An ethnic melting pot
In Soviet Central Asia, the ethnic groups rubbed shoulders, but never really mixed. The only mixed marriages were between Russians, Ukrainians or Tatars and local ethnic groups, but very rarely between Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Tajiks or Uzbeks. This lack of inter-ethnic marital mixing has made it possible to preserve each ethnic group's distinctive lifestyles, cultures, traditions and clothing to the present day, even though seven decades of Soviet rule and the shift towards modernity after independence have smoothed out quite a lot of differences.
But even today, one only has to walk through a bazaar or wait for a train on a station platform to appreciate the diversity of Central Asia's ethnic groups, and one cannot help but search for which community or page of history each one belongs to.
Today the Turkish-speaking peoples are in the majority, but there is a strong Tajik-Persian-speaking minority, living mainly in Tajikistan and the Zeravchan Valley in Uzbekistan. Tajiks can also be found in the Nurat Mountains south of Lake Aydar Kul, and they are in the majority in Bukhara and Samarkand, historically Persian cities that Stalin's territorial division of the Uzbek side of the border brought down as a result of Stalin's territorial division.Majority Uzbeks
Uzbeks are the largest ethnic community in Central Asia, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the population of the five Central Asian republics. In Uzbekistan itself, they make up three quarters of the population, but are 2 per cent in Kazakhstan, 10 per cent in Turkmenistan, nearly 15 per cent in Kyrgyzstan and as much as 25 per cent in Tajikistan. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, they are mainly concentrated in the Ferghana Valley, a historically Uzbek stronghold, but which was divided between the three republics by Stalin when the borders were drawn.
The second community in Uzbekistan is not made up of an ethnic group from Central Asia, but of Russians who remained after independence. They make up 5% of the population, almost on a par with the Tajiks, who account for just under 5%. To complete the picture, we should also mention the Kazakhs (about 4%), the Karakalpaks (2%), the Tatars (2%), the Koreans (1%) and the Ukrainians (1%). The remaining 5% are made up of dozens of groups, sub-groups or simple clans of different ethnicities: Chechens, Belarusians, Germans, Armenians... immigrants or forcibly displaced persons under Soviet occupation.
All these populations received Uzbek citizenship at independence, but the sense of ethnicity dominates to a large extent.Who are the Uzbeks?
The Uzbeks are an ethnic group of Turkish-speaking, Muslim, Sunni and Sunni Muslims, historically settled since the early 16th century in present-day Uzbekistan, in the Tajik and Kyrgyz part of the Ferghana Valley and in northern Afghanistan, around Mazar-i-Sharif.
But just as Turks do not originate from Istanbul, Uzbeks do not have their cradle in Uzbekistan. They have their origins in Ozbeg khan, one of the leaders of the Golden Horde. Descended from Kazakhstan at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Horde dispersed, they drove the Timurids out of what is now Uzbekistan behind their leader Chaybani khan, to forge a new kingdom. They then settled north of Amu Darya and founded the Uzbek khanats that would last until the Soviet conquest.Other ethnic groups in Uzbekistan
The Tajiks are a Persian, Iranian-speaking, Sunni Muslim ethnic group, originally settled in Sogdiana and today in present-day Tajikistan, in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan, in the north-east of Afghanistan, and forming the majority of the population in the regions of Samarkand and Bukhara. The Tajiks were the first sedentary people in Central Asia.
The Russians or Ukrainians are all descendants of settlers from the 19th century, or who emigrated after the Second World War. When the Tashkent earthquake struck in 1966, many Russians participated in the reconstruction of the city and chose to settle there, but many of them have returned to Russia since independence. Among those who have stayed, some speak almost no Uzbek, have no family ties in Russia and find themselves strangers in the country they have always known as their own. The small German minority is descended from the Volga Germans who emigrated to Central Asia during the colonial era. Almost all of them returned to their home countries after Uzbekistan's independence and the reunification of the two Germanies, but some have chosen to stay. Finally, there is the case of the large Jewish community in Bukhara. These were mainly Eastern Jews of Sephardic rite, almost all of whom chose to emigrate to Israel or the United States in the months following independence.What language should I speak?
Uzbek is part of the Turkish language group, which is the majority in the region. Of the five Central Asian republics, only the Tajiks speak Iran. Uzbek in the Ferghana Valley is considered the purest, and the inhabitants of Khorezm, on the other side of the country, do not always understand their eastern compatriots. A large part of the population speaks Russian, more or less well but always enough to make themselves understood. The older people speak it very well, even if they have sometimes forgotten it a little in the countryside, and so do the working people. Children do not speak Russian, except those who are sent to Russian or Russian-Uzbek schools. It is when they enter the labour market that language usually becomes important in everyday life. Learning is greatly facilitated by the omnipresence of the Russian media: television broadcasts all Russian channels (entertainment, news, lifestyle, sports...).
As for other foreign languages, more and more schoolchildren and students are learning English. In the major tourist centres, you will have no difficulty in finding English-speaking interlocutors. French is also on the rise and many tourist agencies are able to provide French-speaking guides of a good level.
