University Arturo Michelena

Faculty of Humanities, Letters and Arts

School of Modern Languages
Composition & Style II
Section 2T

Professor: Romero, Isabelle.

Student: Melean, Marialicia.

<Uzbekistan vs. Kazakhstan >

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are two countries of the Asian continent, both countries
were conquered by Russia during the 18th-19th century and would later become part of the
soviet republic, that’s one of the main reasons why they share so many aspects as a country,
both of them share Russian as a de-facto language and both of them are part of the groups
of the independent Turkish states, along with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and
Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have some similarities but differ in three
different aspects: culture, size and population.

First, the history of both countries before the Russian colonization is very different,
Uzbekistan was inhabited by nomads scytians, who begun settling down along rivers,
during the middle ages, the territory of the now known Uzbekistan were part of the
Khwarazmian dynasty, that was a Persianate Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk
origin. Similarly, Kazakhstan was also inhabited by nomads; Arabs would introduce Islam
to the territory during the 8th century, but the religion would be assimilated years later, as a
result, Islam would have joined other beliefs that were brought by others, such as
shamanism. Kazakhstan culture has changed, first after Islam became the religion of the
majority and then later, it would become more westernized, as the country began to expand
economically thanks to the economic exploitation of petroleum.

Second, Uzbekistan has an area of 447 4002 km², on the other Kazakhstan has an area
2 724 900 km² and it’s the ninth largest in the world, after Argentina that has an area of 2
780 400 km². Even though both countries are landlocked, or what is the same, countries
that are enclosed by land, Uzbekistan is the only one of the two countries that are doubly
landlocked that is in Central Asia (The other one is Liechtenstein, and is located in Europe).

Third, Uzbekistan is the most inhabited place in central Asia with a population of
32,121,000 that are divided into Uzbeks (80%), Russians (2%), Tajiks (5%), Kazakhs (3%),
Karakalpaks (2.5%) and Tatars (1.5%), according to the estimated "Demographic situation
in the Republic of Uzbekistan". While in Kazakhstan, the population is 15,460,484
according to US Census Bureau and 17,987,736 according to the UN in the revision of the
World’s Population Prospects in 2017. As reported by Republic of Kazakhstan Statistical
Agency, Ethnic Kazakhs are 63.1% of the population and ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan
are 23.7%. Other groups include Tatars (1.3%), Ukrainians (2.1%), Uzbeks (2.8%),
Belarusians, Uyghurs (1.4%), Azerbaijanis, Dungans, Kalmyks, Chuvashes, Poles and
some other minorities such as Lithuanians and Koreans represent the entire population of
the country.

Overall, it may be said that even though Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan share some
semblance, both countries vary in culture, size and population. Uzbekistan has more
population than Kazakhstan despite having a minor area, Kazakhstan is the ninth largest
country in the world but its population is very little to such a big country. Both countries
cultures were given according to the nomads that inhabited the place, and both have people
of different ethnicities living in their territory.