Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia. It is surrounded by five countries: Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, making it one of only two doubly landlocked countries on Earth, the other being Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan is part of the Turkic world, as well as a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Uzbek is the majority language, while Russian is widely spoken and understood. Islam is the predominant religion, and most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims.
Female statuette wearing the kaunakes. Chlorite and limestone, Bactria, beginning of the second millennium BC.
Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus. Mosaic in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Triumphant crowd at Registan, Sher-Dor Madrasah. The Emir of Bukhara viewing the severed heads of Russian soldiers on poles. Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin (1872).
Russian troops taking Samarkand in 1868, by Nikolay Karazin
A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie solely on endorheic basins. Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked, and three landlocked de facto states in the world. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, while Ethiopia is the world's most populous landlocked country.
Bolivia's loss of its coastline in the War of the Pacific (1879–1884) remains a major political issue
