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| DESTINATIONS ► Uzbekistan ► Samarqand- shining face of the Earth |
The republic of Uzbekistan (447.000 km2) is located in the desert regions of central Asia. In 1991 Uzbekistan declared about its independence.
Uzbekistan borders with 5 states: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Capital : Tashkent.
Official language : Uzbek. Russian is the language of communication.
Population : In Uzbekistan live the representatives of more than 120 nationalities, 75% of them are Uzbeks, 5 %Russians, 5 % Tajiks, 4 %Tatars, 3 % Kazakhs, and also Kyrgyzians, Karakalpaks, Turkmens, Koreans, Ukrainians and Armenians.
Religion : Major portion of the population (about 27 mln.) confesses Islam. In addition to this there are adherents of Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.
The climate : of Uzbekistan is hot, dry and sharply continental. The north of republic relates to that moderated, the extreme south - to subtropical zones. Warm winter and hot prolonged summer is characteristic for Uzbekistan. Coldest month in the year - January, the hottest - July.
Nature : The large part of the territory of Uzbekistan is occupied with deserts. Southeast of Aral Sea in the valley of Turan stretches desert Kyzyl Kum, which occupies four tenth territories of Uzbekistan and stretches to the adjacent territory of Kazakhstan. It is interrupted only by several residual mountainous areas, which reach height 920 m. To the south from there lies the large steppe landscape, through which flows Amu-Dar'ya. In the east of Uzbekistan lie Turkistan Mountains and foothill landscapes of Tien Shan. |
Samarkand- shining face of the Earth |
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Samarkand one of the ancient cities of the east and world - is formed approximately in 5th century B.C This makes it possible to include city in the range of such main cultural centers as Rome, Athens, Yerevan. Not any other city is surrounded by such quantity of legends and tales. Samarqand - one of the amazing cities, which combines eastern beauty, excellent monuments of the architecture of the middle ages with the modern architecture. In XIV century Tamerlan made it capital of his great Asian empire. He and his followers invited into Samarkand the best masters and the scientists of the east. Many monuments of Samarkand relate to those periods: the mosque Bibi Khanim, which is considered as the largest and most beautiful mosque of the east, the mausoleum Gur- Emir, where was buried Tamerlan. The main area of old Samarkand, Registan, is picturesquely surrounded by three madrassah (the educational institution of Moslems): the madrassahs of Ulugbek, Sher Dor and Tillyakori. Not far from the observatory of Ulugbek located dead city Shakhi Zinda with many mausoleums, which relate to the different epochs. Even at the beginning of 20th century for those who are not Muslim it was forbidden to enter into this place of pilgrimage. Here also you can see the majestic monuments of the architecture of the epoch of Tamerlan. |
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