Today we head to Uzbekistan, the world’s largest double-landlocked country. Actually, there are only two double-landlocked countries. The other is Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan is however the only country though that shares borders with all five of the other ‘Stans.

Since gaining independence in 1991 after nearly 200 years of Russian rule, Uzbekistan has been led by authoritarian governments. While Uzbekistan has isolated itself from the rest of the world, stories of its extreme national cotton harvest have seeped into international consciousness.

Cotton is a really important crop in Uzbekistan. So important in fact that the government enacts forced labour to harvest the cotton crop each year. Almost every citizen is expected to help with the cotton harvest. The cotton is then sold to the government for a low price before being sold on for a mark-up. This makes up one of the largest sources of government revenue. There are apparently very few exceptions the mandatory cotton picking labour and the cotton harvest has been known to even cause shortages of doctors and other essential workers. There have also been frequent accusations of child labour, although Uzbekistan is finally taking steps to stamp out child labour.

While cotton is Uzbekistan’s most controversial export, its largest export (financially at least) is gold. Uzbekistan mines roughly 80 tons of gold each year and has the world’s second largest gold reserves.

Uzbekistan launched Central Asia’s first high-speed railway in September 2011 linking Tashkent with Samarkand. The railway has recently lost its unique position as Central Asia’s only high-speed railway.

Today’s final Uzbek trivia tidbit is that none of Uzbekistan’s rivers make it to the sea as all of its drainage basins drain inwards. I know you’ll miss this kind of hard hitting geographic reporting next week when this project is complete!