Uzbekistan has much to boast about, but at the top of its list--and the list of any questing journeyer--are its magnificent Silk Road cities, living museums of spectacular Islamic architecture like fabled Khiva, Samarkand (whose Registan, Lord Curzon said, is "the noblest public square in the world"), and Bukhara, from which, the old saying goes, "the light ascends to heaven."

• TOTAL AREA: 447,400 sq km

• LAND AREA: 425,400 sq km

• WATER AREA: 22,000 sq km

• POPULATION: 27,307,134

• RELIGIONS: Muslim 88% (mostly Sunnis), Eastern Orthodox 9%, other 3%

• LANGUAGES: Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch

• CAPITAL CITY: Tashkent (Toshkent)

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: Uzbekistani soum (UZS)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC +5