Central Asia is a region of Asia. Central Asia is typically considered to span approximately from the Caspian Sea in the west to China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. There are multiple conceptions of which countries are included in Central Asia, but the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are included in virtually all common definitions of the area. Afghanistan is sometimes also included as part of Central Asia.
Central Asia is a region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains (Tian Shan), vast deserts (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 not suitable for large scale farming, and water can be a scarce resource due to the region's primarily arid and semi-arid climate.
Central Asia is a diverse land with many ethnic groups, languages, and religions. The five main ethnic groups in Central Asia are the Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz. Linguistically all of these groups, with the exception of the Tajiks whose language is more similar to modern-day Persian, speak languages that are from Turkic language family and resemble Turkish.[1] Russian is also an influential language in the region. Islam is the predominant religion in Central Asia.
History
Central Asia was historically closely tied to the Silk Road trade routes, acting as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Asia and the West.
In the 19th century, there was an imperial competition between the British empire and the Russian empire for control over Central Asia.
Soviet Central Asia was the part of Central Asia included in the Soviet Union until 1991. In the 1920s and 30s, five Soviet republics were formed, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is along the administrative lines of the Soviet era that the borders of the Central Asian republics of today were formed.