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Uzbekistan trivia: 46 questions and answers

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The country at a glance

  1. What is the capital of Uzbekistan?

    1. A. Tashkent
    2. B. Samarkand
    3. C. Bukhara
    4. D. Khiva
    Show the answer

    Tashkent. Tashkent has been the capital since 1930 and is the most populous city in Central Asia.

  2. What is the currency of Uzbekistan?

    1. A. Uzbekistani soʻm
    2. B. Uzbekistani tenge
    3. C. Uzbekistani manat
    4. D. Uzbekistani dinar
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    Uzbekistani soʻm. The currency is the Uzbekistani soʻm (UZS).

  3. As of 2026, Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein are the two doubly landlocked countries in the world.

    True or false?

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    True. True. A doubly landlocked country is surrounded by countries that are themselves landlocked, so reaching the sea means crossing at least two borders.

  4. Which of these countries does NOT share a border with Uzbekistan?

    1. A. Iran
    2. B. Afghanistan
    3. C. Kyrgyzstan
    4. D. Turkmenistan
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    Iran. Iran does not border Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's neighbours are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

  5. What is the state language of Uzbekistan?

    1. A. Uzbek
    2. B. Russian
    3. C. Tajik
    4. D. Kazakh
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    Uzbek. Uzbek is the state language. Russian is widely spoken, especially in Tashkent, but it is not an official language.

History

  1. In which city is Timur (Tamerlane) buried?

    1. A. Samarkand
    2. B. Shahrisabz
    3. C. Bukhara
    4. D. Khiva
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    Samarkand. Timur is buried in the Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand. He had prepared a tomb in his home town of Shahrisabz, but the mountain passes were blocked by snow when he died in 1405.

  2. Babur, born in Andijan in 1483, founded which empire?

    1. A. The Mughal Empire
    2. B. The Ottoman Empire
    3. C. The Safavid Empire
    4. D. The Byzantine Empire
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    The Mughal Empire. Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India in 1526. He was a descendant of Timur.

  3. Whose armies captured Bukhara and Samarkand in 1220?

    1. A. Genghis Khan
    2. B. Alexander the Great
    3. C. Timur
    4. D. Babur
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    Genghis Khan. The Mongol armies of Genghis Khan took Bukhara and Samarkand in 1220 and destroyed much of both cities.

  4. What destroyed much of old Tashkent in April 1966?

    1. A. An earthquake
    2. B. A flood
    3. C. A great fire
    4. D. A war
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    An earthquake. An earthquake struck right under the centre of Tashkent on 26 April 1966, and the city was rebuilt in a modern style.

  5. Uzbekistan celebrates its Independence Day on 1 September.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. Independence was declared on 31 August 1991, and 1 September is Independence Day.

  6. Bukhara was the first capital of the Uzbek Soviet republic.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    False. False. Samarkand was the first capital, from 1925 until the capital moved to Tashkent in 1930.

  7. Uzbekistan's men's football team played at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2026.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. They qualified in June 2025, the first Central Asian country ever to do so.

Food and drink

  1. Which rice dish is Uzbekistan's national dish?

    1. A. Palov
    2. B. Lagman
    3. C. Manti
    4. D. Dimlama
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    Palov. Palov, also called osh or plov, is rice cooked with meat, onions and carrots in a large cauldron.

  2. In 2016 UNESCO added Uzbekistan's palov culture and tradition to its list of intangible cultural heritage.

    True or false?

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    True. True. Master cooks called oshpaz can make palov for up to 1,000 people from a single cauldron.

  3. Sumalak, a sweet paste of sprouted wheat stirred all night, is made for which festival?

    1. A. Navruz, the spring new year
    2. B. Ramadan
    3. C. Independence Day
    4. D. New Year's Eve in December
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    Navruz, the spring new year. Sumalak is made for Navruz, the spring new year in March. Neighbours take turns stirring the cauldron through the night.

  4. What gives the green noodles of Khiva, shivit oshi, their colour?

    1. A. Dill
    2. B. Spinach
    3. C. Green tea
    4. D. Basil
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    Dill. Dill is worked into the dough, and shivit is the local word for dill.

  5. When serving tea in the traditional way, a host fills the guest's bowl right to the brim as a sign of respect.

    True or false?

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    False. False. The host keeps the bowl only partly full so it can be topped up often. A full bowl can be a hint that it is time to leave.

  6. Before serving, how many times does a host traditionally pour a bowl of tea and return it to the pot?

    1. A. Three times
    2. B. Once
    3. C. Five times
    4. D. Seven times
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    Three times. The tea is poured and returned three times, a custom said to help it brew, before it is served.

  7. Lagman, the dish of hand-pulled noodles, came to Uzbekistan from which people's cooking?

    1. A. The Uyghurs
    2. B. The Russians
    3. C. The Koreans
    4. D. The Georgians
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    The Uyghurs. Lagman comes from the cooking of the Uyghurs, and its name is probably related to the Chinese lamian, pulled noodles.

  8. Norin is a dish of finely chopped boiled noodle dough and boiled meat, often horse meat.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. The meat and noodles are chopped very finely by hand, and the dry version is served cold.

Cities

  1. The Fergana Valley town of Margilan has been famous for more than a thousand years for what?

    1. A. Silk
    2. B. Glass
    3. C. Shipbuilding
    4. D. Coal
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    Silk. Margilan is famous for its silk and hand-woven ikat cloth called atlas.

  2. Moynaq was once a fishing port on the shore of the Aral Sea.

    True or false?

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    True. True. As the sea shrank, the water retreated far from the town, and rusting boats now lie on the sand.

Landmarks

  1. Which square in Samarkand is framed by three tiled madrasas?

    1. A. The Registan
    2. B. Chorsu
    3. C. Amir Timur Square
    4. D. Lyabi-Hauz
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    The Registan. The Registan is framed by the Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori madrasas.

  2. Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva, became Uzbekistan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. Bukhara followed in 1993, Shahrisabz in 2000 and Samarkand in 2001.

  3. According to legend, which conqueror was so impressed by Bukhara's Kalyan Minaret that he ordered it to be spared?

    1. A. Genghis Khan
    2. B. Alexander the Great
    3. C. Timur
    4. D. Babur
    Show the answer

    Genghis Khan. Legend says Genghis Khan spared the minaret in 1220, when much of Bukhara was destroyed.

  4. Tashkent's Kosmonavtlar metro station is dedicated to what?

    1. A. Space travel
    2. B. The Silk Road
    3. C. Cotton farming
    4. D. Football
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    Space travel. The station honours space travel, with portraits of Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and the astronomer Ulugh Beg.

  5. The Savitsky Museum in Nukus is famous for a huge collection of what?

    1. A. Russian avant-garde art
    2. B. Dinosaur fossils
    3. C. Space rockets
    4. D. Vintage cars
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    Russian avant-garde art. It holds the second-largest collection of Russian avant-garde art in the world, much of it once banned in the Soviet Union.

  6. The Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand is the tomb of Genghis Khan.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    False. False. The Gur-e-Amir is the tomb of Timur (Tamerlane) and his descendants.

  7. In July 2026 Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. It is one of ten buildings in the site Tashkent Modernist Architecture, together with the Kosmonavtlar metro station.

Fun facts

  1. Which English word comes from the name of the mathematician al-Khwarizmi?

    1. A. Algorithm
    2. B. Alphabet
    3. C. Alcohol
    4. D. Almanac
    Show the answer

    Algorithm. Algorithm comes from al-Khwarizmi, meaning 'from Khwarazm', the region around today's Khiva.

  2. Uzbekistan shares a border with each of the other four Central Asian countries.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. It borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, the only Central Asian country to do so.

  3. What has happened to the Aral Sea since the 1960s?

    1. A. It has shrunk to a small part of its old size
    2. B. It has doubled in size
    3. C. It has joined the Caspian Sea
    4. D. It has frozen over for good
    Show the answer

    It has shrunk to a small part of its old size. It has shrunk to a small part of its old size, because the rivers that fed it were used to water cotton fields.

  4. Taking photographs in the Tashkent Metro was forbidden until 2018.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. The stations were also designed as shelters and were treated as secret, so photos were banned until 2018.

  5. In 2022 Uzbekistan won gold at which international team event?

    1. A. The Chess Olympiad
    2. B. The Rugby World Cup
    3. C. The Ice Hockey World Championship
    4. D. The Cricket World Cup
    Show the answer

    The Chess Olympiad. Uzbekistan won the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, in 2022.

  6. As of September 2026, Uzbekistan has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    False. False. As of September 2026 it has eight, the newest being Tashkent's modernist buildings, added in July 2026.

Words

  1. What does the Uzbek word "rahmat" mean?

    1. A. Thank you
    2. B. Hello
    3. C. Goodbye
    4. D. Please
    Show the answer

    Thank you. Rahmat means thank you. Katta rahmat means thank you very much.

  2. What is "non" in Uzbek?

    1. A. Bread
    2. B. No
    3. C. Tea
    4. D. Water
    Show the answer

    Bread. Non is bread, the round flatbread served with every meal. The Uzbek word for no is yoʻq.

  3. In Uzbek, "yoʻq" means "yes".

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    False. False. Yoʻq means no. Yes is ha.

  4. As of September 2026, which alphabet is official for writing Uzbek in Uzbekistan?

    1. A. Latin
    2. B. Cyrillic
    3. C. Arabic
    4. D. Greek
    Show the answer

    Latin. The Latin alphabet has been official since the 1990s. Cyrillic is still seen, especially among older people.

Phrases

  1. Which respectful Uzbek greeting means "peace be upon you"?

    1. A. Assalomu alaykum
    2. B. Xayrli tong
    3. C. Salomat boʻling
    4. D. Katta rahmat
    Show the answer

    Assalomu alaykum. Assalomu alaykum is the respectful greeting. The reply is Vaalaykum assalom.

  2. The polite goodbye "Salomat boʻling" literally means "stay healthy".

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. It is a warm, polite way to say goodbye.

  3. At a bazaar, what are you asking when you say "Necha pul turadi?"

    1. A. How much does it cost?
    2. B. Where is the toilet?
    3. C. Do you speak English?
    4. D. What is your name?
    Show the answer

    How much does it cost?. Necha pul turadi? means How much does it cost?

Local customs and tips

  1. As of 2026, within how many days of arrival must visitors to Uzbekistan be registered with the authorities?

    1. A. Three days
    2. B. Ten days
    3. C. Thirty days
    4. D. Ninety days
    Show the answer

    Three days. Visitors must be registered within three days. Hotels do it for you, so keep the registration slips.

  2. Changing money with street money-changers is legal in Uzbekistan.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    False. False. Change money only at banks and official exchange offices: street exchange is illegal.

  3. What is the name of the high-speed train between Tashkent and Samarkand?

    1. A. Afrosiyob
    2. B. Sapsan
    3. C. Eurostar
    4. D. Frecciarossa
    Show the answer

    Afrosiyob. The Afrosiyob takes about two and a half hours between Tashkent and Samarkand and continues to Bukhara.

  4. By law, visitors in Uzbekistan must carry their passport with them.

    True or false?

    Show the answer

    True. True. Police do carry out checks, so keep your passport with you.

Answer key

The country at a glance

  1. A. Tashkent
  2. A. Uzbekistani soʻm
  3. True
  4. A. Iran
  5. A. Uzbek

History

  1. A. Samarkand
  2. A. The Mughal Empire
  3. A. Genghis Khan
  4. A. An earthquake
  5. True
  6. False
  7. True

Food and drink

  1. A. Palov
  2. True
  3. A. Navruz, the spring new year
  4. A. Dill
  5. False
  6. A. Three times
  7. A. The Uyghurs
  8. True

Cities

  1. A. Silk
  2. True

Landmarks

  1. A. The Registan
  2. True
  3. A. Genghis Khan
  4. A. Space travel
  5. A. Russian avant-garde art
  6. False
  7. True

Fun facts

  1. A. Algorithm
  2. True
  3. A. It has shrunk to a small part of its old size
  4. True
  5. A. The Chess Olympiad
  6. False

Words

  1. A. Thank you
  2. A. Bread
  3. False
  4. A. Latin

Phrases

  1. A. Assalomu alaykum
  2. True
  3. A. How much does it cost?

Local customs and tips

  1. A. Three days
  2. False
  3. A. Afrosiyob
  4. True

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