Uzbekistan was one of the first Central Asian republics to declare independence. It is the most populous of the republics with probably the most economic potential. It has large reserves of gas, coal, oil and various minerals including gold, uranium, copper and aluminium. Its industry is concentrated on the extraction and processing of these minerals but it also has some other light and heavy industrial output.
Agriculture is dominated by cotton.
Population 2,200,000 - the biggest city in Central Asia. Uzbekistan lies in the middle of Central Asia. It has borders with all the other republics and a short border with Afghanistan to the south. There are also numbers of Tajiks, Koreans and Kazakhs.