During the early days of the Soviet Union, Stalin organized the amorphous mass known as Central Asia into a series of ‘stans’, or homelands, to better control these large geographic areas. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, all of these ‘stans’ threw off the yoke of Russian control, reinstituted place names in their own languages instead of Russian, and even moved capital cities around. It was a chaotic time for cartographers, but reasonable stability emerged over time, and the home of the Uzbeks has become a shining light of tolerant tourism. Names such as Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara have resonated over the centuries as major centres along the Great Silk Road from China. Today, Uzbekistan is emerging as the epitome of all the ‘stans’, with the northwest portion being Kazaks, the region south of Bukhara being Turkmens, the region just south of Tashkent being Tajik, and the region just north of Namangan being Kyrgyz. Tashkent itself is very close to the Kazak border, so the country is a melting pot of various nationalities. This leads to diversity, but also to compromises that need to be carefully navigated. ITMB has had a map of Uzbekistan for several years, but usually as a part of Central Asia, or combined with Kazakhstan. Lan and I spent two weeks exploring Uzbekistan and it became quite clear that this large country needed its own map, including insets of Tashkent and Samarkand.
Map size: 27*39"
This map is also available in digital format and flat map for $39.95 (per side). Please contact map@itmb.com if you would want to place an order or for more information.
Please click
here to have an overview of the map
