evidence: The Fergana (also spelled Ferghana) Valley is like a vast oasis that lies at a convergent point of some of the great deserts and great mountains of Central Asia. It is unevenly divided among Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with most of it in Uzbekistan. It is the most populous area in Central Asia, with 11 million people, many of them relatively conservative Muslims. The Uzbekistan section is home to about 10 million people, a third of Uzbekistan’s population. It also contains the region’s richest agricultural land that have traditionally produced melons and vegetables. The Fergana Valley is separated by mountains from the rest of Kyrgyzstan. The Fergana Valley is regarded as more Islamic and less Russified than northern Kyrgyzstan. Osh and Jalal-Abad are two of the largest oblasts in Kyrgyzstan. They account for less than 15 percent of the republic’s land but are home to 55 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s population and much of its agriculture.