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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Uzbekistan
Index
With an area of 447,000 square kilometers (approximately the size of
France), Uzbekistan stretches 1,425 kilometers from west to east and 930
kilometers from north to south. Bordering Turkmenistan to the southwest,
Kazakstan to the north, and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south and
east, Uzbekistan is not only one of the larger Central Asian states but
also the only Central Asian state to border all of the other four.
Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south (see
fig. 1).
Topography and Drainage
The physical environment of Uzbekistan is diverse, ranging from the
flat, desert topography that comprises almost 80 percent of the country's
territory to mountain peaks in the east reaching about 4,500 meters above
sea level. The southeastern portion of Uzbekistan is characterized by the
foothills of the Tian Shan mountains, which rise higher in neighboring
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and form a natural border between Central Asia
and China. The vast Qizilqum (Turkic for "red sand"--Russian
spelling Kyzyl Kum) Desert, shared with southern Kazakstan, dominates the
northern lowland portion of Uzbekistan (see fig. 2). The most fertile part
of Uzbekistan, the Fergana Valley, is an area of about 21,440 square
kilometers directly east of the Qizilqum and surrounded by mountain ranges
to the north, south, and east. The western end of the valley is defined by
the course of the Syrdariya, which runs across the northeastern sector of
Uzbekistan from southern Kazakstan into the Qizilqum. Although the Fergana
Valley receives just 100 to 300 millimeters of rainfall per year, only
small patches of desert remain in the center and along ridges on the
periphery of the valley.
Water resources, which are unevenly distributed, are in short supply in
most of Uzbekistan. The vast plains that occupy two-thirds of Uzbekistan's
territory have little water, and there are few lakes. The two largest
rivers feeding Uzbekistan are the Amu Darya and the Syrdariya, which
originate in the mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, respectively.
These rivers form the two main river basins of Central Asia; they are used
primarily for irrigation, and several artificial canals have been built to
expand the supply of arable land in the Fergana Valley and elsewhere.
Another important feature of Uzbekistan's physical environment is the
significant seismic activity that dominates much of the country. Indeed,
much of Uzbekistan's capital city, Tashkent, was destroyed in a major
earthquake in 1966, and other earthquakes have caused significant damage
before and since the Tashkent disaster. The mountain areas are especially
prone to earthquakes.
Data as of March 1996
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