#uzbekian

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UZBEKISTAN. Uzbek girls from Bukhara.

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While Islam is often associated with the Arabs, Harvard's Richard N. Frye observed that "with few exceptions, most Muslim scholars both in the religious and intellectual sciences were non-Arabs." They were primarily Persians and Central Asians. A few Central Asian intellectuals.

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina, who grew up in Bukhara (today in Uzbekistan), was a polymath and wrote Canon of Medicine, which was translated into Latin, and triggered the start of modern medicine in the West. (It's not him in the Picture)

Another polymath was Al-Khwārizmī, whose "systematic approach to solving linear and quadratic equations led to algebra"; he also made contributions to geography, astronomy, and cartography.

The famous poet, Omar Khayyam, constructed a geometrical theory of cubic equations. He might have been the first to accept irrational numbers as numbers.

All of them had many more achievements, and of course there were many more intellectuals still; and major contributions were made also to optics, chemistry, geology, history, architecture, and other fields. One of the first maps to include Japan was made, subarashii! The fields of anthropology, intercultural studies, comparative linguistics, and comparative religion were founded.

Photograph: Michael Huniewicz                

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UZBEKISTAN. Samarkand. So called Silk-road. One of the early examples of globalisation, the 6,500 km long series of trade routes that used to connect the West (especially Italy) with the East (especially China). It was in operation from about the 2nd century BC to the 15th century AD.The term itself was coined by a German traveller, Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, around 1877.    Photograph: Michael Huniewicz

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UZBEKISTAN. Shah-i-Zinda, the Samarkand necropolis. There is a local legend that says that Kusam ibn Abbas, the cousin of the prophet Muhammad, was buried there. His head was cut off, but he picked it up and went into the deep well, where he's still living now. Some mausoleums here are from the 9-14th centuries, while others are from the 19th century.                                 Photograph: Michael Huniewicz               

It is Islam conquest that initially brought prosperity in the 8th century.These days, Central Asia is valued for its natural resources rather than intellectual achievements. Central Asia used to be the centre of civilisation, the most advanced place on earth, roughly between the 8th and 12th centuries. At that time, Western Europe was a primitive wasteland inhabited mostly by barbarians, and ruled by the Catholic Church.

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UZBEKISTAN. Bukhara by Eric Broncard

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UZBEKISTAN by Michael Huniewicz