With the gigantic power-generation facilities from the Soviet era and an ample supply of natural gas, Uzbekistan has become the largest electricity producer in Central Asia.

As a result of this trade on what became known as the Silk Road, Bukhara and Samarkand eventually became extremely wealthy cities, and at times Transoxiana (Mawarannahr) was one of the most influential and powerful provinces of antiquity.

[30] In 327 BC, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire provinces of Sogdiana and Bactria, which contained the territories of modern Uzbekistan.

In the eighth century, Transoxiana, the territory between the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, was conquered by the Arabs (Qutayba ibn Muslim), becoming a focal point soon after the Islamic Golden Age.

Orderly succession, prosperity, and internal peace prevailed in the Chaghatai lands, and the Mongol Empire as a whole remained a strong and united kingdom, known as the Golden Horde.

[33] In the early 14th century, however, as the Persian empire began to break up into its constituent parts, the Chaghatai territory was disrupted as the princes of various tribal groups competed for influence.

[35] Timur initiated the last flowering of Transoxiana by gathering together numerous artisans and scholars from the vast lands he had conquered into his capital, Samarkand, thus imbuing his empire with a rich Perso-Islamic culture.

[36] Tamerlane also established an exchange of medical discoveries and patronised physicians, scientists and artists from the neighbouring regions such as India;[37] His grandson Ulugh Beg was one of the world's first great astronomers.

According to a 1981 Soviet study, the highest point in Uzbekistan is Khazret Sultan at 4,643 metres (15,233 ft) above sea level, in the southern part of the Gissar Range in the Surxondaryo Region on the border with Tajikistan, just northwest of Dushanbe (formerly called Peak of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party).

However, decades of Soviet policies in pursuit of greater cotton production have resulted in a catastrophic scenario with the agricultural industry being the main contributor to the pollution and devastation of both air and water in the country.

[67] The relationship between Uzbekistan and the United States began to deteriorate after the so-called "colour revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine (and to a lesser extent Kyrgyzstan).

When the U.S. joined in a call for an independent international investigation of the bloody events at Andijan, the relationship further declined, and President Islam Karimov changed the political alignment of the country to bring it closer to Russia and China.

In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the GUAM alliance (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova), which was formed in 1997 (making it GUUAM), but pulled out of the organisation in 2005.

The EU announced that it was planning to send a delegation to Uzbekistan to talk about human rights and liberties, after a long period of hostile relations between the two.

Karimova-Tillyaeva and her team have been instrumental in promoting inter-cultural dialogue by increasing European society's awareness of Uzbekistan's cultural and historical heritage.

[89] Islam Karimov died in 2016 and his successor Shavkat Mirziyoyev is considered by most to be pursuing a less autocratic path by increasing co-operation with human rights NGOs,[90][91] scheduling Soviet-style exit visas to be abolished in 2019,[92] and reducing sentences for certain misdemeanor offences.

[94] In February 2020, the United Nations announced that Uzbekistan had made "major progress" on stamping out forced labour in its cotton harvest as 94% of pickers worked voluntarily.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Vlast, and iStories, after 24 February 2022, Uzbekistan significantly increased its exports of cotton pulp and nitrocellulose to Russia, key components for the manufacture of explosives and gunpowder.

The use of child labour in Uzbekistan has led several companies, including Tesco,[120] C&A,[121] Marks & Spencer, Gap, and H&M, to boycott Uzbek cotton.

[122] Facing a multitude of economic challenges upon acquiring independence, the government adopted an evolutionary reform strategy, with an emphasis on state control, reduction of imports and self-sufficiency in energy.

Since 1994, the state-controlled media have repeatedly proclaimed the success of this "Uzbekistan Economic Model"[123] and suggested that it is a unique example of a smooth transition to the market economy while avoiding shock, pauperism and stagnation.

Corruption permeates the society and grows more rampant over time: A February 2006 report on the country by the International Crisis Group suggests that revenues earned from key exports, especially cotton, gold, maize and increasingly gas, are distributed among a very small circle of the ruling elite, with little or no benefit for the populace at large.

[110] Tight economic policies in 2004 resulted in a drastic reduction of inflation to 3.8% (although alternative estimates based on the price of a true market basket put it at 15%).

Karakalpak, belonging to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic language family and thus closer to Kazakh, is spoken by half a million people, primarily in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, and has an official status in that territory.

[184] The Cyrillic Uzbek alphabet is still widely used, and 862 Russian-language schools are functioning in the country, compared to 1,100 in 1991, despite the fact that the Russian minority there has decreased from 1,7 million in 1990 to nearly 700,000 in 2022.

[192] The press in Uzbekistan practices self-censorship and foreign journalists have been gradually expelled from the country since the Andijan massacre of 2005 when government troops fired into crowds of protesters killing 187 according to official reports and estimates of several hundred by unofficial and witness accounts.

In May 2007 UzDaewooAuto, the car maker, signed a strategic agreement with General Motors-Daewoo Auto and Technology (GMDAT, see GM Uzbekistan also).

The plant originated during World War II, when production facilities were evacuated south and east to avoid capture by advancing Nazi forces.

The government has accepted the arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union, acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (as a non-nuclear state), and supported an active programme by the U.S. Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in western Uzbekistan (Nukus and Vozrozhdeniye Island).

[207] Uzbekistan's signature dish is palov (or plov), a main course typically made with rice, meat, carrots, and onions, though it was not available to ordinary people until the 1930s.