Culture of Uzbekistan
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Uzbekistan has a wide mix of ethnic groups and cultures, with the Uzbek being the majority group. In 1995 about 71% of Uzbekistan's population was Uzbek. The chief minority groups were Russians (8%), Tajiks (officially 5%, but believed to be much higher), Kazaks (4%), Tatars (2.5%), and Karakalpaks (2%)and other minority groups include Armenians and Koryo-saram. It is said however that the number of non-indigenous people living in Uzbekistan is decreasing as Russians and other minority groups slowly leave and Uzbeks return from other parts of the former Soviet Union.
When the Uzbekistan region was formed as part of the Soviet Union in 1924 the Soviet government paid little attention to which parts of the region had been settled by Uzbeks and which had not. As a result the modern country of Uzbekistan includes two main Tajik cultural centres at Bukhoro and Samarqand, as well as parts of the Fergana Valley to which other ethnic groups could lay claim.
When Uzbekistan gained independence in 1991 it was widely believed that Muslim fundamentalism would spread across the region. The expectation was that an Islamic country long denied freedom of religious practice would undergo a very rapid increase in the expression of its dominant faith. As of 1994 about half of Uzbeks were said to belong to the Islam religion, though in an official survey few of that number had any real knowledge of the religion or knew how to practice it. However Islam is increasing in the region.
Uzbekistan has a high literacy rate with about 88% of adults above the age of 15 being able to read and write. However with only 76% of the under 15 population currently enrolled in education this figure may drop in the future. Uzbekistan has encountered severe budgeting shortfalls in its education program. The education law of 1992 began the process of theoretical reform, but the physical base has deteriorated, and curriculum revision has been slow.
[edit] Sport
Uzbekistan is home to former racing cyclist Djamolidine Abdoujaparov. Abdoujaparov has won the points contest in the Tour de France 3 times, each time winning the coveted green jersey. The green jersey is second only to the yellow jersey. Abdoujaparov was a specialist at winning stages in tours or one day races when the bunch or peloton would finish together. He would oftern 'sprint' in the final kilometer and had a reputation as being dangerous in these bunch sprints as he would weave side to side in a sprint. This reputation earned him the nick name 'The Terror of Tashkent'.
Uzbekistan is also the home of the International Kurash Association. Kurash is an internationalized and modernized form of the traditional Uzbek fighting art of Kurash.
[edit] See also
- This article contains some text originally adapted from the public domain Library of Congress Country Study for Uzbekistan at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/uztoc.html
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