Uhum village
Uhum village has two schools and a new technical collage built in 2009. There are several small shops where basic groceries as well as biscuits, sweets, mineral water, beer, wine and cigarettes can be obtained. On Sunday, a village bazaar is held, where vendors from the region offer their products. Uhum has a health post with a doctor and a nurse. There are seven cemeteries in Uhum, some of them are ancient. In the village there are five electric and three water driven mills for grinding grain. Uhum has a hair dresser near the bus station. In the Uhum valley, there is no mobile phone reception. All the houses in Uhum connected to electricity network.
Uhum is one of the biggest villages in the Nuratau Mountains. The valley stretches out for 15 km. The name Uhum originates from the Sogdian word Axm, which means « fearless warrior».
On the way to Uhum, you pass two small settlements: Sirtikon, which means “near the mine” and Mula, which means “remote place”. These villages have only developed recently. However, in Sirtikon, remnants of an old copper mine, dating back to Mongolian times have been found. Entering Uhum village you can see the remains of a stone wall, called “Shaxi Ali”, which defended the village from attacks of the nomads from the Kyzylkum steppe. The exact date when it was built is not known.
In the village Uhum there are five ancient mosques and seven old cemeteries (Chilgazato, Guji G’ozi, Xazrati Bibi, Shoxidon, Azizon, Xisorato, Xazrati Eshonbobo). Other interesting historical sites are the ruins of the ancient Xonkeldi fortress in Uhum and the ruins of Korg’on fortress in Upper Uhum and a small petroglyphs site.
Uhum was one of the villages of the Bukhara Emirate. When the Russian empire conquered Bukhara, also Uhum was overpowered by the troops of the Russian commander Abramov in December 1867.
It has never been easy to survive on the sparse resources of Uhum valley. Hence, the resident population used to subdue the neighboring villages in order to increase their livestock and acquire other goods.
Uhum used to be a larger village in the past. In the 1950th the Soviet Government moved 608 families to other regions (Jizzakh, Kazakhstan, Sirdarya) where laborers were needed in the cotton fields. This is why you will see a lot of abandoned houses in Uhum.