkestan Soviet Republic (TASSR) formed at the same time in Tashkent, out of its 14 members there was not a single person from indigenous peoples. In January 1918, in response to an ultimatum presented by the Soviets, Shokai refused to recognize their power. To destroy the Turkestan Autonomy, 11 trains with troops and artillery arrived from Moscow to Tashkent; the punitive detachment included Red Army soldiers from the Tashkent garrison and Armenian Dashnaks. On February 6, 1918, the Bolsheviks launched an assault on Kokand and in three days completely destroyed the ancient city. The response to the defeat of the Turkestan autonomy was a powerful national liberation partisan movement, called Basmachism by the Bolsheviks and liquidated by Soviet power only in the 1930s.

On the night of November 7–8, 1917, the October Revolution took place in Petrograd. On the same day (night) the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic - RSFSR - arose with its capital in Petrograd. In March 1918, the Turkestan General Government was transformed into the Turkestan Autonomous SSR within the RSFSR. The lands of the Kokand Khanate (including Tashkent), which became part of the Fergana region of the Turkestan General Government back in March 1876, also formally became part of the RSFSR. Vassals of the Russian Empire - the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara remained for a short time officially independent from Russia, which was being reformed by the Bolsheviks.

During the civil war, part of the population supported the Red Army, which by 1920 occupied Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva. The other part, mainly feudal-Bai elements and the Muslim clergy, formed an armed nationalist movement (“Basmachi”), supported by foreign circles (primarily Turkey). The main forces of the Basmachi were defeated by the Red Army with the support of the population in 1922; individual detachments finally surrendered in 1933.

In February 1920, the Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate were captured by the Red Army and the Khorezm and Emirates were formed in their place.

On August 26, 1920, the Syr-Darya and Semirechensk parts of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, inhabited by Kazakhs, were included in the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR.

In September 1924, the Khorezm and Bukhara People's Soviet Republics were transformed into socialist republics, but a month later they were disbanded due to joining the Uzbek and Turkmen SSR.

On October 14, 1924, the Tajik ASSR was formed as part of the Bukhara SSR, and the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region (present-day Kyrgyzstan) was allocated as part of the Kirghiz ASSR (present-day Kazakhstan).

On October 27, 1924, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed according to national-state delimitation. The Uzbek SSR included the Bukhara SSR along with the Tajik ASSR and one of the three regions into which the Khorezm SSR was divided. The other third of the Khorezm SSR was transformed into the Karakalpak Autonomous Okrug as part of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. And the remaining third was transformed into the Turkmen SSR.

It has a rich, eventful history. According to historians, people appeared in this territory during the Acheulian period, about 1 million years BC.
Indo-Iranian tribes came to these lands from the southwest, in 2 thousand BC. They settled south of the Aral Sea and along the banks of the Amu Darya River, as well as in the oasis near the Zerafshan basin. The first state, according to scientists, was formed in the 7th century BC. This was the Ancient Bactrian kingdom, which included Bactria, as well as Sogd and Margiana. These were related peoples, whose lands were united into one state. Another state was formed on the territory of Khorezm.

Campaigns of Alexander the Great

One of the main stages in the history of Uzbekistan occurred during the period when the great campaign of Alexander the Great took place. Hellenic culture had a great influence on these territories. This was in the 4th century BC. During this period, trade developed highly, and it was then that the main routes of the Silk Road were laid. The three main roads of the Great Silk Road ran through the territory that now belongs to the central part of Uzbekistan, as well as through Fergana. Silk is of great importance not only for Central Asia, but also for the whole world, as it connected the West and the East.

History of Uzbekistan

In the 7th century. The Arab invasion of Sogdiana began. Major raids were carried out, but major conquests began in the 8th century. The conquest of these lands by the Arabs brought enormous changes to the political and cultural structure of the local states. Later, closer to the middle of the 9th century, Islam firmly established itself in this territory, becoming the main religion of the states located in Central Asia. In the 10th century, the main religion of the entire Maveranarch was Islam, and the rulers of this territory were the Karakhanids. Sogdiana was ruled by the Samanids, whose state was later conquered by the Karakhanids. In the 12th century, Khorezm gained great strength and conquered a significant territory of Central Asia. During the same period, the Turkic-speaking people formed.

The invasion of Mongol tribes led by Genghis Khan occurred at the beginning of the 13th century. The Mongols conquered major cities: Bukhara, Samarkand, Termez. The cities suffered severe destruction, the inhabitants were devastated. After the death of the Mongol Khan, his huge empire was divided into several states, ruled by his children and grandchildren. Khorezm then became part of the Golden Horde, which was part of the Jochi ulus.

The end of the 14th century is the most important period in the formation of the history of Uzbekistan. This is the beginning of the reign of the Temurids, which was founded by a native of the Turkic tribes - Temur-leng. People called him “lame,” and in Europe the name Tamerlane stuck to him. Temur founded a large empire, and made the city of Samarkand its capital. His state began from the borders of China to the Middle East. During his reign, culture and religion developed highly. Most of the great architectural ensembles were built precisely in the Timurid era. After the death of the great ruler, in 1405, his heirs began to divide power, which caused many unrest that undermined the authority of the mighty empire.

Nomadic Turkic-speaking tribes, called Uzbeks, invaded Transoxiana from the north. They settled here and mixed with the indigenous population. This happened after the death of the great scientist Ulugbek, who was Temur’s grandson. The leader of the Uzbeks was Sheibanikhan. He managed to establish his power in the state, and by 1510 he expelled all the Temurids from these lands.

In the 16th century, two khanates were formed here. Bukhara was the capital of the largest of the khanates, which controlled the south, east, and also the center of the territory where Uzbekistan is now located. The capital of the second Khanate was Khorezm. In the 18th century, another Khanate appeared - the Kokand Khanate. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, there was much infighting between the three khanates, which led to its decline.

In the 17th century, Russia influenced the political affairs of Central Asian countries. In 1870, the Russians entered Maveranahr, and a little later they subjugated the Kokand Khanate. The Turkestan Governorate General was formed, the center of which was the city of Tashkent. The other two khanates - Bukhara and Khiva, had vassal dependence.

At first, the Russians did not influence the spiritual life of the people. However, as the economy grew, changes were gradually introduced. The industry developed due to the cultivation of cotton. Cotton occupied the main place in agriculture, while practically no attention was paid to other crops. The railroad that connected this region with Russia made a huge contribution to the development of Central Asia.

By the end of the 19th century, popular unrest began in the khanates located on the territory of modern Uzbekistan, and uprisings broke out one after another. A popular group known as the Jadids fought against ignorance, illiteracy and backwardness. The Russian government responded to this with strict control and began to interfere in matters of culture and religion of the local people. After a major mass uprising, it was decided to send men from Central Asia to work on the home front during the First World War.

The events of 1917 also affected Turkestan. The Basmachi opposed the Bolsheviks. In the spring of 1918, the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, the former rulers in Bukhara and Khiva were removed, and both republics were also part of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

After the administrative divisions were changed in 1924, the UzSSR emerged. From that moment until '29, Tajikistan was also part of the UzSSR. Initially, Samarkand was chosen as the capital, and in 1930, Tashkent. Karakalpakstan joined the UzSSR in 1936. In 1932, collective farms were formed and the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced. The formation of the Communist Party continued the development of Uzbekistan. Fayzulla Khodjaev, a native of Bukhara, was elected chairman of the government.

In 1989, Uzbekistan was experiencing a turning point in its economy. In the spring of 1990, Islam Karimov was elected president. On August 31, 1991, the independence of our republic was proclaimed.

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was created on October 27, 1924 (by decision of a session of the USSR Central Executive Committee). It included several counties and volosts of the Samarkand, Syrdarya and Fergana regions, as well as some parts of the Khorezm and Bukhara NSR. Until 1929, the Uzbek SSR included the Tajik ASSR.

The formation of the Uzbek SSR was confirmed by the corresponding declaration of the First Constituent Congress of Soviets of the Republic (February 13-17, 1925), which elected the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee and approved the composition of the Council of People's Commissars of the Uzbek SSR. In May 1925, the Uzbek SSR became part of the USSR as a union republic.

In the second half of the 1920s - 1930s, rapid industrialization of Uzbekistan was carried out. The stratum of national workers and employees expanded, and there was a struggle against illiteracy and Islamic traditionalism. Collectivization was carried out. The republic became the main supplier of cotton to the USSR. In 1936, the Karakalpak ASSR became part of the Uzbek SSR. In February 1937, the Extraordinary Sixth Congress of Soviets of the Uzbek SSR adopted the constitution of the republic, according to which the highest body of state power was the unicameral Supreme Council. In the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Uzbekistan was represented by 32 deputies. The Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic received independent representation in this body of 11 deputies.

During the Great Patriotic War, about a hundred enterprises and more than 1 million citizens were evacuated to the territory of Uzbekistan from areas of the USSR affected by the fighting. Due to newly built and evacuated enterprises and the intensification of mining (including coal and oil), the industrial base of the republic has sharply increased.

In the post-war period, the policy of industrialization of Uzbekistan was continued. At the same time, the scale of cotton growing was increased, which required the creation of a high-capacity irrigation system and the use of pesticides. The diversion of river waters led to an environmental disaster with severe social consequences - shallowing and poisoning of the Aral Sea and Central Asian rivers.

The peculiarities of the organization of governance in the USSR and, in particular, in its Central Asian republics contributed to the growth of corruption (in the form of additions, bribery, nepotism) and the emergence of organized crime (“mafia”), the fight against which intensified in Uzbekistan in 1983 after the death of the first secretary of the Central Committee Republican Communist Party of Sh. Rashidov (held this post for more than 20 years). The most famous anti-corruption investigation in the USSR, called the “cotton case” (also known as the “Uzbek case”), was carried out by an investigative team led by T. Gdlyan and N. Ivanov until the end of the 1980s, leading to the arrest and conviction of a number of high-ranking Soviet and party leaders of Uzbekistan and revealed the systemic nature of corruption in the republic.

In the second half of the 1980s, Uzbekistan experienced a rise under the influence of the liberalization of the Soviet regime and the restructuring of Islamic identity. In 1988, the opposition People's Movement of Uzbekistan “Birlik” (“Unity”) was formed, which accused the USSR of colonialism and crimes against the Uzbek people; in April 1990, the opposition Democratic Party “Erk” (“Freedom”) was formed. .

In May-June 1989, mass pogroms against Meskhetian Turks took place in the Fergana Valley (its poorest and most densely populated part), some of whom were evacuated to Russia.

• • Uzbekistan within the USSR

Main article: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

On the night of November 7–8, 1917, the Great October Revolution took place in Petrograd. On the same day (night) the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic - RSFSR - arose with its capital in Moscow. The Turkestan General Government was transformed into the Turkestan Autonomous SSR within the RSFSR. The lands of the Kokand Khanate (including Tashkent), which became part of the Fergana region of the Turkestan General Government back in March 1876, also formally became part of the RSFSR. The de facto protectorates of the Russian Empire - the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara remained for a time officially independent from Russia, which was being dissolved into parts.

During the civil war, part of the population supported the Red Army, which in 1919 occupied Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva. The other part, mainly feudal-Bai elements and the Muslim clergy, formed an armed nationalist movement (“Basmachi”), supported by reactionary foreign circles (primarily Turkey). The main forces of the Basmachi were defeated by the Red Army with the support of the population in 1922; individual detachments finally surrendered in 1933.

In February 1920, on the territory of the Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate, with significant support from the Red Army, the Khorezm and Bukhara People's Soviet Republics were formed. On August 26, 1920, a significant part of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR. In 1923, the Khorezm and Bukhara People's Soviet Republics (as the SSR) became part of the USSR.

• On October 14, 1924, the Tajik ASSR was formed as part of the Bukhara SSR, and the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region (present-day Kyrgyzstan) was allocated as part of the Kirghiz ASSR (present-day Kazakhstan).
• On October 27, 1924, according to national-state delimitation, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed. The Uzbek SSR included the Bukhara SSR along with the Tajik ASSR and one of the three regions into which the Khorezm SSR was divided. The other third of the Khorezm SSR was transformed into the Karakalpak Autonomous Okrug as part of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. And the remaining third was transformed into the Turkmen SSR.

Since 1925, Uzbekistan joined the USSR as a union republic. Samarkand became the first capital of Soviet Uzbekistan in 1924. In 1930 the capital was moved to Tashkent. On February 1, 1926, the Karakirghiz Autonomous Okrug was separated from the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and transformed into the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, while the remaining part of the former Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic became the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On October 16, 1929, the Tajik ASSR was separated from the Uzbek SSR and transformed into the Tajik SSR, which became part of the USSR on December 5, 1929. On December 5, 1936, the Kirghiz and Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics were separated from the RSFSR and officially joined the USSR as an SSR, and the Karakalpak Autonomous Okrug was annexed to the Uzbek SSR as an autonomous SSR.

Being part of the USSR, Uzbekistan transformed from a backward colonial region into an industrial-agrarian republic, with developed light and food industries, and heavy industry grew tenfold. The largest thermal power plants (Tashkent, since 1971, Syrdarya, since 1975, Navoi, Angren State District Power Plant) and hydroelectric power stations (Charvak, since 1972) were built, the development of gas (Gazli field, since 1961) and oil fields, etc. began. branches of mechanical engineering (electrical, radio-electronic, instrument-making, aviation, etc.) New large cotton growing areas were created, Uzbekistan became a powerful cotton base of the USSR. The adoption of the first five-year plan in 1928 marked the beginning of collectivization, which was preceded by land and water reforms, which became widespread at the end of 1929; by the spring of 1932, three quarters of land plots in Uzbekistan were socialized and included in collective farms. Uzbek writing was translated from Arabic to a Slavic graphic basis; this was followed by a campaign to overcome illiteracy. The literacy rate rose from 4% (1897) to 99% (1977), during the Soviet period most of the country's universities were opened (including Tashkent University, since 1918), the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek USSR was founded (1943), theaters (including in 1919 - Uzbek Drama Theater, in 1939 - Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater).

From 1959 to 1983, the republic was led by Sharaf Rashidov, whose promotion was largely due to the strong position he took in the fight against nationalist tendencies in the republic. The period of his reign is considered one of the best pages in the history of Uzbekistan, although in 1969 there were mass riots on interethnic grounds in Tashkent, the Uzbek population of the city attacked the Slavs, but there were no casualties or significant consequences, and after the death of Sh.R. Rashidov in 1983, the so-called the “Uzbek case”, also known as the “cotton case”, during the investigation of which a gigantic amount of fraud in reporting was discovered, a whole system of corrupt practices involving senior officials of the republican administration, a lot of cases of violation of the law; hundreds of officials, economic and party workers were removed from their posts or appointed to other positions, many were arrested. In the modern Uzbek tradition, the “cotton affair” is considered untenable and was originally conceived as a way to weaken the local party apparatus, bringing it under the control of the central government.

After the outbreak of violence in the Fergana Valley in 1989, when about a hundred people died as a result of an interethnic conflict between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks, several tens of thousands of Meskhetian Turks and a large number of representatives of other nationalities left the republic. Islam Karimov, who came to lead the republic in June 1989, began to pursue a more popular policy among the population in the field of religious, cultural and economic life, social security and protection of the interests of Uzbekistan.

In March 1990, the Supreme Council of the Uzbek SSR established the post of president of the republic, and elected I.A. as the first president of the Supreme Council. Karimova. In October 1989, the Supreme Council declared the Uzbek language the state language, and the Russian language the language of interethnic communication. 1989--1990 crisis phenomena in the economy led to increased separatist sentiments. Despite this, in a referendum in March 1991, the majority of the population voted to preserve the USSR. After a failed coup attempt (State Emergency Committee, August 19, 1991), on August 31, 1991, following other republics, the Supreme Council proclaimed the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and on November 18, 1991, the Law “On the State Flag of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was adopted. However, the allied authorities still had some powers. In the elections in December 1991, I. Karimov was elected president. On December 21, 1991, at a meeting of presidents in Almaty, Uzbekistan joined the CIS. On December 26, a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (which included representatives from Uzbekistan) decided to terminate the existence of the USSR.

Starting today, in the section dedicated to the Soviet period in the life of the country, I begin publishing a series of articles dedicated to the 15 republics that were part of the USSR. In fact, we are going on a kind of virtual excursion to several decades ago. There are still a lot of materials ahead on various areas of both external and internal activities in the USSR, including sports, music, the army, the party and much more (separate articles on these topics will appear later). I repeat once again that to the question “would you like the revival of the USSR?” I answer unequivocally and firmly: “no.” But I consider it unacceptable to treat the republics that were part of the USSR with indifference. Today we begin our journey through the republics of the Land of Soviets and our first point, from where we will set off around the Union, will be Uzbekistan. Many of you probably expected that I would start with Soviet Russia, but due to the fact that the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov died on September 2, I consider it necessary to begin our journey with the cotton granary of the Soviet Union. So, welcome to Soviet Uzbekistan.

In the Khanate of Khiva in January 1918, power was seized by the leader of the Turkmen military detachments, Junaid Khan. Formally, the Khiva Khan remained on the throne, but Junaid began to rule the country as a military dictator. Having concluded an alliance with representatives of Great Britain, at the end of 1918 he carried out a series of attacks on the Amu Darya department of the Turkestan Autonomous Republic, but in April 1919 he was forced to conclude a peace treaty with the Soviet Republic. In 1919, Khiva troops continued attacks on Soviet territory, and Junaid Khan entered into negotiations with representatives of the “white” government of Admiral A. Kolchak. At the same time, he brutally persecuted the nationalist opposition of the Jadidists - the Young Khivans, who entered into a bloc with the Bolsheviks. In November 1919, the bloc launched an uprising, which began in the Turkmen regions and spread to the Uzbek ones. The Revolutionary Committee of Khiva was formed, Soviet troops entered the territory of the Khanate, defeating Junaid Khan in January 1920. On February 2, 1920, the Khiva Khan officially abdicated the throne, and in April the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (KNSR) was proclaimed.

At the beginning of 1918, the Soviet government of Russia recognized the independence of the Bukhara Emirate and concluded a peace treaty with it. However, relations deteriorated sharply in March 1918, when a detachment of the head of the Soviet government of Turkestan Kolesov came to the aid of the uprising raised by the Young Bukharan Jadidists. The uprising was suppressed, its participants were executed, but the ruler of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan, began to seek an alliance with Great Britain, the Basmach troops and the Kolchak government. The Young Bukharans and Bolsheviks, who formed the Bukhara Communist Party, continued to rebel, and in July 1920 the emir issued a decree calling on his subjects to wage a “holy war” against the Bolsheviks. In August, the rebel Bolsheviks and Young Bukharans captured Chardzhuy, created the Revolutionary Committee, and Soviet troops entered the territory of the emirate. In September they captured Bukhara, and in October 1920 the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic (BPSR) was proclaimed.

Creation of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Uzbekistan within the USSR.
In 1920–1921, land and water reform began in Turkestan; lands of landowners and kulaks were transferred to peasants. However, there was not enough food in the region, and in 1920 the authorities extended food appropriation to Turkestan. Although it was less severe here than in Russia, it still caused discontent and strengthened the position of the Basmachi. In an effort to consolidate the status of Turkestan as an autonomous republic within the RSFSR, and the Communist Party of Turkestan as part of the Russian Communist Party, the Bolshevik leaders rejected the idea of ​​​​creating a Turkic republic and a Muslim army, published the constitution of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in September 1920 and appointed a representative of the indigenous population, K., to head the Council of People's Commissars. S. Atabaeva. In 1921, in Turkestan, as in other parts of the RSFSR, the transition to the NEP began. In subsequent years, it was possible to restore old and build new enterprises, as well as power plants.

Khorezm and Bukhara officially retained their independence, but concluded union treaties with the RSFSR. In the Khorezm Republic in March 1921, the Bolsheviks removed and arrested members of the government led by the Prime Minister, Young Khivan P.Kh. Yusupov. At first, Sharia courts, old schools and the institution of aksakals (elders) were preserved in the republic, but then large land ownership, peasant duties and estates were eliminated, and industry began to be created. In 1923, Khorezm was proclaimed a Soviet Socialist Republic (KhSSR) and divided into three autonomous regions - Uzbek, Turkmen and Kyrgyz-Karakalpak.

In the Bukhara Republic, the Young Bukharans, led by Prime Minister Fayzulla Khojaev, joined the Bukhara Communist Party. The country gradually confiscated the lands of the nobility and landowners (emirs and beks), in-kind taxes in favor of the clergy (waqf) were replaced by a new one (three times smaller - usr), equality of men and women was proclaimed, and cultural work began. In 1922, the Bukhara Communist Party became part of the Russian Party, and in 1924 the country was proclaimed the Bukhara Soviet Socialist Republic.

True to their plans for the self-determination of nations, and also trying to weaken pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism, the Soviet leaders decided to implement the so-called in Central Asia. national-state demarcation. On October 27, 1924, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to form the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, which included part of the Turkestan, Khorezm and Bukhara republics. The declaration on its creation was adopted by the Founding Congress of the Council of Uzbekistan in February 1925. Samarkand became the capital of the republic, and from 1930 Tashkent.

Serkuyosh ўlkada kurmasdik ziyo,
Darelar buyida edik suvga zor.
Tong oddi, Inqilob, Lenin raҳnamo,
Raҳnamo Lenindan halqlar minnatdor!

Rahnamo Party, Jon Uzbekistan,
Serkuesh ўlkasan, rim, barkamol!
Tuproging hazina, bakhting bir zhagon,
Sovetlar yurtida senga yor ikbol!

Communism gulbogi mangu navbakhor,
Toabad kardoshlik - the dustlik is barking!
Sovetlar bayrogi golib, barkaror,
Bu bayroq nuridan porlar koinot!

Rahnamo Party, Jon Uzbekistan,
Serkuesh ўlkasan, rim, barkamol!
Tuproging hazina, bakhting bir zhagon,
Sovetlar yurtida senga yor ikbol!

In subsequent years, the redrawing of borders in Central Asia continued. The Autonomous Tajik Republic within Uzbekistan was separated into the union Tajik SSR in 1929. In 1936, the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic, formerly part of the RSFSR, was annexed to Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan pursued a policy of promoting national Uzbek personnel. At the same time, illiteracy was eliminated, schools were built, and the Uzbek language was translated into the Latin alphabet (in the 1930s, into the Cyrillic alphabet). At the same time, the traditional way of life and culture was destroyed. By 1934, Uzbeks made up 64% of the members of the Republican Communist Party; in 1927, the Russian V. Ivanov, who headed it, gave up his position to the Uzbek Akmal Ikramov. The head of the government was the former chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Bukhara F. Khojaev. But in 1937 they were removed from their posts and subsequently executed. The Republic suffered greatly during the period of repression in the second half of the 1930s.

Economically, the development of Uzbekistan in the years before World War II was characterized by collectivization (by the spring of 1932, three-quarters of land plots were included in collective farms) and the beginning of industrialization. During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, over 500 different industrial enterprises were built in the Uzbek SSR (including the Tashselmash plant, the Tashkent textile plant, the Chirchik electrochemical plant), oil production increased, new cities emerged on the basis of large industrial enterprises and old ones were reconstructed: Chirchik , Bekabad, Kattakurgan, etc.

In the post-war years, the industrialization of Uzbekistan continued at a rapid pace. The republic served as the cotton granary of the USSR, and industrial methods, including modern artificial irrigation, were widely used to grow this crop. The result was not only lopsided economic development, but also a severe environmental disaster that struck the republic. Artificial irrigation caused serious damage to soils, and large-scale diversion of river waters led to poisoning and shallowing of the Aral Sea. Infant mortality in Karakalpakstan has reached record levels for the USSR.

Politically, power was monopolized by the Communist Party, headed by the first secretary, who was actually appointed from Moscow. In 1959–1983, the post of first secretary was held by Sharaf Rashidov. He nominated his fellow countrymen, relatives and friends to leadership positions in the Central Committee, ministries, departments and regions. In 1983, he was replaced by Ferghana resident Inamjon Usmankhodzhaev, who launched a broad purge of the party and state apparatus. The central party leadership in Moscow, which came to power during perestroika, intervened in the events. A team of investigators led by T. Gdlyan and Ivanov was sent from the center to Uzbekistan, who announced the discovery of numerous cases of corruption. At the plenum of the Uzbek Communist Party, Rashidov was called a state criminal, and members of the Rashidov bureau of the Central Committee were arrested. In 1988, Usmankhodzhaev himself was accused of corruption, removed and arrested.

First Secretary Rafik Nishanov continued the fight against the clans of the Uzbek party nomenklatura with the support of Moscow. The arrests of officials, the reorganization of regions and ministries created enemies for him in the leading elite of the republic. In the summer of 1989, mass pogroms of Meskhetian Turks took place in the Fergana Valley, followed by St. 60 thousand of them left Uzbekistan. After this, Nishanov was removed, and Islam Karimov was appointed to the post of first secretary. In 1990 he was also elected president of the republic. Karimov quickly consolidated power, relying on the population's desire for stability and the parity of clan forces.

At the same time, in 1988–1990, opposition political organizations and parties began to appear in Uzbekistan - “Birlik”, the Democratic Party “Erk”, the Islamic Renaissance Party, etc.

The death of the Pakhtakor football team in a plane crash remains an indelible stain in the memory of Uzbeks and all Soviet athletes.

At the same time, public protests prompted the authorities, who feared a disruption in stability, to take control of prices and wages in the country. Despite this, poverty grew and the economic decline continued. In June 1993, the government doubled prices and wages to prevent the leakage of cheap Uzbek goods outside the country. In 1994, the President issued a decree on the possibility of transforming state-owned trading firms and service organizations into joint-stock companies and selling part of the shares. On July 1, 1994, the national currency, the soum, was finally introduced in Uzbekistan. The share of the private sector in the economy in 1994 was 20%. In 1995, the IMF provided the country with a loan of $185 million to carry out economic reforms.

At the end of 1994 - beginning of 1995, the first parliamentary elections were held in Uzbekistan in accordance with the 1992 constitution. The pro-presidential parties NDP, Progress of the Fatherland and Adalat, as well as government candidates of “national unity” were allowed to participate in them. In March 1995, the authorities held a referendum in which the extension of the presidential powers was approved. In December of the same year, Karimov removed Prime Minister Mutalov, holding him responsible for the country's poor harvest. Utkir Sultanov was appointed the new prime minister.

In the late 1990s, the overall economic situation stabilized somewhat. In 1997, the share of the private sector exceeded 40%. However, social stratification and poverty continued to grow. Unemployment reached 20–30%, and in Fergana it reached alarming proportions. Islamist circles took advantage of the population's discontent after the authorities banned the construction of new mosques in Andijan in 1998 and ordered the re-registration of all existing mosques. In December 1999, an assassination attempt was made on President Karimov. As a result of the explosions in Tashkent, 16 people were killed and 150 were injured. The authorities blamed Islamist circles for organizing the explosions; 6 of the 22 defendants were sentenced to death, the rest to long prison terms. The European Union and the United States demanded an investigation into the events in Andijan, but the country's authorities said it was interference in internal affairs.

In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the international organization GUAM, which included Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. In essence, this organization was anti-Russian, and one of its tasks was close cooperation with NATO. In 2005, Uzbekistan left GUUAM.

Uzbekistan in the 21st century
In the parliamentary elections in December 1999 and at the end of 2004 - beginning of 2005, only pro-government political parties and candidates again took part. In January 2000, Karimov was re-elected president of the country, receiving 92% of the vote (his rival Abdulhafiz Jalalov collected 4%). At the same time, the OSCE declared the elections undemocratic. The post of Prime Minister of Uzbekistan was taken by Shavkat Miriziyaev in 2003.

In 1999–2004, Islamist circles continued to organize assassinations and explosions in Uzbek cities. In May 2005, after the arrest of 23 businessmen from the Muslim opposition group Akramiya, an anti-government rebellion broke out in Andijan, suppressed by troops. The crackdown killed civilians and sent thousands fleeing to neighboring Kyrgyzstan. The authorities put the organizers of the unrest on trial, calling the rebellion an attempted coup. Many observers regarded this rebellion as an attempt by another “Orange” revolution to overthrow the government in this Central Asian state, which was suppressed by the authorities.

In December 2007, presidential elections took place. I.Karimov was nominated by the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. He received 86% of the vote and became president of the country.

In 1992, Uzbekistan joined the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which also included Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. In 1999, Uzbekistan left the CSTO, but in 2006 it again restored its membership in the organization. In June 2012, Uzbekistan again left the CSTO. The official version of the exit was that Uzbekistan was not satisfied with the CSTO’s plans for Afghanistan, including plans to strengthen military cooperation between the participating countries.

On December 27, 2009, parliamentary elections were held. The Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan entered parliament, receiving 53 seats (out of 150), the PDPU received 32 seats, the Milliy Tiklanish democratic party - 31, the Adolat social democratic party - 19 seats, and the environmental movement of Uzbekistan received 15 seats. .

On March 29, 2015, presidential elections took place in one round. The current president, I. Karimov, was re-elected president of the country with over 90%. A total of 4 candidates took part in the elections. On September 2 of this year he passed away. He was 78.


Islam Karimov knew the secrets of the collapse of the Soviet Union and in 1991 he accepted one of the republics that were part of it. He left behind a country that managed to defend its statehood in the fire, whose coat of arms depicts a phoenix bird - a symbol of eternal rebirth. The first president of Uzbekistan bequeathed to bury himself in Samarkand, the capital of the ancient power that ruled all of Central Asia.

What would later be called perestroika began not in 1985, but somewhat earlier - from Uzbekistan, more precisely, from the so-called cotton business. Islam Karimov became the first person of the republic in the late 80s. In those years, for some reason, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Soviet Union discovered codicils and corruption in the Uzbek SSR. The names of the investigators - Gdlyan and Ivanov - were known to all citizens of the Soviet Union, except the youngest. An unthinkable thing: the long-time leader of Uzbekistan, Sharaf Rashidov, who had died by that time, was anathematized, his successor, Inamjon Usmankhodjaev (first secretary), was arrested and convicted. The son-in-law of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, who died in 1982, Yuri Churbanov, first deputy head of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, received a prison sentence as part of the “cotton case”. In the republic itself, many leaders were subjected to repression.

Gdlyan and Ivanov looked like the petrels of perestroika - they loudly declared that the traces of their business led to the very top in Moscow. But then they were brushed aside, and on December 24 - a day (!) before the date on which the USSR ceased to exist, the President of the Republic Islam Karimov pardoned those involved in the case who were in Uzbekistan. The question about the Uzbek case is “what was it?” - many curious citizens asked with varying degrees of intensity, but so far it is only obvious that the tectonic shifts that collapsed the Soviet Union began with a struggle with the leadership of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan, a showcase of the Soviet East, fell into difficult times in 1991. Previously, the republic was firmly integrated into the financial and economic ties of a single country: Tashkent received subsidies from the all-Union budget, the elites of the republic had strong administrative positions in the center, its capital was an academic center, the leadership of the Uzbek SSR regularly reported on the commissioning of the next enterprise.


The USSR had not yet completely collapsed, but the Islamists of the Fergana Valley had already shown themselves to be the forefront of the ideological front: in December 1991, at a rally in Namangan, they demanded the declaration of Uzbekistan as an Islamic state. Karimov then stood in front of the audience shouting “Allahu Akbar!” A civil war was unfolding in neighboring Tajikistan, and in Afghanistan, abandoned by Soviet troops, the remnants of a secular state were living out their last days. Karimov had to maintain and strengthen the army and intelligence services. In the 90s, military experts from Uzbekistan actually organized resistance to Islamists in Tajikistan; Tashkent partially defeated the extremist underground within the country, partially drove it into a very hard underground, pushing the leaders abroad.

In 1999, militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) broke into the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan. They were knocked out of the mountainous areas by Uzbek air strikes and special forces operations. In 2005, authorities quickly and harshly suppressed a rebellion in Andijan. This worsened relations with the West, in particular with the United States, but Tashkent showed that it would not compromise on security issues.


Over the 25 years of independence, Karimov proved that he is the military leader of Central Asia - he was the only one who had a combat-ready army, tested in a real war, ready, if anything happened, to fight for its confused neighbors. External sources also regularly testified to the strength of his armed forces. The tough police regime inside the country was constantly criticized by the concerned “world” community, but did not allow the extremist underground to develop widely.

In the field of economics, Islam aka also went his own way: observers said that the head of state did everything to prevent oligarchs from appearing in Uzbekistan. Be that as it may, the republic has largely abandoned state regulation of the economy. On the one hand, deindustrialization did not bypass it - for example, the Tashkent Aircraft Plant was never able to resume full operation, and the Tashkent Tractor Plant was completely liquidated.

But in general, the authorities quickly got their bearings. Tashkent realized that the old production ties had been broken, and there was nothing special to expect from the once fraternal republics in terms of industrial development. In 1993, when other independent states were still enthusiastically sharing the remnants of the Soviet legacy, Uzbekistan signed an agreement with Korean automakers. In 1996, the Asaka plant produced the first car. As a result, the economic decline in Uzbekistan was much smaller than in other former Soviet republics.

At the same time, the volume of foreign investment in Uzbekistan looks very modest in comparison, for example, with neighboring Kazakhstan. But here we must take into account that Tashkent attracted funds mainly to industry, and tried to create processing industries in raw materials areas. The flagships of the global industry operate in the republic: GM, Texaco, MAN, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, LG, Samsung, CNJPC.

Economic news sounds like victorious reports from the construction sites of socialism: in 2007, a Spanish company launched the Chirchik chemical plant; the Japanese began production at the Samarkand Automobile Plant; In 2011, Korean concerns began construction of the huge Ustyurt gas chemical complex, and the project was implemented in 2016. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Uzbekistan has doubled the volume of industry in the GDP structure.

The completion of the construction of the electrified Angren-Pap railway this year is also significant. Firstly, this road allowed Tashkent to get rid of transport dependence on neighboring Tajikistan. Secondly, at the launch of the road, Karimov’s guest was Chinese President Xi Jinping. Thirdly, Tashkent, as informed sources reported, has significantly advanced Dushanbe in the struggle for the implementation of transport projects from Europe to China.


Uzbekistan has indeed made every effort to become an economically independent and sustainable state. For a long time, the population of the republic was predominantly rural, but recently, according to official data, the share of urban residents, albeit slightly, has exceeded the share of rural residents - despite the fact that, despite the titanic efforts of Tashkent, the agro-industrial complex still remains problematic. The authorities reported growth in this sector, but the area under cultivation has been declining for a long time - however, mainly due to the abandonment of cotton as a monoculture.

Against this background, urbanization looks like a rather predictable phenomenon. Although population growth is ongoing, it is already slowing down; in the 2010s, experts said that this trend is rather favorable for the republic, although judging by the number of citizens of Uzbekistan working abroad (mainly in Russia), it is easy to see that the country’s national economy is still cannot “feed” all its citizens.

Another significant feature of the manual economy is the thriving black market. Official and market exchange rates vary widely, causing many citizens and businesses to avoid taxation. At the same time, the legislation of Uzbekistan does not contribute in any way to leaving the shadows - the progressive tax scale does not encourage people to demonstrate high incomes.
Final Law


Karimov was also involved in state building in the field of non-public politics - organizing the system of elites. It is clear that movements in the highest echelons of power and discussions about clans more often resemble fortune telling or sayings of “Kremlinologists,” but based on some signs it can be stated that the President of Uzbekistan did everything to prevent an intra-elite conflict. After the 2005 Andijan uprising, he revised personnel policy in the region. By the way, the first secretary Usmankhodjaev, convicted in the 80s, under whom the “cotton case” began to develop (the fight against cadres from the Samarkand clan), belonged to another clan - the Fergana one. So the version that a dissatisfied part of the elite decided in this way to replay the results of the post-Soviet redistribution of spheres of influence has, although unsteady, confirmation. In general, Islam aka tried to provide the losers with some place in the sun. After some time - in 2012 - a law was adopted on the finality of the results of the privatization.

Uzbekistan after Karimov is somewhat reminiscent of the late USSR - a state with a rapidly developing economy, a strong army and intelligence services, a large and relatively poor population. The first president of the republic did the maximum in those circumstances. But the Islamist threat is as relevant today as it was in the 90s. Tashkent managed to avoid many of the consequences of the shock collapse of the Soviet economy and set a course for new industrialization. However, a large sector of the shadow economy and a huge number of citizens who have left to work abroad suggest that this business model is not effective in all respects. The actively developing economy of Uzbekistan needs foreign markets. The most obvious way out is to integrate into the projects of a larger player. Today there is only one such player in Central Asia - China. Another obvious, albeit fantastic at first glance, option is the beginning of independent expansion.

A noteworthy point: Karimov, according to his will, will be buried in Samarkand - the capital of the Timurid state. It was the legacy of Amir Timur that the first president of Uzbekistan laid as the basis of the state ideology, and the territory of the power of the Lame Old Man extended to almost the entire Central Asia. According to the official version, the burial in Samarkand is planned for family reasons - Islam Abduganievich is from there. But throughout his life he showed that the ruler of a state acts not based on the immediate situation, but with a vision for the years ahead.

The coat of arms of Uzbekistan, approved under Karimov, depicts the Humo bird - as officially noted, a symbol of love of freedom. Actually, this is a phoenix, eternally reborn in fire.