Central Asia · UZB

Uzbekistan

The story · 10 chapters

How it was drawn

The oasis heart of Central Asia, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, fought over by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Mongols and Timur, divided into khanates, then conquered by Russia and reshaped by Soviet lines.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Uzbekistan fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Alexander's Macedonian Empire329 BC to 327 BC
Alexander takes Maracanda, today's Samarkand, in 329 BC but faces a fierce Sogdian revolt led by Spitamenes. After two years of hard fighting he wins over the local nobility by marrying Roxana, a Sogdian noble's daughter.
Umayyad Caliphate709 to 740
Qutayba ibn Muslim conquers Bukhara in 709 and Samarkand in 712 for the Umayyad caliphs. Sogdian revolts, backed by the Turgesh Turks, keep the region contested until about 740.
Tang China751
At the Talas river in 751 an Abbasid army defeats a Tang Chinese force, ending China's push into Central Asia and leaving Transoxiana to lasting Islamic rule.
Kara-Khitai1141 to 1210
The Kara-Khitai, Khitan refugees from northern China, defeat the Seljuk sultan Sanjar at Qatwan near Samarkand in 1141 and make Transoxiana and Khwarazm pay tribute, until the Khwarazm Shah breaks free around 1210.
Mongol Empire1219 to 1221
Genghis Khan invades in 1219 to punish the Khwarazm Shah. Bukhara and Samarkand fall in 1220, and Urgench is destroyed in 1221 after a long siege.
Golden Horde1387 to 1395
Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde, once Timur's protégé, raids Transoxiana in 1387 and 1388. Timur answers with campaigns deep into the steppe and crushes him on the Terek river in 1395.
Ottoman Empire1400 to 1402
Timur and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I quarrel over eastern Anatolia. At Ankara in 1402 Timur destroys the Ottoman army and captures Bayezid, who dies in captivity.
Kazakh Khanate1500 to 1723
The Kazakh khans, cousins and rivals of the Uzbek Shaybanids, fight them for Tashkent and the Syr Darya towns from the sixteenth century. Tashkent is held by Kazakh rulers for much of the seventeenth century.
Safavid Persia1510 to 1598
Shah Ismail of Persia defeats and kills Muhammad Shaybani near Merv in 1510. For the rest of the century the Bukhara khans and the Safavids fight over Khorasan and Herat, which Shah Abbas retakes in 1598.
Nader Shah's Persia1740 to 1747
Nader Shah of Persia takes Bukhara and Khiva in 1740 and makes their rulers his vassals. Persian control fades after his murder in 1747.
Russian Empire1839 to 1876
A Russian winter expedition against Khiva fails in 1839 to 1840. From the 1860s Russia succeeds: Tashkent falls in 1865, Samarkand in 1868 and Khiva in 1873, and Kokand is abolished in 1876.
Soviet Russia1918 to 1931
In February 1918 the Red Army crushes the Kokand Autonomy, killing thousands in Kokand. Basmachi rebels then fight Soviet rule in the Fergana valley and eastern Bukhara for more than a decade.
Kyrgyzstan1991 to 2022
After 1991 Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan quarrel over undemarcated stretches of their Fergana valley border, enclaves and water, with deadly incidents. A treaty signed in 2022 settles the line.

Today

Uzbekistan now

Uzbekistan is the geographic and population center of Central Asia, with a diverse economy and a relatively young population. Russia conquered and united the disparate territories of present-day Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after the Bolshevik Revolution was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic established in 1924.

Capital: Tashkent
Government: presidential republic; highly authoritarian
Head of government: Shavkat Mirziyoyev
Languages: Uzbek
Area: 448,923 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population35.7 million2023 · 6.2 million in 1950
Life expectancy72.4 years2023 · 53.3 years in 1950
GDP per person$12,5592022
Living in cities51%2025 · 28% in 1950
Literacy100%2022
Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending2.5% of GDP2018
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

China
Russian Federation

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Uzbekistan fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Alexander's Macedonian Empire329 BC to 327 BC

Alexander takes Maracanda, today's Samarkand, in 329 BC but faces a fierce Sogdian revolt led by Spitamenes. After two years of hard fighting he wins over the local nobility by marrying Roxana, a Sogdian noble's daughter.

Umayyad Caliphate709 to 740

Qutayba ibn Muslim conquers Bukhara in 709 and Samarkand in 712 for the Umayyad caliphs. Sogdian revolts, backed by the Turgesh Turks, keep the region contested until about 740.

Tang China751

At the Talas river in 751 an Abbasid army defeats a Tang Chinese force, ending China's push into Central Asia and leaving Transoxiana to lasting Islamic rule.

Kara-Khitai1141 to 1210

The Kara-Khitai, Khitan refugees from northern China, defeat the Seljuk sultan Sanjar at Qatwan near Samarkand in 1141 and make Transoxiana and Khwarazm pay tribute, until the Khwarazm Shah breaks free around 1210.

Mongol Empire1219 to 1221

Genghis Khan invades in 1219 to punish the Khwarazm Shah. Bukhara and Samarkand fall in 1220, and Urgench is destroyed in 1221 after a long siege.

Golden Horde1387 to 1395

Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde, once Timur's protégé, raids Transoxiana in 1387 and 1388. Timur answers with campaigns deep into the steppe and crushes him on the Terek river in 1395.

Ottoman Empire1400 to 1402

Timur and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I quarrel over eastern Anatolia. At Ankara in 1402 Timur destroys the Ottoman army and captures Bayezid, who dies in captivity.

Kazakh Khanate1500 to 1723

The Kazakh khans, cousins and rivals of the Uzbek Shaybanids, fight them for Tashkent and the Syr Darya towns from the sixteenth century. Tashkent is held by Kazakh rulers for much of the seventeenth century.

Safavid Persia1510 to 1598

Shah Ismail of Persia defeats and kills Muhammad Shaybani near Merv in 1510. For the rest of the century the Bukhara khans and the Safavids fight over Khorasan and Herat, which Shah Abbas retakes in 1598.

Nader Shah's Persia1740 to 1747

Nader Shah of Persia takes Bukhara and Khiva in 1740 and makes their rulers his vassals. Persian control fades after his murder in 1747.

Russian Empire1839 to 1876

A Russian winter expedition against Khiva fails in 1839 to 1840. From the 1860s Russia succeeds: Tashkent falls in 1865, Samarkand in 1868 and Khiva in 1873, and Kokand is abolished in 1876.

Soviet Russia1918 to 1931

In February 1918 the Red Army crushes the Kokand Autonomy, killing thousands in Kokand. Basmachi rebels then fight Soviet rule in the Fergana valley and eastern Bukhara for more than a decade.

Kyrgyzstan1991 to 2022

After 1991 Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan quarrel over undemarcated stretches of their Fergana valley border, enclaves and water, with deadly incidents. A treaty signed in 2022 settles the line.

Uzbekistan now

Capital

Tashkent

Government

presidential republic; highly authoritarian

Head of government

Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Languages

Uzbek

Area

448,923 km²

Then and now

Population35.7 million2023 · 6.2 million in 1950

Life expectancy72.4 years2023 · 53.3 years in 1950

GDP per person$12,5592022

Living in cities51%2025 · 28% in 1950

Literacy100%2022

Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending2.5% of GDP2018

War deathsNone2025