Tashkent - the capital of Uzbekistan and Central Asia's premier metropolis, betrays little of its 2,000-year history as a crossroads of ancient trade routes. This modern city of 2.1 million people, the fourth largest in the CIS after Moscow, St....

Samarkand is the mirror of the World, the Garden of the Soul, the Jewel of Islam, the Pearl of the East, the Center of the Universe. Lying in the river valley of the Zerafshan and flanked by Pamir-Altai mountain spurs, this fabled oasis at the...

The traditional founder of Bukhara has always been the Persian prince Siyavush who built a citadel here shortly after marrying the daughter of Afrosiyab in Samarkand, but its growth has for centuries depended largely upon its strategic location,...

Khorezm has a very long history, only a few civilizations could be compared with it. Hundred years before the Great Silk Road appeared, ancient Khorezm had had links with Europe and the East, with Siberia and southern civilizations. It is a cradle of...

Khiva is the most intact and most remote of Central Asia's Silk Road cities, the final destination of a trip back through the centuries from socialist Tashkent to medieval slave town. Where Samarkand leaves the imagination exhausted, Khiva's khanate...

Timur's hometown Shakhrisabz is a small town south of Samarkand. By the time of birth of Timur on 9 April 1336 at the village of Hoja Ilghar, 13 km to the south from Kesh (former name of Shakhrisabz), Kesh was ruled by the Barlas clan, Mongols of the...

Just as Uzbekistan is the heart of Central Asia, the Fergana Valley is the heart of Uzbekistan. Over seven million people, about a third of the population, live in this fertile flood plain of the Syr Darya. .  The town of Ferghana has grown into the...

Originally known as Kermine ("Karmana") under the Bukharan Emirate, the city was re-founded in 1958, when it was known under the Russian name of Sokolov. The city is now named after the great Uzbek poet and statesman Alisher Navoi, who wrote in...

City in western Uzbekistan, capital of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic, in the delta of the Amu Darya River. Nukus is about 1255 km (about 755 mi) west of Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, and about 230 km (about 140 mi) south of M?ynoq and the...

Termez is a city in southern Uzbekistan near the border with Afghanistan. The city was named by Greeks who came with Alexander the Great. Termez means in Greek "hot" or "hot place" (Thermo or Thermos). It is still the hottest point of Uzbekistan. It...

Andijan is the fourth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the Andijan Province. It is located in the east of the country in the Fergana Valley, near the border with Kyrgyzstan on the Andijan-Say River. It has a population of 323,900 (1999...

Kokand  is a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. It has a population of 192,500 (1999 census estimate). Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent, 115 km west of Andijan, and 88 km west of...

Urgench  is a city (1999 pop. 139,100) in southern Uzbekistan. It is the capital of the Khorezm Province, on the Amu Darya River and the Shavat canal. The city is situated 450 km west of Bukhara across the Kyzyl Kum Desert. The history of the city...

Chimgan is a ski resort located in a mountain range named Tian Shan, near Chirchiq, Uzbekistan.The tourist skiing complex Chimgan is located 85 km (52.8 mi) away from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, in the spurs of Chatkal ridge on the height of...