The peculiarity of the Jewish community of Uzbekistan, like a number of other Central Asian countries,
is the presence of two major sub-ethnic
groups of the Jewish population - European Jews (Ashkenazi) and Central Asian (Bukharian) Jews.
The first reliable evidence of the presence of Jews in the region dates back to the 4th century AD.
and by the XII century. -the first evidence of a large Jewish community (in the city of Samarkand.
By the time of the annexation of Central Asia to Russia (1865-1873), Bukharian Jews were an incomplete minority,
and an insignificant part of them on the territory of the Bukhara Emirate was (at times forcibly) converted to Islam (the so-called «chala»).
Jews compactly lived in Bukhara, Kattakurgan, Samarkand, Tashkent, Karshi, Shakhrisabz, Kokand, Margelan and other cities.