One of the regions with the most favorable natural and geographical conditions, the republic of Uzbekistan is located in the middle of the Central Asian economic area, between the two grand rivers of the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya. From east to west the country stretches for 1425 kilometers and 930 kilometers from north to south. By its size, Uzbekistan far exceeds the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria put together.
The republic borders on Kazakhstan to the northeast, Kyrgyzstan to the east, Tajikistan to the southeast, Turkmenistan to the west, and Afghanistan to the south. The total length of the state borders is 6221 kilometers.
The landscape is a combination of plains and mountains. The plains are located in the southwest and in the northwest, with the Ustyurt plateau, the delta of the Lower Amu-Darya and the Kizilkum desert. Along the western side of the plains is a former bed of the Amu-Darya. The Sundukli sands, Karshi steppe and eastern part of the Hunger steppe are situated at the extreme south of the Kizilkum, which then slowly turns into mountain foothills.
A third of the country's territory are mountains and foothills in the east and southeast. The mountains are part of the Western Tien Shan and Gissaro-Alay ranges. The highest peak is 4643 meters above sea level.
Such large depressions as the Ferghana hollow, Tashkent and Hunger steppe plains, the Sanzaro-Nuratin depression, the Samarkand hollow, and the Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya depressions separate the mountains. The Ferghana hollow is better known as the Ferghana Valley. It is 370 kilometers in length and 190 kilometers in width, which makes it the largest depression located between the mountains.
A high level of seismic activity, sometimes reaching 8 - 9 points, is characteristic for Uzbekistan. Some of the most destructive earthquakes that have occurred in the region took place in Ferghana (1823), Andijan (1889 and 1902) and Tashkent (1866 and 1966). The capital also lies in a seismic zone. A strong earthquake there on April 26, 1966 severely damaged some of its residential areas, particularly in the central part. In that year alone, more than 700 shocks were registered.
The climate in Uzbekistan is sharply continental. This means a wide range of temperatures day and night, summer and winter. Its specificity is low precipitation, low relative humidity in summer and a good deal of sunshine. Daytime in the summer last about 15 hours and no less than 9 hours in the winter.
The coldest winter month is January when the temperature in the north sometimes drops to minus 8 degrees Celsius, while in the extreme south, the temperature is usually above zero (2.8 degrees above zero, on average). Temperatures during the winter may drop to as much as 38 degrees below zero.
The hottest summer month is July, and in mountainous areas, July and August. The average temperature during this period on plains and at foothills is 25 - 30 degrees, and in the south (Termez and Sherabad) it reaches 32 degrees above zero. The maximum air temperature in the summer often exceeds 42 degrees. The summer temperature of 42 - 47 degrees is a common phenomenon on plains and in the foothills of Uzbekistan. In the desert region the air temperature during warmer months may reach up to 70 degrees above zero. (All temperatures are in Celsius).
Plenty of sun and warm temperatures in the summer facilitate the cultivation of such heat-loving crops as cotton, kenaf (ambary), grapes and figs.
The country is one of the driest areas where a very low precipitation level is accompanied by its uneven distribution. The yearly precipitation over the most of the republic does not exceed 300 millimeters. The lower Amu-Darya and deserts have the lowest level of precipitation of less than 100 millimeters eastwards of the desert plains and sharply rises nearer to mountain regions (up to 9500 millimeters).
The shortage of precipitation most seriously affects the vegetation period. There is almost no rainfall from July to September, just from one to six percent of the yearly amount. Up to fifty percent is in the spring and up to forty percent in winter. Fall has ten to twenty percent of total precipitation.
