Nukus is capital of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, which occupies 37% of the territory of Uzbekistan. It is a city in northern Uzbekistan. Nukus located in the central part of Karakalpakstan on the right bank of the Amu Darya River, 800 km north-west of Tashkent (1255 km by road). It is near the Aral Sea, in the midst of the Aral Sea environmental disaster, surrounded by three deserts - Kum (Red Sands) - from the south and east, the Karakum (Black Sands) and rocky desert - Ustyurt, which in recent years has joined the fourth - Aralkum or Accum (White Sands, the salt from the bottom of the drying up of the Aral Sea). Nukus is located 76 meters above sea level.