Prominent people in the history of Uzbekistan

Afrosiyab - Sogdian Shah.

Gavkharshadbegum - Widow of Shukhrukh, son of Timur, she was temporary governor while raising her son Ulugbek.

Kanishka (79 to 140 AD) Kushan king who favored cultural and technical development and exchange, as well as religious tolerance. Under his reign, Buddhism spread from India along the trade routes to China. He established a sponsorship system whereby rich merchants contributed building material for Buddhist sites. He fostered religious tolerance towards Zoroastrianism and the Nestorians and Manicheans.

Khudayar Khan - last Khan of the Kokand khanate.

Mani (approx. 276 AD) - founder of the religion Manichaeism (Gnostics) and played an outstanding role in the history of Central Asia, especially in Bactria, Sogdia, Margilan and Tashkent.

Roxanne (325 BC) - Sogdian princess who became the wife of Alexander the Great.

Sarai mulk Khanum (Bibi Khanum) - of Genghis Khan dynasty. Oldest wife of Amir Timur, patron of the arts, and construction supervisor of several madrassahs, mosques, mausoleums.

Siyavush - founder of Bukhara.

Tumaris (4th c. BC) - Queen and leader of the Massagets (Skyths). Her victory over the Achemenids King of Medeos was preceded by diplomatic efforts, having urged him to give up his plans for territorial expansion.

Ismail Samanid (874-907) - created independent Samanid State.

Al-Farabi (878-950) - called "the Second Aristotle".

Najmuddin al-Kubra (1145-1221) - founder of the Kubrawiya Sufi tariqat.

Khan Uzbek (1282-1342) - khan under whom the Golden Horde converted to Islam.

Shah Rukh (1377-1447) - Timur’s son and successor.

Abu al-Khayr (1413-1469) - First leader of the Uzbeks to lead them southward.

Abu Sa’id (1424-1469) - Timurid ruler.

Husayn Bayqara (1438-1506) - Timurid ruler.

Mir Ali Shir Nava’i (1441-1501) - Chagatay poet.

Muhammad Shaybani Khan (1451-1510) - Abu al-Khayr’s grandson and leader of the Uzbeks in their conquest of Transoxiana.

Abdullah Khan II (1533-98) - khan of Bukhara.

Yaqub Beg (c. 1820-77) - ruler of Kashgar during period of independence from China.

Shoqan Valikhanov (1835-65) - Kazak intellectual and reformer.

Ibray Altynsarin (1841-89) - Kazak intellectual and reformer.

Abay Qunanbayov (1845-1904) -Kazak intellectual and reformer.

Ismail Bey Gaspirali (1854-1914) - Crimean Tatar founder of the Jadid movement.

Muhammad Amin-Hoja Muqimi (1850-1903) - Uzbek poet.

Zakirjan Furqat (1858-1909) - Uzbek poet.

Sadriddin Aini (1878-1954) - Tajik-Uzbek writer.

Munawwar Qari (1880-1933) - Uzbek Jadid leader.

Mir Said Sultan Galiev (1880-1939?) - Tatar Muslim Communist leader.

Abdalrauf Fitrat (1886-1938) - Uzbek writer.

Hamza Hakimzadeh Niyazi (1889-1929) - Uzbek Communist poet.

Mustafa Chokaiev (1890-1941) - Kazak leader of Autonomous Government of Kokand.

Abdullah Qadiri (1894-1939) - Uzbek poet.

Faizullah Khojaev (1896-1938) - first president of Uzbek SSR.

Abdulhamid Cholpan (1898-c.1938) - Uzbek poet.

Musa Aybek (1905-) - Uzbek writer.

Hamid Alimjan (1909-44) - Uzbek writer.

Dinmuhamed Kunayev (1911-) - First Secretary of Kazakstan (1960-62, 1964-86) and former member of the Politburo (1971-87).

Sharaf Rashidov (1917-83) - First Secretary of Uzbekistan (1959-83) and former alternate member of the Politburo (1961-83).

Chingiz Aitmatov (1928-) - Kirghiz novelist.