Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Ikonos satellite image. Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan with a population, as of 2000, of around 2.1 million. Uzbekistan is a former Soviet republic and much of the city's historic architecture was destroyed during the 1917 revolution. A devastating earthquake in 1966 flattened most of what little was left. Photographed on 21 August 2000.