The Republic of Uzbekistan is a young state, but its history goes back to deep antiquity. For centuries, this land has been a crossroads of cultures and incredible events. Here ran the Great Silk Road, and Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam developed. Timur turned Samarkand into the region’s largest cultural center, where many scholars of that time lived, worked, and labored. Armies of great conquerors of the past also left their mark on these lands—Alexander the Great and Tamerlane. “As long as the people live, the land will not run out,” says a folk proverb. So let it be.