Central Asia

The notion of "Central Asia" for Russia was the result of a gradual, often haphazard advance southward during the country's history. The region has been called different terms in the past and it was not until the twentieth century that one saw the term "Central Asia and Kazakhstan" noted. Politically, it still is often restricted to the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. However, from a cultural perspective, "Central Asia" often encompasses a broader territorial range, that includes Afghanistan, Xinjiang (China), and the Northwest Territories of Pakistan.

Historically, Central Asia has often been called the last colonial holding of the Russian Empire, a possession acquired during the famed "Great Game" struggle with the British Empire. The region of what is today Kazakhstan was incorporated into the Russian empire as early as the eighteenth century, when the Tsarist government signed treaties with the various nomadic hordes that controlled the vast swaths of steppe territory. The purpose of these agreements was to allow Russian agricultural settlements to develop and, more important, to permit a secure trade route to the Russian holdings in eastern Siberia and the Far East. Indeed, the cities that currently exist in southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan - Orenburg, Omsk, Tomsk, Semi-palatinsk, Pavlodar - were initially developed as "fortress towns" to protect the fur trade to and from the Far East.

Farther south, the conquest took more time. Early Russian forays into Central Asia took place in the sixteenth century, when Muscovy traders established contacts with the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva. However, relations were minimal for the next two centuries. It was not until the 1800s that tensions along the southern border prompted Russian military units to step up their activities. On one hand, the regional khanates were accused of kidnapping Russian settlers farther north and selling them into slavery. More significantly, Russia found itself in competition with the British Empire over control of the larger region between their empires south of Russia and north of India.

Consequently, Russian military units methodically captured one city after another in the 1850s and 1860s, with the fall of Tashkent and Bukhara in 1865 and 1868, respectively, being key events. By the 1870s, the region was either under direct Russian rule or controlled by two Russian protectorates - Bukhara and Khiva. While there were periodic anti-Russian revolts, none were significant enough to threaten stability in the region.

Central Asia was important to Russia for several reasons. First, it became a core supplier of raw materials. Not only were food and livestock important commodities in the region, but so were exportable industrial products. Minerals, coal, and timber from the northern parts of the region and cotton from the central and southern parts were integrated into the Russian economy. In particular, the shortage of cotton on the international market caused by the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) prompted Russian officials to expand cotton production in Central Asia for domestic use and for international trade purposes.

Second, Central Asia was strategically important. As noted, Russia found it was competing with Great Britain over South Asian possessions in what was often dubbed "the Great Game." As Russia expanded its control over the steppes of Kazakhstan and into the settled regions of Turkestan, attention was directed southward. It was not until the negotiated border agreement of 1895 that Russia and Great Britain came to terms with their respective holdings in Asia-Russian territory being what is today "Central Asia," and British territory being the regions of Pakistan and India. Afghanistan was seen as a "neutral buffer state," albeit under British influence.

Within the Russian-controlled region of Central Asia, major settlements in the north included the strategic Orenburg, Pavlodar, and Semi-palatinsk. Further south, the cities of Vernyy, Pishpek, and Tashkent were critical. Some of these cities, such as Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva, were ancient cities with large indigenous populations. Others were Russian - dominated settlements. Railway lines connected all of these cities by the early twentieth century, making it easier for Russians to travel through the region.

The Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War were periods of great turmoil in Central Asia. It was not until 1922 that the Red Army forces under General Frunze were able to quell all significant opposition to the regime-both "White Army" forces and nationalist movements representing indigenous groups. The last "Basmachi" incursion into Central Asia took place in 1936, by which time the region was firmly in Soviet hands.

Throughout the Soviet period, Central Asia remained a source of raw materials. A more sinister usage of Central Asia for the Soviet state was the creation of detention camps within the Gulag system. Located in the western regions of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan - around the Aral Sea - these camps held thousands of political prisoners through the 1980s. In addition, Central Asia remained a "destination of exile" for other political dissidents who were forced to move from Russia proper. Indeed, this "tradition" predated the Soviet era. Under Josef Stalin, entire ethnic groups were deported to Central Asia, especially in the 1940s. Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Volga German, and others were sent to Central Asia as they were suspected of being Nazi sympathizers during World War II. Koreans that traditionally lived in the Soviet Union near the Korean peninsula were also deported to Central Asia in the 1950s. It was not until the 1980s that many of these peoples were able to return to their native lands.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the independent states of Central Asia have remained important to Russia. For much of the 1990s, indeed, Russian leaders considered it part of their "Near Abroad." Even in the early twenty - first century, there is a sense that Central Asia is part of the Russian national security interest region. Trade relations, although decreasing since the Soviet era, remain significant. Energy transfer routes often pass through Russia and many communication links are still northward. There is also a cultural link that is somewhat important to Russia. Several million Russians continue to live in Central Asia, particularly in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. While this was often deemed a source of potential conflict, it is more the case that Russians living in Central Asia will become less attached to Russia proper as time passes.

One interesting trend that has taken place since the early 1990s is the change in nomenclature in the region. In Turkmenistan, for example, the city of Krasnovodsk has been renamed Turkmenbashi (after the current Turkmen president). In Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic, there have been some changes of names for mountains (Pik Somoni instead of Pik Kommunizm in Tajikistan) and regions ("wiloyat" instead of "oblast"). One finds the most significant name changes in Kazakhstan. Semipalatinsk has been renamed Semei, Alma - Ata has been renamed Almaty, and Akmola has been renamed Astana, to name a few. This sort of "cosmetic change" is important in the development of regional identities and is expected to continue. In addition, the use of Russian language and the Cyrillic alphabet are decreasing, further noting a cultural distancing from Russia.

Ultimately, Central Asia remains important to Russia, but in a limited way. Central Asian countries have increased their ties to other countries, such as China, Turkey, and the United States. In addition, as energy exports from Central Asia increase, Russia will find itself sharing influence in the region.

Bibliography

Allison, Roy and Johnson, Lena, eds. (2001). Central Asian Security: The New International Context. London: RIIA.

Allworth, Edward, ed. (1994). Central Asia: 130 Years of Russia Dominance, A Historical Overview. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Bennigsen, Alexandre, and Wimbush, S. Enders. (1985). Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide. London: C. Hurst and Company.

Grousset, Rene. (1970). The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, tr. Naomi Walford. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Hopkirk, Peter. (1994). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Kodansha International.

Khalid, Adeeb. (1998). The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia. Berkeley: The University of California Press.

Olcott, Martha Brill. (1996). Central Asia's New States: Independence, Foreign Policy, and Regional Security. Washington, DC: USIP Press.

Oliker, Olga, and Szayana, Thomas S., eds. (2003). Fault-lines of Conflict in Central Asia and the South Caucasus: Implications for the U.S. Army. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

Roi, Yaacov, ed. (1995). Muslim Eurasia: Conflicting Legacies. London: Frank Cass.

Roy, Olivier. (2000). The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York: NYU Press.

—ROGER KANGAS

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The mention of Central Asian foodways usually conjures up competing images of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles. In one, the roving sheep-herder astride a brawny steed, between base camp and mountain pasture, clutches a leather pouch of fermented milk. The other vision includes the long-beard in his colorful robe and headdress, enjoying perfumed pilaf in a tranquil teahouse. While scholars quibble over cultural and physical boundaries of Central Asia, culinary cultures of the region represent an intriguing mix of steppe and settlement, highlands and lowlands, Turkic and Iranian.

Culinary Culture and Geographic Setting

Generally speaking, hospitality is the defining feature of this underpublicized cuisine. For all the ethnic and geographic variations in Central Asia, the food of the region exhibits more homogeneity than disparity. Basic methods of preparation, main ingredients, common dishes, and predominant cultural traditions of Islam all reflect the enriching exchange along the heart of the storied Silk Road. The regional larder consists of mutton, rice, cumin, coriander, cilantro, dill, nuts, tea, dried fruits, and yogurt, distinguishing it from Chinese and European fare. Meal preparation is often conducted outside over fire, with cast-iron cauldrons (kazan) for frying, simmering, and steaming; open-flame braziers for grilling; and tandir ovens for roasting meats and baking breads. Customary dishes throughout the region include soups and stews, pilafs, noodles, steamed dumplings, grilled meats on skewers, flatbread, savory pastries, and halvah.

The geographical limits of Central Asia, once called Turkistan, include the Soviet successor states (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan), and Xinjiang in northwest China. Others do not hesitate to add other Turkic-language areas, like the Caucasus, Turkey, and parts of Siberia, while some embrace Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, Pakistan, and even Tibet in the Central Asian cultural orbit.

The thriving culture of Iran was the primary influence on Central Asian society, with later Arabic and Mongol contributions. One hundred and fifty years of Russian power and fifty years of intensive Chinese subjugation of the region have considerably altered the foodways. Well-documented Soviet problems of collectivization and distribution homogenized local diets. The turbulent history of Xinjiang continues, with Chinese migrants and laborers, particularly from Sichuan, flooding the region after the 1960s, dropping the Turkic Uighur population from roughly 75 percent to less than 50 percent. In China proper, Uighur cuisine is segregated and disparagingly referred to as Muslim food.

Diet and Foodstuffs

Greek humoral theory, as propagated by ibn Sina of the eleventh century, still affects the diet of millions in the region. Combined with traditional Chinese thought, Central Asians consider food to have either "hot" or "cold" (Farsi, sardi or garmi) qualities, serving both medicinal and nutritive functions. Three meals a day are standard, each including tea and flatbread (nan or naan). The largest meal is usually taken in the evening.

The spirited bazaars of Central Asia—part marketplace, part carnival, and part town square—capture the Silk Road mystique. Aromatic spices take center stage, though only cumin, red and black pepper, and coriander seeds are used in abundance. Herbs of distinction include cilantro, dill, parsley, and celeriac leaves. Seasoning is generally mild, but sauces, relishes, and even whole peppers are added for punch. Other flavor enhancers are white grape vinegar and fermented milk products. Rendered sheep fat is the general cooking oil, though vegetable oil and cottonseed oil are widely used. Olive oil and butter are not traditional cooking fats.

The Asian sun sweetens market produce. Delicious tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, and eggplants comprise the basic vegetables. The area also offers unique varieties of pungent green radishes (turup), yellow carrots (actually turnips), and a prodigious selection of pumpkin and squash. Dolma, meaning "stuffed" in Turkish, may be created from any vegetable—cabbage, grape leaves, peppers, tomatoes, and so forth—by hollowing it out or wrapping it around a filling. Spring fruits traditionally include grapes, apricots, strawberries, cherries, figs, and peaches. The tree harvest in autumn brings apples, quinces, persimmons, and pears. Winter delivers lemons, mandarins, pomegranates, and smooth-skinned melons. Melon slices are also sun-dried and braided into long ropes to take their place alongside dried apricots, figs, dates, and raisins.

Core Cuisine

Meat and rice. Lamb and mutton, mainly fatty-tailed sheep, are the favorite protein of Central Asians. The fat, which imparts a sweet and rich quality to a dish, is valued more than the meat itself. Beef and chicken are consumed in substantial quantities, and horse, camel, and goat are not uncommon. Fish, though not eschewed, is rarely available, and Islamic dietary law forbids pork. Shashlyk (shish kebab), the standard street food, is prepared with beef, mutton, or minced meat and served with flatbread and lightly pickled onions. A kebab of fresh sheep liver and tail fat is a true luxury. While Westerners forget their charcuterie traditions, no part of an animal in Central Asia is ever wasted. There are still dishes made of lungs, intestines, and sheep's head and trotters.

Pilaf (palov) epitomizes Central Asian cuisine. A ceremonial dish for guests and family days, pilaf is so ubiquitous that there is sometimes a mistaken impression that it is their only dish. Meat, onions, and carrots are sautéed, then simmered to a broth, and covered with rice. Raisins, barberries, chickpeas, or dried fruit may be added for variety. Cumin is often the sole spice, while turmeric is added on special occasions for its golden color. Similar to an American barbecue, pilaf preparation is considered a manly challenge. Working with only a woklike kazan and spatula (kapkir), an oshpaz, master pilaf chef, can serve up to a thousand people from a single cauldron, making him much in demand for festivals and weddings.

Bread and noodles. Flatbread is baked daily at home or in communal ovens. Bread is considered holy and accompanies each meal. Most baked goods are made with wheat flour, though mung bean and corn flour are used also. Some flatbreads are topped with onions, pieces of sheep's fat, or even meat. Others are glazed with kalonji, anise, poppy, or sesame seeds. In Xinjiang the round plump breads astoundingly resemble New York City bagels. Katlama, related to the Indian paratha, is flaky unleavened bread cooked on a skillet.

The steppe nomads have added flour and dough to their soups for centuries. A dish of square flat noodles topped with boiled meat is called beshbarmak in Kazak-Kyrgyz areas. From farther east come steamed dumplings, manty (Korean mandoo), vying with pilaf for the national dish in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Chinese Turkistan. Uighurs have mastered hand-pulled noodles, common in Korea and China proper. Made with only soft wheat, water, and salt, the transformation of a ball of dough into noodle threads in a matter of minutes is both compelling performance art and a dying culinary method.

A casing of dough with a typical filling of fatty mutton and onions becomes a number of other dishes simply by varying the cooking technique. If the dough is fried, the dish is called belyashi (Kazan Tartar) or chebureki (Crimean Tartar). The Turkish borek, also a fried savory pastry, may be related to the Slavic pirog, piroshki, and pierogi. Baked in a tandir, the dish is called samsa (Uzbek) or sambusa (Tajik), like Indian samosa. Steamed manty or hoshan (Kazak) are usually topped with a sauce of tomatoes, potatoes, and diced mutton. Smaller boiled versions of manty are chuchvara, pelmeni (Siberian), tushbera (Tajik), and joshpara (Farsi).

Hospitality and Traditions

Meals and customs. Central Asian cookery often requires great sacrifices on the part of the host. The Uzbek adage "Mehmon otanda ulugh" (the guest is greater than the father) remains accurate for most of the Muslim East. Generally, guests remove their shoes before entering the house and are seated at a low table (takhta) or on the floor with a kurpacha, or cushion. Diners gather around a dastarkhan (literally, tablecloth), which is an enormous assortment of food offered to the honored guest. On some occasions, men and women are separated. Special meals are eaten commensally by hand and can last for several hours with multiple courses and endless cups (piala) of tea. Though most of the region embraces Islam, alcohol is widely accepted in the successor states.

In addition to the ever-present pilaf, some distinct dishes are served during Islamic holidays. Navrus, the Muslim New Year, corresponds to the spring equinox. Halim, wheat porridge, is prepared from boiled meat and wheat grains, seasoned with black pepper and cinnamon. A children's favorite, nishalda, popular during Ramadan, is made with whipped egg whites, sugar, and licorice flavoring. Sumalak, symbolic of friendship and tolerance, is among the most traditional dishes. Prepared only by women, overnight, wheat sprouts are blended with oil, flour, and sugar and cooked on low heat. Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan with three days of feasting.

Tea and dessert. Freshly made green tea, the drink of hospitality, complements every meal. Teatime, which may occur at the slightest cause, often includes flatbread, sweets, fruits, and pastries. Dried fruit with nuts—walnuts, pistachios, and almonds—is also a perfect accompaniment. Black tea is common in the Russian regions. Both teas are served with sugar, milk, salt, butter, or even fruit preserves. Uzbeks have a custom called shapirish, whereby the hostess returns the first two cups back into the teapot to stir the infusion. Thus the tea is described as going from mud (loy) to tea (choy) to wine (moy).

As sugar cane originated in India, sweets are a gift from the south, via Iran. This tradition produces tea sweets such chakchak, fried dough with honey; urama, fried spiraled strips of dough with powdered sugar; sugar-coated almonds; and novvot, crystallized sugar. More familiar halvah and paklava are also common desserts. Sharbat is fruit juice that migrated to Europe as frozen sherbet.

Food available outside the home includes street food and that from cafés, modern restaurants, and the traditional chai-khana (tearoom). Ideally near a poplar-lined stream or in a cool courtyard orchard, it is a gathering place for fraternity and socializing. The chai-khana in many ways functions like a community center and helps preserve certain aspects of Central Asian identity obscured by colonial powers.

Regional Variations and Specialties

The cuisines of Central Asia may be divided into three overlapping groups: Tajiks, Turks, and nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes. However simplistic, this categorization provides a more coherent approach to understanding the culinary cultures of Central Asia than organization along the arbitrary national boundaries. Numerous subcuisines from other ethnic minorities, such as Koreans, Tartars, Dungans (Chinese Muslims), Slavs, and Germans add to the culinary diversity of the area.

Sedentary cuisine. The Iranian-Tajik influence extends from Tajikistan and southern Uzbekistan to Iran and Afghanistan and beyond to northern Pakistan and Jammu-Kashmir in India. These cuisines employ more vegetables and legumes, resort to complex seasonings, and boast elaborate sweets. Years of civil strife in Tajikistan and Afghanistan have devastated food supplies and interrupted traditional foodways. Generally, the farther away from the nomadic steppe, the more complex the spice blends and seasoning of the dishes. In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, an unusual dish is tuhum barak, an egg-filled ravioli flavored with sesame-seed oil. Tamerlane and his entourage of craftspeople from Samarkand, cooks included, brought the meat-eating tradition to India along with many fruits, particularly the melon and grape. The descendants of these cooks—the Wazas—are the master chefs of Kashmir.

The Turkic group of languages claims roughly 125 million speakers and stretches from Siberia to the Balkans. Uzbeks and Uighurs, as settled Turks, favor pilafs, noodles, and stews. Since the oasis civilization is a middle ground, literally and figuratively, between the Iranian courtly cuisine and the pastoral nomads, their food has become most representative of Central Asian cuisine. In Uzbekistan, moshkichiri and moshhurda are common meat and mung bean gruels. Dimlama is braised meat and vegetables cooked in a pot sealed with dough. Its origins may be tied to dumpukht in Farsi, signifying food cooked in its own steam, shortened also in India to dum, as in dum-aloo. Apricot seeds are specially treated and roasted in ash to produce an exceptional snack. Because of linguistic ties, Azerbaijan and Turkey are often included in Central Asian culinary culture, as these countries share roots, not to mention cooking methods and many dishes, with the Eurasian nomads.

Nomadic cuisine. Of all the Central Asian peoples, none has experienced such dramatic cultural upheaval due to colonization, industrialization, and urbanization as have the nomads. The traditional meal of steppe and highlands was meat on occasion, milk products, and the stray onion. As Turkmenistan is mostly desert, vegetable and grain cultivation is challenging. Chorek (flatbread), gruel, and tea remain typical for most meals.

In Soviet times the Turkmen, Kazaks, and Kyrgyz were forcefully settled into dreary apartment blocks. Separated from the land and their herds, the nomads adopted many Russian or Uzbek foods and customs. Kazaks and Kyrgyz claim as national dishes beshbarmak and kumys, fermented mare's milk. Horsemeat sausage (kazy), when served with cold noodles, is called naryn. Barley, wheat, and millet are quite common; from them comes dzarma, fermented barley flour. Boso, or fermented millet, and boorsak, a ritual dish made from small pieces of deep-fat-fried dough, are also found in Tibet by the same name. When the Uighurs and Dungans fled China in the late nineteenth century, they brought laghman, other noodle dishes, and spicy peppers that were quickly embraced by the Kazaks and Kyrgyz.

The diminished state of traditional foodways in Central Asia is often decried, particularly when judging the cuisine through the distorting prism of Western restaurant culture. These Eurasian civilizations were completely transformed during the colonial experience. However, the trend of globalization triggers entrenchment of cultural heritage and local foodways. As borders open, outside interest is countered with a pronounced revival and demonstration of ethnic identity. If domestic traditions and hospitality persevere, the Central Asian culinary arts and its foodways are bound to flourish.

Proverbial Land of Milk and Honey

Although God did not mention Central Asia when promising Moses a "good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey," the region certainly fits the description. The Eurasian herders, having domesticated sheep and goats roughly ten thousand years ago, realized that milk, in addition to the meat and wool of their flocks, was essential to their survival. The pastoralists took advantage of microbiology to improve the flavor of fresh milk, make it more digestible and nutritious, and increase its shelf life. The resulting dairy product is determined by controlling the action of bacteria, enzyme, or yeast. Milk, either fresh or skimmed of cream, may be of several sources—ewe, goat, cow, camel, mare, and dri (yak). The first step is simply separating fresh cream from the milk to make a soured clotted cream, or kaimak, enjoyed with flatbread and honey. The honey is imbued with a marvelous flavor due to the nectar gathered from cotton and grape blossoms and the varied mountain valley flowers, grasses, and trees.

Fresh milk quickly sours through fermentation in warm conditions, essentially the same bacterial process employed for pickles, olives, or sourdough bread. Yogurt (katyk) is used in soups, beverages, and even doughs to add a pleasant sourness, with the lactic acid produced by bacteria breaking down the milk sugar. With reduced lactose, the cultured products become more digestible for most Central Asians, who, along with 70 percent of the world, have a dairy intolerance. Fermented camel milk is shubat, and agaran is its cream. Mixing katyk and water creates a refreshing salty drink, ayran or chalop (Kyr), similar to the Indian lassi. Drained yogurt results in suzma, a fresh curd cheese eaten plain, in salads, or with soups and main courses as a garnish. Adding a rennet enzyme to milk makes panir or soft cheese, unaged, white, and rindless.

Kumys, fermented camel's or mare's milk, made famous by numerous Western travelers, including Marco Polo, has been subjected to both bacterial and yeast fermentation. Caucasian kefir is made with a similar process. Kumys or ayrag (Mongolian), primarily made with mare's milk, is the mildly alcoholic drink (up to 4 or 5 percent) of the nomads and may also be slightly fizzy with carbonic acid. Saba is a Kazak leather sack for making kumys that imparts a smoky, earthy quality. Refusing an offer of kumys may cause offense. Mare's milk has four times more vitamin C than cow's milk, aiding a pastoral diet scarce in fruits and vegetables. The remaining milk or whey from kumys or suzma is salted and sun-dried, formed into balls or bricks, and called qurut or qurt. This form, which is eaten often as a snack, lasts the winter months and may be added to soups or reconstituted as a drink.

Bibliography

Arsel, Semahat, ed. Timeless Tastes: Turkish Culinary Culture. Istanbul: Vehbi Kooc Vakfi: DiVan, 1996.

Dunn, Ross E. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Frye, Richard N. The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 1996.

Makhmudov, Karim. Uzbekskie bliuda (Uzbek dishes). Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 1982.

Pokhlebkin, V. V. Kukhni zakavkazskikh i sredneaziatskikh narodov (Cuisine of the Caucasus and Central Asia). Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 1997.

Pokhlebkin, V. V. Sobranie Izbrannykh Proizvedenii: Natsional'nye Kukhni Nashikh Narodov: Povarennaia Kniga (Collected works: National cuisines of our people: Recipes). Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 1996.

Zubaida, Sami, and Richard Trapper, eds. Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. London: Tauris, 1994.

—Glenn R. Mack

Central Asia
Area	4,003,400 km2 (1,545,721 sq mi)[1]
Population	61,551,945[2]
Density	15 /km2 (39 /sq mi)
Countries	Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Tajikistan  Turkmenistan  Uzbekistan
Nominal GDP (2009)	$ 166 Billion
GDP per capita (2009)	$ 2,700

Central Asia is the core region of the Asian continent and stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also sometimes referred to as Middle Asia, and, colloquially, "the 'stans" (as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with that suffix)^[3] and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.

In modern contexts, all definitions of Central Asia include these five republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan (pop. 16.0 million), Kyrgyzstan (5.5 million), Tajikistan (7.3 million), Turkmenistan (5.1 million), and Uzbekistan (27.6 million), for a total population of 61.5 million as of 2009. Other areas included are Afghanistan, Northern Iran, Kashmir, northern Pakistan, Mongolia, and sometimes Xinjiang and Tibet in western China and southern Siberia in Russia.

Various definitions of its exact composition exist, and no one definition is universally accepted. Despite this uncertainty in defining borders, it does have some important overall characteristics. For one, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road.^[4] As a result, it has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, West Asia, South Asia, and East Asia.^[5]

During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was a predominantly Iranian^[6][7] region that included sedentary Sogdians, Chorasmians, semi-nomadic Scythians and Alans. The ancient sedentary population played an important role in the history of Central Asia. After expansion by Turkic peoples, Central Asia also became the homeland for many Turkic peoples, including the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kyrgyz and Uyghurs. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan.

From the 17th century, up to the end of the 20th century, most of Central Asia has been part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, both being Slavic majority countries. As of 2011, the "stans" are still home to about 7 million Russians and 500 thousand Ukrainians.^[8][9][10]

Contents 1 Definitions 2 Geography 3 Divisions 3.1 Climate 4 History 5 Culture 5.1 Religions 5.2 Arts 6 Territory and region data 6.1 Nations with territories sometimes included 7 Demographics 7.1 Languages 8 Geostrategy 8.1 War on Terror 9 Major cultural and economic centres 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

Definitions

Three sets of possible boundaries for the region

Central Asia's location as a region of the world

The idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions.

The most limited definition was the official one of the Soviet Union, which defined Middle Asia as consisting solely of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. This definition was also often used outside the USSR during this period.

However, the Russian culture has two distinct terms: Средняя Азия (Srednjaja Azija or "Middle Asia", the narrower definition, which includes only those traditionally non-Slavic, Central Asian lands that were incorporated within those borders of historical Russia) and Центральная Азия (Central'naja Azija or "Central Asia", the wider definition, which includes Central Asian lands that have never been part of historical Russia).

Soon after independence, the leaders of the four former Soviet Central Asian Republics met in Tashkent and declared that the definition of Central Asia should include Kazakhstan as well as the original four included by the Soviets. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia.

The UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. According to it, Central Asia includes Mongolia, Tibet, northeast Iran (Golestan, North Khorasan and Razavi provinces), Afghanistan, Northern Areas, N.W.F.P., Azad Kashmir and Punjab provinces of Pakistan, Punjab, Kashmir and Ladakh of India, central-east Russia south of the Taiga, and the former Central Asian Soviet republics (the five "Stans" of the former Soviet Union).

An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity, and in particular, areas populated by Eastern Turkic, Eastern Iranian, or Mongolian peoples. These areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan as a whole, the Northern Areas of Pakistan and the Kashmir Valley may also be included. The Tibetans and Ladakhi are also included. Insofar, most of the mentioned peoples are considered the "indigenous" peoples of the vast region.

There are several places that claim to be the geographic center of Asia, for example Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva in the Russian Federation, and a village 200 miles (320 km) north of Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region of China.^[11]

Geography

United Nations geoscheme for Asia:

  North Asia

  Central Asia

  Southwest Asia

  South Asia

  East Asia

  Southeast Asia

Central Asia is an extremely large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains (Tian Shan), vast deserts (Kara Kum, Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan), and especially treeless, grassy steppes. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a homogeneous geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe.

Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming. The Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° E, to the Great Khingan (Da Hinggan) Mountains, 116°–118° E.

Central Asia has the following geographic extremes:

• The world's northernmost desert (sand dunes), at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, 50°18′ N.
• The Northern Hemisphere's southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17′ N.
• The world's shortest distance between non-frozen desert and permafrost: 770 km (480 mi).
• The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility.

A majority of the people earn a living by herding livestock. Industrial activity centers in the region's cities.

Major rivers of the region include the Amu Darya, the Syr Darya, the Hari River and the Murghab River. Major bodies of water include the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash, both of which are part of the huge west-central Asian endorheic basin that also includes the Caspian Sea.

Both of these bodies of water have shrunk significantly in recent decades due to diversion of water from rivers that feed them for irrigation and industrial purposes. Water is an extremely valuable resource in arid Central Asia and can lead to rather significant international disputes.

Divisions

The northern belt is part of the Eurasian Steppe. In the northwest, north of the Caspian Sea, Central Asia merges into the Russian Steppe. To the northeast, Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin may sometimes be included in Central Asia. Just west of Dzungaria, Zhetysu, or Semirechye, is south of Lake Balkhash and north of the Tian Shan Mountains. Khorezm is south of the Aral Sea along the Amu Darya. Southeast of the Aral Sea, Maveranahr is between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Transoxiana is the land north of the middle and upper Amu Darya (Oxus). Bactria included northern Afghanistan and the upper Amu Darya. Sogdiana was north of Bactria and included the trading cities of Bukhara and Samarkhand. Khorasan and Margiana approximate northeastern Iran. The Kyzyl Kum Desert is northeast of the Amu Darya, and the Karakum Desert southwest of it.

Climate

Since Central Asia is not buffered by a large body of water, temperature fluctuations are more severe.

According to the WWF Ecozones system, Central Asia is part of the Palearctic ecozone. The largest biome in Central Asia is the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Central Asia also contains the montane grasslands and shrublands, deserts and xeric shrublands and temperate coniferous forests biomes.

History

Main article: History of Central Asia

Geographical extent of Iranian influence in the 1st century BC. Scythia (mostly Eastern Iranian) is shown in orange.

The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography. The aridness of the region made agriculture difficult, and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region; instead, the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the steppe.

Relations between the steppe nomads and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare, and the steppe horse riders became some of the most militarily potent peoples in the world, limited only by their lack of internal unity. Any internal unity that was achieved was most probably due to the influence of the Silk Road, which traveled along Central Asia. Periodically, great leaders or changing conditions would organize several tribes into one force and create an almost unstoppable power. These included the Hun invasion of Europe, the Wu Hu attacks on China and most notably the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia.^[12]

Uzbek men from Khiva

During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, southern Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by speakers of Iranian languages.^[6][13] Among the ancient sedentary Iranian peoples, the Sogdians and Chorasmians played an important role, while Iranian peoples such as Scythians and the later on Alans lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle. The well-preserved Tarim mummies with Caucasoid features have been found in the Tarim Basin.^[14]

The main migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the 5th and 10th centuries, when they spread across most of Central Asia. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols conquered and ruled the largest contiguous empire in recorded history. Most of Central Asia fell under the control of the Chagatai Khanate.

Kazakh man on a horse with golden eagle

The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century, as firearms allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. Russia, China, and other powers expanded into the region and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. After the Russian Revolution, the Central Asian regions were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Mongolia remained independent but became a Soviet satellite state. However, Afghanistan remained independent of any influence by the Russian empire.

The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much industrialization and construction of infrastructure, but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivization programs, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. Soviet authorities deported millions of people, including entire nationalities,^[15] from western areas of the USSR to Central Asia and Siberia.^[16] According to Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale, "From 1959 to 1970, about two million people from various parts of the Soviet Union migrated to Central Asia, of which about one million moved to Kazakhstan."^[17]

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, five countries gained independence. In nearly all the new states, former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen. None of the new republics could be considered functional democracies in the early days of independence, although it appears Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia have made great strides, unlike Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.^{[citation needed]}

Culture

The Ärtogrul Gazy Mosque in Ashgabat named after the father of Osman Ghazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire

Religions

Further information: Islam in Central Asia

Islam is the religion most common in the Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan, Xinjiang and the peripheral western regions, such as Bashkiria. Most Central Asian Muslims are Sunni, although there are sizable Shia minorities in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Zoroastrianism, a religion with origins in Afghanistan, was a major faith in Central Asia prior to the arrival of Islam. Its influence is still felt today in such celebrations as Nowruz, held in all five of the "core" Central Asian states.

Buddhism was a prominent religion in Central Asia prior to the arrival of Islam, and the transmission of Buddhism along the Silk Road eventually brought the religion to China. Amongst the Turkic peoples, Tengrianism was the popular religion before arrival of Islam. Tibetan Buddhism is most common in Tibet, Mongolia, Ladakh and the southern Russian regions of Siberia, where Shamanism is also popular (including forms of divination, such as Kumalak). Contact and migration with Han people from China has brought Confucianism and other beliefs into the region.

Nestorianism was the form of Christianity most practiced in the region in previous centuries, but now the largest denomination is the Russian Orthodox Church, with many members in Kazakhstan. The Bukharan Jews were once a sizable community in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but nearly all have emigrated since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Arts

Further information: Music of Central Asia

Yama, the Lord of Death. Note the human skulls and severed heads that festoon Yama's crown and necklace, which give some concept of the size that Yama was expected to be when one faced him at one's death. This particular Dharmapala is painted wood, four feet high in total.

At the crossroads of Asia, shamanistic practices live alongside Buddhism. Thus, Yama, Lord of Death, was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge. Mongolian Buddhism, in particular, was influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. The Qianlong Emperor of China in the 18th century was Tibetan Buddhist and would sometimes travel from Beijing to other cities for personal religious worship.

Central Asia also has an indigenous form of improvisational oral poetry that is over 1000 years old. It is principally practiced in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by akyns, lyrical improvisationists. They engage in lyrical battles, the aitysh or the alym sabak. The tradition arose out of early bardic oral historians. They are usually accompanied by a stringed instrument—in Kyrgyzstan, a three-stringed komuz, and in Kazakhstan, a similar two-stringed instrument, the dombra.

Photography in Central Asia began to develop after 1882, when a Russian Mennonite photographer named Wilhelm Penner moved to the Khanate of Khiva during the Mennonite migration to Central Asia led by Claas Epp, Jr.. Upon his arrival to Khanate of Khiva, Penner shared his photography skills with a local student Khudaybergen Divanov, who later became the founder of the Uzbek photography.^[18]

Some also learn to sing the Manas, Kyrgyzstan's epic poem (those who learn the Manas exclusively but do not improvise are called manaschis). During Soviet rule, akyn performance was co-opted by the authorities and subsequently declined in popularity. With the fall of the Soviet Union, it has enjoyed a resurgence, although akyns still do use their art to campaign for political candidates. A 2005 Washington Post article proposed a similarity between the improvisational art of akyns and modern freestyle rap performed in the West.^[19]

As a consequence of Russian colonization, European fine arts - painting, sculpture and graphics - have developed in Central Asia. The first years of the Soviet regime saw the appearance of modernism, which took inspiration from the Russian avant-garde movement. Until the 80's Central Asian arts had developed along with general tendencies of Soviet arts. In the 90's, arts of the region underwent some significant changes. Institutionally speaking, some fields of arts were regulated by the birth of the art market, some stayed as representatives of official views, while many were sponsored by international organizations. The years of 1990 - 2000 were times for the establishment of contemporary arts. In the region, many important international exhibitions are taking place, Central Asian art is represented in European and American museums, and the Central Asian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has been organized since 2005.

Territory and region data

Country	Area km²	Population (2009)	Population density per km²	Nominal GDP millions of USD (2009)	GDP per capita (2009)	Capital	Official languages
Kazakhstan	2,724,900	16,004,800	6	109,273	$6,823	Astana	Kazakh, Russian
Kyrgyzstan	199,900	5,482,000	27	4,570	$850	Bishkek	Kyrgyz, Russian
Tajikistan	143,100	7,349,145	51	4,982	$766	Dushanbe	Tajik (Persian)
Turkmenistan	488,100	5,110,000	10	16,197	$3,242	Ashgabat	Turkmen
Uzbekistan	447,400	27,606,000	62	32,816	$1,175	Tashkent	Uzbek

Nations with territories sometimes included

Country or Territory	Area km²	Population (2009)	Population density per km²	Capital	Official languages
Afghanistan	647,500	31,889,923	49	Kabul	Persian, Pashto
China	9,640,821	1,338,612,968	139.6	Beijing	Chinese
Iran	1,648,195	76,923,300	45	Tehran	Persian
Mongolia	1,564,116	2,736,800	2	Ulan Bator	Mongolian
Pakistan	803,940	168,925,500	210	Islamabad	Urdu, English
Russia	13,000,000	141,945,966	8.3	Moscow	Russian

Demographics

Main article: Demography of Central Asia

The ethnolinguistic patchwork of Central Asia

By a broad definition including Mongolia and Afghanistan, but excluding Pakistan, more than 90 million people live in Central Asia, about 2% of Asia's total population. Of the regions of Asia, only North Asia has fewer people. It has a population density of 9 people per km², vastly less than the 80.5 people per km² of the continent as a whole.

Languages

Russian, as well as being spoken by around six million ethnic Russians and Ukrainians of Central Asia,^[20] is the defacto lingua franca throughout the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. Mandarin Chinese has an equally dominant presence in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

The languages of the majority of the inhabitants of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics come from the Turkic language group.^[21] Turkmen, is mainly spoken in Turkmenistan, and as a minority language in Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Kazakh and Kyrgyz are related languages of the Kypchak group of Turkic languages and are spoken throughout Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and as a minority language in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang. Uzbek and Uyghur are spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang.

The Turkic languages may belong to a larger, but controversial, Altaic language family, which includes Mongolian. Mongolian is spoken throughout Mongolia and into Buryatia, Kalmyk, Tuva, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang.

Iranian languages were once spoken throughout Central Asia, such as the once prominent Sogdian, Khwarezmian, Bactrian and Scythian languages are now extinct. The Eastern Iranian language of Pashto is still spoken in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, and other minor East Iranian languages, such as Shughni, Munji, Ishkashimi, Sarikoli, Wakhi, Yaghnobi and Ossetian, are also spoken in various places in Central Asia. Varieties of Persian are also spoken as a major language in the region. Locally known as Darī (in Afghanistan), Tojikī (by Tajiks in Tajikistan), and Bukhori (by the Bukharan Jews all over Central Asia).

Other languages and language groups include the Tibetan language, spoken by around six million people across the Tibetan Plateau and into Qinghai, Sichuan and Ladakh. Dardic languages, such as Shina, Kashmiri and Khowar, are predominant in the northern areas of Pakistan, as well as in Ladakh of India and KP of Pakistan.

As a note, Tocharian, an Indo-European language, was once spoken in Xinjiang and parts of Afghanistan, but is now extinct.

Geostrategy

Main article: Geostrategy in Central Asia

Central Asia has long been a strategic location merely because of its proximity to several great powers on the Eurasian landmass. The region itself never held a dominant stationary population nor was able to make use of natural resources. Thus, it has rarely throughout history become the seat of power for an empire or influential state. Central Asia has been divided, redivided, conquered out of existence, and fragmented time and time again. Central Asia has served more as the battleground for outside powers than as a power in its own right.

Central Asia had both the advantage and disadvantage of a central location between four historical seats of power. From its central location, it has access to trade routes to and from all the regional powers. On the other hand, it has been continuously vulnerable to attack from all sides throughout its history, resulting in political fragmentation or outright power vacuum, as it is successively dominated.

Political cartoon from the period of the Great Game showing the Afghan Amir Sher Ali with his "friends" Imperial Russia and the United Kingdom (1878)

• To the North, the steppe allowed for rapid mobility, first for nomadic horseback warriors like the Huns and Mongols, and later for Russian traders, eventually supported by railroads. As the Russian Empire expanded to the East, it would also push down into Central Asia towards the sea, in a search for warm water ports. The Soviet bloc would reinforce dominance from the North and attempt to project power as far south as Afghanistan.
• To the East, the demographic and cultural weight of Chinese empires continually pushed outward into Central Asia. The Manchu Qing dynasty would conquer Xinjiang and Tibet. However, with the Sino-Soviet split, China would project power into Central Asia, most notably in the case of Afghanistan, to counter Russian dominance of the region.
• To the Southeast, the demographic and cultural influence of India was felt in Central Asia, notably in Tibet, the Hindu Kush, and slightly beyond. Several historical Indian dynasties, especially those seated along the Indus River, would expand into Central Asia. India's ability to project power into Central Asia has been limited due to the mountain ranges in Pakistan, as well as the cultural differences between Hindu India and what would become a mostly Muslim Central Asia. From its base in India, the British Empire competed with the Russian Empire for influence in the region in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• To the Southwest, Western Asian powers have expanded into the southern areas of Central Asia (usually Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). Several Persian empires would conquer and reconquer parts of Central Asia; Alexander the Great's Hellenic empire would extend into Central Asia; two Islamic empires would exert substantial influence throughout the region; and the modern state of Iran has projected influence throughout the region as well.

In the post–Cold War era, Central Asia is an ethnic cauldron, prone to instability and conflicts, without a sense of national identity, but rather a mess of historical cultural influences, tribal and clan loyalties, and religious fervor. Projecting influence into the area is no longer just Russia, but also Turkey, Iran, China, Pakistan, India and the United States:

• Russia continues to dominate political decision-making throughout the former SSRs; although, as other countries move into the area, Russia's influence has begun to wane.
• The United States, with its military involvement in the region and oil diplomacy, is also significantly involved in the region's politics. The United States and other NATO members are the main contributors to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and also exert considerable influence in other Central Asian nations.
• China has security ties with Central Asian states through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and conducts energy trade bilaterally.^[22]
• India has geographic proximity to the Central Asian region and, in addition, enjoys considerable influence on Afghanistan.^[23][24] India maintains a military base at Farkhor, Tajikistan, and also has extensive military relations with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.^[25]
• Turkey also exerts considerable influence in the region on account of its ethnic and linguistic ties with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and its involvement in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Political and economic relations are growing rapidly (e.g., Turkey recently eliminated visa requirements for citizens of the Central Asian Turkic republics).
• Iran, the seat of historical empires that controlled parts of Central Asia, has historical and cultural links to the region and is vying to construct an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
• Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Islamic state, has a history of political relations with neighboring Afghanistan and is termed capable of exercising influence. For some Central Asian nations, the shortest route to the ocean lies through Pakistan. Pakistan seeks natural gas from Central Asia and supports the development of pipelines from its countries. The mountain ranges and areas in northern Pakistan lie on the fringes of greater Central Asia; the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan lies adjacent to Tajikistan, separated only by the narrow Afghan Wakhan Corridor. Being located on the northwest of South Asia, the area forming modern-day Pakistan maintained extensive historical and cultural links with the region.

War on Terror

In the context of the United States' War on Terror, Central Asia has once again become the center of geostrategic calculations. Pakistan's status has been upgraded by the U.S. government to Major non-NATO ally because of its central role in serving as a staging point for the invasion of Afghanistan, providing intelligence on Al-Qaeda operations in the region, and leading the hunt on Osama bin Laden.

Afghanistan, which had served as a haven and source of support for Al-Qaeda under the protection of Mullah Omar and the Taliban, was the target of a U.S. invasion in 2001 and ongoing reconstruction and drug-eradication efforts. U.S. military bases have also been established in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing both Russia and the People's Republic of China to voice their concern over a permanent U.S. military presence in the region.

Western governments have accused Russia, China and the former Soviet republics of justifying the suppression of separatist movements, and the associated ethnics and religion with the War on Terror.

Major cultural and economic centres

      Cities within the possible boundaries of Central Asia

City	Country	Population	Image	Information
Astana	Kazakhstan	708,794 (2010)		The capital and second largest city in Kazakhstan. After Kazakhstan gained its independence in 1991, the city and the region were renamed Aqmola. The name was often translated as "White Tombstone", but actually means "Holy Place" or "Holy Shrine". The "White Tombstone" literal translation was too appropriate for many visitors to escape notice in almost all guide books and travel accounts. In 1994, the city was designated as the future capital of the newly independent country and again renamed to the present Astana after the capital was officially moved from Almaty in 1997.
Almaty	Kazakhstan	1,421,868 (2010)		It was the capital of Kazakhstan (and its predecessor, the Kazakh SSR) from 1929 to 1998. Despite losing its status as the capital, Almaty remains the major commercial center of Kazakhstan. It is a recognised financial centre of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region.
Bishkek	Kyrgyzstan	865,527 (2009)		The capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative center of Chuy Province, which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province, but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
Osh	Kyrgyzstan	243,216 (2009)		The second largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Osh is also the administrative center of Osh Province, which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province, but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
Dushanbe	Tajikistan	679,400 (2008)		The capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in Tajik and Persian,[26] and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday marketplace.
Ashgabat	Turkmenistan	909,000 (2009)		The capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established by Russians in 1818. It is not far from the site of Nisa, the ancient capital of the Parthians, and it grew on the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala, which was first mentioned as a wine-producing village in the 2nd century BCE and was leveled by an earthquake in the 1st century BCE (a precursor of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake). Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road, and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century CE. After that, it survived as a small village until the Russians took over in the 19th century.[27][28]
Bukhara	Uzbekistan	237,900 (1999)		The nation's fifth-largest city and the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. Bukhara has been one of the main centres of Persian civilization from its early days in the 6th century BCE, and, since 12th century CE, Turkic speakers gradually moved in. Its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the pillars of Central Asian history and art.
Samarkand	Uzbekistan	596,300 (2008)		The second largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study.
Tashkent	Uzbekistan	2,180,000 (2008)		The capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the town and the province were known as Chach. Tashkent started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the Golestan Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the Kangju confederacy.[29]
Kabul	Afghanistan	3,895,000 (2011)		The capital and largest city of Afghanistan. The city of Kabul is thought to have been established between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE.[30] In the Rig Veda (composed between 1700–1100 BCE), the word Kubhā is mentioned, which appears to refer to the Kabul River.[31]
Mazar-e Sharif	Afghanistan	375,181 (2008)		The fourth largest city in Afghanistan and capital of Balkh province is linked by roads to Kabul in the southeast, Herat to the west and Uzbekistan to the north.
Hohhot	China	2,866,615 (2010)		The capital and largest city in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the cultural center of the Mongols in China.
Lanzhou	China	3,616,163 (2010)		The capital and largest city in Gansu Province and one of the economic center of western China. Two thousand years ago, Lanzhou was an important town on the Silk Road, a vast network of trade routes that also facilitated cultural exchanges throughout Eurasia.
Ürümqi	China	3,110,280 (2010)		The capital and largest city in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the cultural center of the Uyghurs. Two thousand years ago, Ürümqi was an important town on the northern route of the Silk Road, a vast network of trade routes that also facilitated cultural exchanges throughout Eurasia.
Yinchuan	China	1,993,088 (2010)		The capital and largest city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the cultural center of the Hui in China.
Mashhad	Iran	2,907,316 (2006)		The second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia world. At the beginning of the 9th century (3rd century AH), Mashhad was a small village called Sanabad situated 24 km away from Tus. It was not considered a great city until Mongol raids in 1220 caused the destruction of many large cities in the Greater Khorasan territories, leaving Mashhad relatively intact. Thus, the survivors of the massacres migrated to Mashhad.[32]
Nishapur	Iran	270,972 (2006)		The city is located in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad. It is the hometown of several respected Persian poets and artists, including Omar Khayyám, Attar Neyshapuri and Kamal-ol-molk.
Tus	Iran	N/A		An ancient city in the Iranian province of Razavi Khorasan. To the ancient Greeks, it was known as Susia (Gr. Σούσια). It was captured by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. The city was almost entirely destroyed by Genghis Khan's Mongol conquest in 1220.
Ulaanbaatar	Mongolia	1,172,400 (2011)		The capital and largest city in Mongolia and the cultural center of the Mongolians. The city was founded in 1639 as an initially nomadic Buddhist monastic centre. Since 1778, it has been located in the Tuul River valley. In the 20th century, Ulaanbaatar grew into a major manufacturing centre.
Peshawar	Pakistan	3,625,000 (2010)		Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, located on the edge of the Khyber Pass near the Afghan border. In ancient times, a major settlement called Purushpur (Sanskrit for "city of men") was established by Kanishka, the Kushan king, in the general area of modern Peshawar. Purushpur emerged as a major center of Buddhist learning, and the capital of the ancient Gandhara was moved to Peshawar in the 2nd century CE. During much of its history, Peshawar was one of the main trading centres on the ancient Silk Road and was a major crossroads for various cultures between Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East.
Novosibirsk	Russia	1,473,700 (2010)		Novosibirsk is the capital of Novosibirsk Oblast, located on the edge of Siberia near the Kazakhstan border. Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia and third largest city in Russia.
Omsk	Russia	1,154,000 (2010)		Omsk is the capital of Omsk Oblast, located on the edge of Siberia near the Kazakhstan border.Omsk is the second largest city in east of the Ural Mountains in Russia.

See also

	Geography portal
	Asia portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Central Asia

• Cambridge Central Asia Forum
• Central Asian studies
• Central Asian Union
• Continental pole of inaccessibility
• Economic Cooperation Organization
• Hindutash
• University of Central Asia
• Central Asians in Ancient Indian literature

References

1. ^ The area figure is based on the combined areas of five countries in Central Asia.
2. ^ The population figure is the combined populations of 5 countries in Central Asia (last updated Feb 22, 2010).
3. ^ Paul McFedries (2001-10-25). "stans". Word Spy. http://www.wordspy.com/words/stans.asp. Retrieved 2011-02-16. 
4. ^ Steppe Nomads and Central Asia
5. ^ Travelers on the Silk Road
6. ^ ^{a b} Encyclopædia Iranica, "CENTRAL ASIA: The Islamic period up to the Mongols", C. Edmund Bosworth: "In early Islamic times Persians tended to identify all the lands to the northeast of Khorasan and lying beyond the Oxus with the region of Turan, which in the Shahnama of Ferdowsi is regarded as the land allotted to Fereydun's son Tur. The denizens of Turan were held to include the Turks, in the first four centuries of Islam essentially those nomadizing beyond the Jaxartes, and behind them the Chinese (see Kowalski; Minorsky, "Turan"). Turan thus became both an ethnic and a diareeah term, but always containing ambiguities and contradictions, arising from the fact that all through Islamic times the lands immediately beyond the Oxus and along its lower reaches were the homes not of Turks but of Iranian peoples, such as the Sogdians and Khwarezmians."
7. ^ C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: Motilal Banarsidass Publ./UNESCO Publishing, 1999. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.". [1]
8. ^ http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php
9. ^ http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf
10. ^ http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0191/analit05.php
11. ^ 43°40'52"N 87°19'52"E Degree Confluence Project.
12. ^ A Land Conquered by the Mongols
13. ^ C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.
14. ^ Saiget, Robert J. (19 April 2005). "Caucasians preceded East Asians in basin". The Washington Times (News World Communications). Archived from the original on 20 April 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050420224622/http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050419-101056-2135r.htm. Retrieved 20 August 2007. "A study last year by Jilin University also found that the mummies' DNA had Europoid genes." 
15. ^ Deported Nationalities
16. ^ Anne Applebaum – Gulag: A History Intro
17. ^ "Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora". Touraj Atabaki, Sanjyot Mehendale (2005). p.66. ISBN 0-415-33260-5
18. ^ Walter Ratliff, "Pilgrims on the Silk Road: A Muslim-Christian Encounter in Khiva", Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010
19. ^ «In Central Asia, a Revival of an Ancient Form of Rap - Art of Ad-Libbing Oral History Draws New Devotees in Post-Communist Era» by Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, March 6, 2005, p. A20.
20. ^ Robert Greenall, Russians left behind in Central Asia, BBC News, 23 November 2005.
21. ^ Ethnographic maps
22. ^ Scheineson, Andrew (2009-03-24). "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization". Backgrounder. Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/publication/10883/shanghai_cooperation_organization.html. Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
23. ^ India: Afghanistan's influential ally
24. ^ India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanista
25. ^ Reiter, Erich. The Impact of Asian Powers on Global Developments. Springer, 2004. ISBN 3790800929, 9783790800920. 
26. ^ D. Saimaddinov, S. D. Kholmatova, and S. Karimov, Tajik-Russian Dictionary, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature, Scientific Center for Persian-Tajik Culture, Dushanbe, 2006.
27. ^ Konjikala: the Silk Road precursor of Ashgabat
28. ^ Konjikala, in: MaryLee Knowlton, Turkmenistan, Marshall Cavendish, 2006, pp. 40-41, ISBN 0-7614-2014-2, ISBN 978-0-7614-2014-9 (viewable on Google Books).
29. ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1963. "The consonantal system of Old Chinese." Asia Major 9 (1963), p. 94.
30. ^ The history of Afghanistan, Ghandara.com website
31. ^ "Kabul" Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge (1901 edition) J.B. Lippincott Company, NY, page 385
32. ^ Zabeth (1999) pp. 14-15

Further reading

• Chow, Edward. "Central Asia's Pipelines: Field of Dreams and Reality", in Pipeline Politics in Asia: The Intersection of Demand, Energy Markets, and Supply Routes. National Bureau of Asian Research, 2010.
• Dani, A.H. and V.M. Masson, eds. UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO, 1992.
• Gorshunova . Olga V. Svjashennye derevja Khodzhi Barora…, ( Sacred Trees of Khodzhi Baror: Phytolatry and the Cult of Female Deity in Central Asia) in Etnoragraficheskoe Obozrenie, 2008, n° 1, pp. 71–82. ISSN 0869-5415. (Russian).
• Mandelbaum, Michael, ed. Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1994.
• Marcinkowski, M. Ismail. Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Pakistan and Early Ottoman Turkey. Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003.
• Olcott, Martha Brill. Central Asia's New States: Independence, Foreign policy, and Regional security. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996.
• Soucek, Svatopluk. A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• Rall, Ted. Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East? New York: NBM Publishing, 2006.
• Stone, L.A. The International Politics of Central Eurasia (272 pp). Central Eurasian Studies On Line: Accessible via the Web Page of the International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research: http://www.iicas.org/forumen.htm
• Weston, David. Teaching about Inner Asia, Bloomington, Indiana: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies, 1989.

External links

• The Library: Central on politics, universities, culture, languages, etc.
• The famous symphonic picture "In the Steppes of Central Asia" of Alexander Borodin in Film "Moscow clad in snow", 00:07:22, 1908 on YouTube
• Central Asian Gateway Project of UNDP and CER, managed by N. Talibdjanov (since 2003).
• Modernity, State and Society in Central Asia: A Research Guide

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