Central Asia is a region of
Asia from the Caspian Sea
in the west to central China
in the east,
and from southern Russia
in the north
to northern India
in the
south. It is also sometimes known as
Middle
Asia or
Inner
Asia, and is within the scope of the wider
Eurasian continent.
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. 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.
In modern
context, Central Asia consists of the five former Soviet
republics of
Kazakhstan
, Kyrgyzstan
, Tajikistan
, Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan
. Other areas are often included such as
Mongolia
, Afghanistan
, northern-Pakistan
, north-eastern
Iran, north-western
India
, and western parts of the People's
Republic of China
such as Xinjiang.
South-western and middle China such as
Tibet Autonomous Region,
Qinghai
, Gansu
and Inner Mongolia, and southern parts of
Siberia
may also be
included in Central Asia.
During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was a
predominantely
Iranian region that
included sedentary
Sogdians,
Chorasmians and semi-nomadic
Scythians,
Alans. The ancient
sedentary population played an important role in the history of
Central Asia.
Tajiks,
Pashtuns,
Pamiris and other
Iranian groups are still present in the region. After expansion by
Turkic peoples, central Asia became
also the homeland for many
Turkic
peoples, including the
Uzbeks,
Kazakhs,
Kyrgyz, and
Uyghurs, and Central Asia is sometimes referred to
as
Turkestan.
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. Many text
books still refer to this area as
Turkestan, which was the name used prior to
Stalin's rule.
The most
limited definition was the official one of the Soviet Union
that defined the "Middle Asia" as consisting solely
of Uzbekistan
, Turkmenistan
, Tajikistan
, and Kyrgyzstan
, but did not include Kazakhstan
, Afghanistan
and Mongolia
. This definition was also often used outside
the USSR in this period.
However, the
Russian language has
two distinct terms: Средняя Азия (
Srednyaya Aziya 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 (
Tsentral'naya Aziya or "Central Asia",
the wider definition which includes "Central Asian" lands that have
never been part of historical Russia). However, there lacks a
meaningful distinction between the two in the
English language; and so "Central Asia" is
used for both Russian usages, thus creating some confusion.
Soon after
independence, the leaders of the five 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
and the N.W.F.P.
province of Pakistan, Kashmir
and Ladakh
districts 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 of India may also be included. The
Tibetans and
Ladakhi
are also included. Insofar, 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 the Tuvan Republic in the Russian
Federation
, and a village North of Urumqi
, Xinjiang, China
.
Geography
[[Image:Central Asia climate.jpg|thumb|375px|
Climate map of Central Asia. This map clearly
illustrates the boundaries of Central Asia.
From the northwest,
the mountain climate (purple) extends from the Caucasus, through Iranian
Azerbaijan
, along the Iranian border, through Afghanistan
, and Pakistan
and into Tibet in the
southeast. The steppe climate (peach) extends from the
North Caucasus in the northwest, over the Caspian Sea
, through Kazakhstan
, and around Mongolia
in the northeast. The arid climates of
the Ferghana
Valley
, Takla
Makan
and Gobi deserts are also
prominently visible. The labels refer to the
Trewartha climate
classification scheme.
]]
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 homogenous geographical
zone known as the
Euro-Asian
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° east,
to the Great
Khingan
(Da Hinggan) Mountains, 116°–118°
east.
Central Asia has the following geographic extremes:
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
and the Hari 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.
Climate
Since Central Asia is not buffered by a large body of water,
temperature fluctuations are more severe.
According to the
Köppen climate
classification 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
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.
During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, southern Central Asia
was inhabited predominantly by speakers of
Iranian languages. 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 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.
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 nineteenth 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, from western areas of the
USSR to Central Asia and Siberia
.
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. Other parts of
Central Asia remain part of China or Russia.
Culture
Religions
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 sizeable
Shia minorities in Afghanistan.
Islam is also the most prevalent religion in Northern
Pakistan and northwest-India
.
Buddhism was prominent in
Central Asia prior to the arrival of Islam, and the
transmission of Buddhism
along the Silk Road eventually brought the religion to China.
Tibetan Buddhism is most common in Tibet,
Mongolia, Ladakh
and the
southern Russian regions of Siberia, where Shamanism is also popular. Increasing
Han Chinese migration westward since the
establishment of the PRC 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
Bukharian
Jews were once a sizable community in Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan, but nearly all have emigrated since the
Collapse of the Soviet Union
and the revival of Islam in the region.
Arts
At the crossroads of Asia, shamanist practices live alongside
Buddhism. Thus
Yama, Lord of Death,
was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge. Mongolian
Buddhism in particular influenced 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.
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.
Central Asia also has an indigenous form of improvisational
oral poetry which is over 1000 years
old. It is principally practiced in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by
akyns, lyrical improvisationists. They will 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.
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.
Demographics

The ethnolinguistic patchwork of
Central Asia
By the most inclusive definition, more than 80 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
The
languages of the majority of the inhabitants of the former Soviet
Central Asian Republics come from
the Turkic language group.
Turkmen, closely related to Turkish (they are both members of the
Oghuz group of Turkic), is mainly spoken
in Turkmenistan
and into Afghanistan
, Iran
and Turkey
.
Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatar are related languages of the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, and are spoken
throughout Kazakhstan
, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan
, and into Afghanistan
, Xinjiang and Qinghai
. Uzbek and
Uyghur are spoken in Uzbekistan
, Tajikistan
, Afghanistan
and Xinjiang.
Russian, as well as being spoken by around
six million ethnic Russians and Ukrainians of Central Asia, is a lingua franca throughout the former Soviet
Central Asian Republics.
Mandarin Chinese has an equally dominant
presence in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai
and Xinjiang.
The
Turkic languages belong to the
much larger, but
controversial
Altaic language family, which
includes
Mongolian.
Mongolian is spoken
throughout the region of Mongolia
and into Inner Mongolia, Qinghai
and Xinjiang.
East Iranian languages were
once spoken throughout Central Asia, but the once prominent
Sogdian,
Khwarezmian,
Bactrian and
Scythian languages are now extinct.
However,
the East Iranian 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 in the region,
locally known as Darī (in
Afghanistan), Tojikī (by Tajiks in
Tajikistan), and Bukhori (by the
Bukharan Jews in Bukhara
).
The
Tibetan language is spoken by
around six million people across the Tibetan Plateau
and into Qinghai
, Sichuan
and Ladakh.
Dardic languages are predominant in the Northern
areas of Pakistan and north-western India
and spread into Ladakh and NWFP and include
Shina, Kashmiri and
Khowar.
Tocharian, an
Indo-European language, was once spoken in
Xinjiang and parts of
Afghanistan, but is now extinct.
Geostrategy
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.
- 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. Manchu Qing
dynasty would conquer Uyghurstan/East Turkistan and Tibet. As part of the
Sino-Soviet bloc, China would keep 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
although has been limited due to the mountain ranges in Pakistan
(and the country itself, which has somewhat advanced greater into
the affairs of the overall region), 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 slowly waned, yet they are still
the dominant power.
- China, already controlling Xinjiang and Tibet, projects
significant power in the region, especially in energy/oil politics
(for example, through the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization).
- Turkey 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 which 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 helped to sustain
Taliban rule in 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.
- And the United States with its military involvement in the
region, and oil diplomacy, is also significantly involved in the
region's politics.
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, believed to still be in the region.
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 observers and governments have claimed that Russia, China
and the former Soviet republics have taken advantage of the War on
Terror to increase oppression of certain ethnic groups, including
minority separatist movements, as well as some religious groups.
The U.S. government, which considers Russia and China strategic
partners in the War on Terror, has largely turned a blind eye to
these claims.
Major cultural and economic centres
City |
Country |
Population |
Image |
Information |
Tashkent |
|
2,180,000
(2008)
|
 |
The capital of Uzbekistan and the biggest city in 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. |
Ashgabat |
|
695,300
(2001)
|
 |
The capital of Turkmenistan and the biggest city in
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 2nd century BCE and was leveled by an
earthquake in 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. |
Kabul |
|
3,000,000
(2008)
|
 |
The capital and largest city of Afghanistan. The city of Kabul
is thought to have been established between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE. In the Rig Veda
(composed between 1700–1100 BCE) the word "Kubhā" is
mentioned, which appears to refer to the Kabul River . |
Peshawar |
|
2,955,254
(2006)
|
 |
Peshawar is the capital of the North-West
Frontier 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. |
Mashhad |
|
2,427,316
(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 which 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. |
Ürümqi |
Xinjiang AR,
PRC |
2,681,834
(2006)
|
 |
The capital and largest city in Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region and the cultural center of 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. |
Mazar-e Sharif |
|
300,600
(2008)
|
 |
The
fourth largest city in Afghanistan and capital of Balkh province and is linked by roads to
Kabul in the south-east, Herat to the
west and Uzbekistan to the north. |
Ulaanbaatar |
|
1,067,472
(2008)
|
 |
The
capital and largest city in Mongolia and the cultural center of 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. |
Samarkand |
|
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. |
Bishkek |
|
1,250,000
(2007)
|
 |
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. |
Tous |
|
N/A |
 |
An
ancient city in the Iranian province of Razavi Khorasan . To the ancient Greeks, it was known asn
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. |
Astana |
|
700,000
(2009)
|
 |
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. |
Dushanbe |
|
679,400
(2008)
|
 |
The capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means
"Monday" in Tajik and Persian, and the name reflects the fact
that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a
popular Monday marketplace. |
Bukhara |
|
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 6th
century BCE and since 12th century CE, Turkic speakers gradually
moved in. Its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the
pillars of the Central Asian history and art. |
Almaty |
|
1,420,747
(2009)
|
 |
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. |
Nishapur |
|
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's hometown of several respected Persian
poets and artists, including Omar
Khayyám, Attar Neyshapuri and
Kamal-ol-molk. |
Srinagar |
|
894,940
(2006)
|
, |
Srinagar is the capital of Jammu and
Kashmir State of India. It lies in the
Kashmir valley between the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. It was called "Paradise on Earth" by
the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Srinigar lies
on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. The
city is famous for its cool climate, mountains, lakes and
houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts
and dry fruits. It was once a famous centre of Buddhist learning and was part of the Silk Road. |
See also
Citations
- Steppe Nomads and Central Asia
- Travelers on the Silk Road
- 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
geographical 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."
- 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]
- 43°40'52"N 87°19'52"E Degree Confluence Project.
- A Land Conquered by the Mongols
- 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.
- Deported Nationalities
- Anne Applebaum – Gulag: A History Intro
- «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.
- Ethnographic maps
- Robert Greenall, Russians left behind in Central Asia, BBC News, 23 November 2005.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1963. "The consonantal system of Old
Chinese." Asia Major 9 (1963), p. 94.
- Konjikala: the Silk Road precursor of
Ashgabat
- Konjikala, in: MaryLee Knowlton,
Turkmenistan, Marshall Cavendish, 2006, pp. 40-41, ISBN
0761420142, ISBN 9780761420149 (viewable on Google Books).
- The history of Afghanistan, Ghandara.com website
- "Kabul" Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary
of Universal Knowledge (1901 edition) J.B. Lippincott Company,
NY, page 385
- Zabeth (1999) pp. 14-15
- 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.
General references
- Dani, A.H. and V.M. Masson eds. UNESCO History of
Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO
,
1992.
- Mandelbaum, Michael. ed.
Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan New York
: Council on
Foreign Relations Press, 1994.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Spektator - Society, culture and travel articles on Kyrgyzstan and
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- You travel
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- Central Eurasian Studies World Wide
- National Geographic.com - Nat Geo Music: Central
Asian Classical Music page
- National Geographic.com - Nat Geo Music: Central
Asian Bardic Music page
- Publications on the history of Central Asia Prior
to 1917
- Policymakers' Guide to Central Asia
- University of Central Asia
- Discovery
Central Asia magazine: Publications on the travel, history and
culture of Central Asia
- New Europe
News Extensive news coverage and analysis of Central Asia.
- Where West Meets East: The Complex mtDNA Landscape
of the Southwest and Central Asian Corridor
- Texas Tech
University, full-text examples of Central Asian literature
- International
University Of Kyrgyzstan
- [682] The International Politics of Central Eurasia],
(272 pp). Central Eurasian Studies On Line: The International
Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research, 2001.
- Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies (RIFIAS)
Library Online Catalog Text Collection is one of North
America's premier resources for teaching and research in the
history, languages, literatures, geography, religions, and cultures
of Inner Asia and is located at Indiana University
- University of Turin-Observatory on Central Asia
- Mansi Mehrotra India and US Strategic Convergence
in Central Asia
- The Library: Central on politics, universities,
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