Uzbek
Overview
Uzbek (우즈베크) refers to a Turkic ethnic group of Central Asia, as well as to the Uzbek language they speak. It is the mainstream ethnic group making up about 80% of the current population of Uzbekistan, and is also widely distributed in neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Historically, in Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva—the centers of the Silk Road—they formed a distinctive identity that fused settled culture with nomadic tradition.
Main Content
Ethnicity and Origins
It is generally held that the name "Uzbek" derives from Öz Beg Khan, ruler of the Kipchak Khanate in the 14th century. Later, as the Timurid Empire collapsed in the 15th–16th centuries, nomadic tribal groups that moved south combined with the settled peoples of Central Asia to form today's Uzbek people. Linguistically and culturally, Turkic traditions are central, but Persian, Mongol, and Arab influences are deeply embedded.
Language
Uzbek belongs to the Karluk branch of the Turkic language family and is divided into the Karluk, Kipchak, and Oghuz dialect groups. Until the 1920s it used the Arabic script, afterward the Latin script, and during the Soviet period the Cyrillic script; since 1993 a policy of switching back to the Latin script has been pursued. Today Latin and Cyrillic are used interchangeably, and Uzbeks in Afghanistan mainly use the Arabic script.
History
The history of the Uzbeks unfolded alongside the rise and fall of various dynasties over Transoxiana (Mawarannahr). In the 16th century the Khanate of Bukhara, the Khanate of Khiva, and the Khanate of Kokand arose and divided regional hegemony; after domination by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was established in 1924. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the independent state of Uzbekistan was born and the revival of national identity began in earnest.
Culture and Traditions
Uzbek culture developed against a background of settled agriculture and commercial cities. Navruz (the spring equinox festival), Kurban Hayit, and Ramadan are the main holidays, and a community unit called the mahalla forms the core of social life. The Shashmaqam musical tradition, which uses percussion instruments such as the daf and doira and stringed instruments such as the dutar and gijjak, has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Well-known dishes include palov (plov), samsa, lagman, and manti, and crafts such as ceramics, embroidery (suzani), and weaving also flourished.
Population Distribution
More than about 30 million people are counted as Uzbeks within Uzbekistan, with roughly 3–4 million in Afghanistan and hundreds of thousands to millions each in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Diasporas have also formed in Turkey, Russia, the United States, South Korea, and elsewhere through labor migration and emigration. In the case of South Korea, separately from the Koryo-saram community, workers, students, and marriage migrants from Uzbekistan have steadily increased since the 2000s.
Recent Developments
In 2024–2025, the Uzbek government has effectively completed the transition to the Latin alphabet and continues policies to expand the use of Uzbek in youth education and digital content. Under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's openness and reform agenda, the tourism industry has grown rapidly, bringing the cultural heritage of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva back into the spotlight, and the exchange of tourists visiting Korea and Japan and of students has also increased. In addition, as intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia has strengthened, economic and cultural exchanges with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and others have become active. With South Korea, since the establishment of a special strategic partnership in 2019, human exchanges have expanded, and the community of Uzbeks residing in the country has emerged as a major subject of multicultural policy. Meanwhile, UNESCO cooperation projects to preserve traditional crafts and Shashmaqam music continue.
Related Topics
- [[Uzbekistan]]
- [[Central Asia]]
- [[Turkic languages]]
- [[Silk Road]]
- [[Samarkand]]
- [[Koryo-saram]]