A historical region of west-central Asia extending east from the Caspian Sea into western China and south from the Aral Sea into Afghanistan. It has long been a crossroads for trade and conquest between East and West.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
