Forgotten empires exist. This is no Indiana Jones
episode. There are many stories to be told about Uzbekistan’s present, but more about its thriving history. To learn about this ex-Sovjet nation’s past makes one almost nostalgic, it’s that rich.
Uzbekistan lies in the middle of an enormous piece of land that you find after you have crossed from Turkey through the mountains into Iran and from there eastwards, into the vast desert. All the countries that lie there end with -stan. This specific piece of land had been involved in power struggles with the Persians and King Alexander of Macedonia and eventually, after the Arab invasion in the 7th century, it came under muslim rule.
Because it had a central position between the western (Persia, Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, Arabia) and the Eastern (Chinese and Indian) empires, Uzbekistan has been the witness of ancient trade routes on its soil, the most famous one being the Silk Road. Gold, slaves, spices, grains, fruits, art, musical instruments and ideas, philosophy and religions were being interchanged between different civiliziations. Uzbekistan was at the crossroads of material and intellectual development.
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