Latest / The Story of Uzbekistan: Silk Road Kingdoms and Soviet Legacy — Fexingo History
Uzbekistan's Cotton: The Soviet Monoculture That Drained the Aral Sea
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Soviet agricultural policy transformed Uzbekistan into the USSR's cotton basket — and the environmental catastrophe that followed. They trace the origins of the 'White Gold' plan under Stalin, the expansion of irrigation canals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and the role of Uzbek cotton in the Soviet economy. The conversation covers the 1950s Virgin Lands Campaign, the decision to pivot Central Asia to monoculture, and the gradual desiccation of the Aral Sea. They discuss figures like Sharof Rashidov, the Uzbek Communist Party…
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