Regions of Central Asia. Central Asian countries

By number of the population among republics Central Asia Uzbekistan stands out clearly - more than 25 million people. The population of the region is extremely uneven: in oases and intermontane basins (for example, the Tashkent oasis and an oasis in the Ferghana Valley), the population density reaches 500 people per 1 km 2, while in the desert (Kara-Kum and Kyzylkum) and high mountain regions (Pamir) there is practically no permanent population.

All countries of the region are characterized by a second (traditional) type of population reproduction. At present, the Central Asian countries are undergoing a population explosion stage, and therefore the proportion of children in the age composition of the population of each country is increased and exceeds 1/3 of the total population.

The mosaic pattern of the resettlement of Turkmens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Kyrgyz initially led to the multinational composition of the region’s population, which explains the “interweaving” of borders (especially at the junction of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and the large number of enclaves on the region’s political map. The majority of the population in each republic is the titular nation. In all countries of the region, a significant part of the population are Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, who are now referred to as the so-called Russian-speaking population. Karakalpaks, who have their own autonomous republic, as well as Koreans, live in Uzbek Kistan. All the indigenous peoples of Central Asia traditionally profess Islam.

The Central Asian republics have the lowest level of urbanization in the CIS: in Turkmenistan, 44% of the country's population live in cities, 37% in Uzbekistan, 35% in Kyrgyzstan, and only 26% in Tajikistan. There is only one millionaire city in the region - Tashkent. The largest cities are Ashkhabad, Chardzhou and Tashauz in Turkmenistan, Tashkent, Samarkand, Namangan, Kokand, Bukhara, Fergana in Uzbekistan, Bishkek, Osh, Jalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan, and Dushanbe and Khujand in Tajikistan.

A significant portion of the economically active central Asian population employed in agriculture and only in Uzbekistan - in the field of services, and the share of workers in industry and construction is quite low (see table).

For all republics Central Asia At present, active emigration of the population is characteristic, and if in the early 1990s there was an outflow of the Russian-speaking population, now the emigration of indigenous peoples, especially Tajiks, has increased. A catastrophic reach reached the brain drain.

Table. Employment Structure of Central Asian Countries

A country	Share of employed (in%)
A country	in industry and construction	in agriculture	in the service sector
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan Material from the site

After the collapse of the USSR, the former republics entered into a voluntary agreement on the Commonwealth of Independent States, abbreviated CIS, which regulated and simplified some of the relations between the newly formed, independent countries.

Central Asia is called a number of countries in the south of the CIS, which includes such states as:

Among the countries of Central Asia, only Turkmenistan has access to the sea; this state from the western part is washed by the Caspian Sea. All other powers are considered intracontinental.

The Caspian Sea washes the shores of five states - Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran

The Central Asian countries are rich in natural resources: in Turkmenistan they produce oil and gas, in Uzbekistan there are large deposits of brown coal, there is natural gas and there are also deposits of gold, Kyrgyzstan is rich in ore and coal, and sulfur is mined in Turkmenistan. Since Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are located in mountainous areas, they therefore have great energy potential due to the presence of mountain rivers.

Central square in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek is a clean and beautiful city with pleasant architecture and, unlike many other capitals, with clean mountain air. All attractions and entertainment centers are located in the city center.

Kyrgyzstan is located between the mountain ranges, there are ski resorts, and there are also thermal springs in the Chuy valley. But Issyk-Kul Lake became a favorite resort place, from Soviet times people from all regions of the country came here to relax and heal in health resorts. The lake is very beautiful and clean, at the same time so large that the opposite shore is not visible.

As for the state’s economy, it is built on industry and mining. And also developing tourism annually brings about half a billion dollars to the country. But the situation with the economy is complicated by external debt, which the country cannot repay. The main economic partners for Kyrgyzstan remain Russia, Kazakhstan and.

Kazakhstan

The territory of Kazakhstan is covered with deserts or semi-deserts, there are few forests here, therefore they are treated with care and practically do not cut down the remaining forest belts. This is the largest state among those without access to the World Ocean; the country occupies an area of \u200b\u200b7th place in the world and 2th among the CIS countries, second only to Russia.

Kazakhstan has common borders:

Russia (northern and western borders).
China (eastern border).
Kyrgyzstan (southern border).
Uzbekistan (southern border).
Turkmenistan (southern border).

In Kazakhstan, the official capital is Astana, whose population is 700 thousand inhabitants. This is the largest city by area and its beautification amazes visitors and attracts more and more tourists every year. Huge funds were invested in Astana, buildings and monuments of architecture, striking in their beauty and scale, were rebuilt. The city attracts not only tourists, but also investors. This country has the most stable and impressive economy in the post-Soviet space, it is second only to Russia.

But Astana is not the only major city in Kazakhstan. Alma-Ata is recognized as the unofficial capital of the country, but, despite its smaller area, the population is 1.7 million, which is almost 2.5 times the population of the capital. There is a metro and developed infrastructure no worse than in the main city.

Kazakhstan cooperates with states, Arab states, as well as with China and Eurasia.

The population of the Republic totals 30 million people, and urban residents and villagers have the same ratio. The area of \u200b\u200bUzbekistan is 447.4 square meters. kilometers, which is much less than that of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, but the population here is higher. The state borders on the following neighbors:

Kyrgyzstan (eastern border).
Kazakhstan (north-eastern, northern and north-western borders).
Turkmenistan (southwestern and southern borders).
Afghanistan (southern border).
Tajikistan (southeastern border).

Tashkent is the capital and heart of the country, despite the fact that the city was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1966, it was restored. It is beautiful and attractive for tourists with its architectural delights, monuments and landscaping. The capital is recognized as the most beautiful city in Central Asia. Its population is more than 2 million people, there is a metro and developed infrastructure. Charvak reservoir, which is surrounded by snow-covered mountains, has become a favorite vacation spot for citizens.

Hast Imam Complex - Tashkent

In 2005, a resolution was adopted regarding the UN country, the cause was an unnecessarily brutal suppression of unrest in the city of Andijan by the local government, during which hundreds of people were killed.

Tajikistan

- a developing country whose economy is built on an agro-industrial basis. The state shows stable positive indicators of GDP growth, the main points of the development strategy are achieving energy independence, providing the country's population with food, and overcoming transport isolation, the state does not have access to the oceans.

The area of \u200b\u200bthe country is not large, it is 143 thousand square kilometers with a population of 8.5 million people. The republic has common borders with the following states.

It’s a mystery for me what is going on in the heads of our children when they learn from the media that the region named Central Asia is located where the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers flow, but, an hour, if the works of historian L.N. Gumilyov or geographer E.M. Murzaev - according to which it turns out that this name is used for a completely different part of Eurasia, where the Orkhon River flows and the mountains of Big Khingan rise ...

All this began in the last decade of the last century, when journalists who speak English, but are not burdened with knowledge, began to use tracing paper from the English concept of Central Asia for Soviet Central Asia.

And in 1992, the President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev at the summit of the heads of state of the region in the South Kazakhstan region in the Ordabasy area proposed to abandon the definition of "Central Asia and Kazakhstan" in favor of another definition - "Central Asia", implying that it covers all countries of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

If earlier such names were given by scientists and specialists, then this was a special case. The union broke up, the Central Asian republics gained independence, and there was an urgent need for urgent geopolitical self-identification. Then this tracing paper came up with the English name, which denoted a wider region of the mainland than the location of the Central Asian republics.

The new name seemed more prestigious than the previous one and surprisingly quickly became widespread in political life.

Thus began the confusion with the terms “Central Asia” and “Central Asia” in the Russian language (and in the languages \u200b\u200bof the Central Asian republics themselves).

In the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia the following definition of the region is given:

« central Asia It 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 Pakistan in the south. It is also sometimes called within the wider Eurasian continent called Central Asia or Inland Asia. There are various names for this circle of countries, and none of them is universally recognized. Despite this uncertainty in the definition of borders, the region has a number of important common characteristics. On the one hand, Central Asia has historically been closely associated with the Eurasian nomadic world and the Silk Road. And it was a crossroads for the movement of people, goods and ideas between Europe, Western Asia, South Asia, as well as East Asia.

In the modern context, Central Asia consists of five former Soviet republics - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Sometimes, such regions as Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, the western part of China (Xinjiang), Mongolia, Jammu and Kashmir, the northern regions of Pakistan, the southwestern and middle regions of China (Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Inner Mongolia) are also included in Central Asia. ) and the southern parts of Siberia ” (our translation. - S.I.).

As you can see, the ambiguity of the term today is reflected here.

In the most common sense, the same five post-Soviet states are referred to it. But others understand this concept as a wider region. So what is the real content of the concept of “Central Asia”?

In the Russian geographical and cultural-historical tradition middle Asia and central Asia two neighboring but different regions.

Title middle Asia known in Russian from the second half of the 19th century. and its content familiar to us was established in the next century, after coordinating the borders of the USSR with Afghanistan and China.

According to it, Central Asia is part of the Eurasian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west to the border with China in the east and from the Aral-Irtysh watershed in the north to the border with Iran and Afghanistan in the south.

In physical, geographical and climatological terms, it includes the Ustyurt plateau, the Turan lowland, the Turgai plateau, the Kazakh small hills and partly the mountains: Kopetdag, Pamir-Alai, Tien Shan, Dzhungarsky Alatau, Saur and Tarbagatai.

Thus, the region of Central Asia appears here as a natural country.

And in Russian, until recently, Central Asia was understood as the region where Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Central and South Kazakhstan are located.

It is appropriate to say that, in the cultural and historical respect, the region in the past included two more that remained beyond the Russian conquest, the region - the current XUAR (PRC) and northern Afghanistan.

In parallel with the name "Central Asia" in the Russian language since the penetration of the Russian Empire into this region (in the second half of the 19th century), the name "Turkestan" existed.

In this case, the territory between the Caspian Sea and China was called Russian (or Western) Turkestan, East Turkestan denoted the territory of Western China, inhabited by Turkic peoples (Uyghurs, Kazakhs), the territory of Turkic peoples and Tajiks beyond Amu Darya was called Afghan Turkestan.

In the mid-1920s (after the formation of the Central Asian republics), the term Turkestan gradually went out of use and was replaced by the term Central Asia.

Then the Kyrgyz SSR, the Tajik SSR, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were merged into the “Central Asian Economic Region”, and the Kazakh SSR became a separate economic region, and hence the stable expression “Central Asia and Kazakhstan” appeared.

Thus, according to the Soviet geographical tradition, Central Asia and Kazakhstan was a group of physical and geographical countries located in the inland areas of Asia, and at the same time a large region, characterized by the similarity of natural conditions, economic activity, historical destinies and resettlement.

BUT central Asia It was also considered exclusively as a natural, physical-geographical region, covering the territories of Northern China and Mongolia.

It is known that the name “Central Asia” became common after the appearance of the eponymous work of the German geographer and traveler A. Humbolt L’Asie Centrale (Berlin, 1844. T. 1). In this fundamental work, territories south of Altai up to the northern slope of the Himalayas were assigned to Central Asia. Then F. Richthofen in the book "China" (1887) outlined the western and eastern borders of Central Asia, including lands from the Pamir watersheds in the west to the watersheds of the gigantic rivers of China and the Greater Khingan in the east.

Since then, Russian geographers understood Central Asia as a region extending east of the Pamirs. N.M. Przhevalsky (1888) drew the borders of Central Asia along the Himalayas, Pamir, Western Tien Shan, in the east - along the Greater Khingan and the border ridges of China. V.A. Obruchev (1951) narrowed the borders of the region somewhat - it included only the territory of Mongolia (with the exception of its northern part) and the desert regions of China, without the Tibetan plateau.

Russian geographers and historians also used the terms Central asia and Inner asia in relation to this region.

Meanwhile, the concept of Central Asia in the West expanded and it was in the middle of the 20th century. already included all the inland areas of Asia - from Transcaucasia to Tibet. Thus, it now covered both Russian-language names. And Western authors, when it came to the Central Asian interfluve, used the clarifying definition of Soviet Central Asia.

In the general history of Central Asia, prepared by UNESCO before the collapse of the USSR (Dani, A.H. and Masson, V.M. eds. UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO, 1992), the definition of a region is based on its climatic features, and the region itself includes Mongolia, Western China, Punjab, northern India and northern Pakistan, northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, areas of Asian Russia south of the taiga zone and five former Soviet Central Asian republics.

But Soviet science at one time did not accept this change in definition.

And then before our eyes two different terminological traditions collided in the post-Soviet information space - and today we have this confusion with the names middle Asia and central Asia.

It should be noted that the Soviet understanding of the Central Asia region was flawed - because due to the principle of “indivisibility” of borders, the continuation of the region was cut off beyond the Khan-Tengri mountains and beyond the Amu Darya.

Now, before the Russian language, it became necessary to accept the international term central Asia in an expanded understanding, and in some other way to designate subregions within its framework - the Central Asian interfluve (still call it Central Asia?) and the territories of Mongolia and North China (continue to call Central Asia? Internal Asia?).

Because in the modern global information space, terminological confusion is undesirable.

Undoubtedly, the modern expanded understanding of the borders of the Central Asian region inevitably requires the allocation of several subregions according to geographical and cultural-historical (civilizational) characteristics. For example, Pakistan and Afghanistan as countries with a strong position of Sunni Islam stand apart from Shiite Iran, and the five independent states of the Altai-Caspian area with a common historical, ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage, as well as Soviet experience, are separate, unlike any other cultural and historical subregion.

It is well known that the civilization of the Central Asian interfluve incorporated two components - the civilization of nomads and sedentary farmers, and since the Great Silk Road existed it has been a kind of bridge between the East and the West. And such a location suggested the possibility of a universal perception of the achievements of both parts of the world.

Against the background of other long-established regions (East, South, Southeast Asia, etc.), Central Asia is becoming a region that is gaining its geopolitical appearance. And the former Central Asia in its framework, no matter how it is now called, is a special cultural and historical region with its own face and development prospects.

Central Asia today includes five republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of the Central Asian region naturally reassessed their own role as subjects of geopolitical and international relations, which, among other things, affected their regional self-identification. There was a rejection of the self-name of the Central Asia and Kazakhstan region, which was fixed in the Soviet period, in favor of the definition of Central Asia. After 20 years, the definition of "Central Asia" has become generally accepted, denoting the geopolitical space, which includes five states of the former USSR - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. (For the first time, the proposal to rename the region was voiced by Nursultan Nazarbayev, which was supported by the leaders of other Central Asian countries).

The total population is 65 million people.

The Central Asia region in its modern understanding is geopolitically related in Eurasian civilization, the Islamic component predominates in the confessional respect, the Turkic component prevails in ethnic terms, the Soviet identity in the historical one, and Western roots still prevail in education.

By and large, the strategic priority for the five sovereign states is Eurasian civilization, otherwise the region, according to analysts, risks losing the European component.

Almost all modern leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, especially during regional summits, emphasize the common history and languages, origin and traditions, culture and economy. Moreover, a team of Kyrgyz scientists concluded that “Central Asia refers more to the East,” but still “managed to develop its own civilizational space.”

A characteristic feature of the region: all regions were part of the Soviet Union (experienced the influence of Soviet culture); all states and regions became sovereign in one moment; at the moment, most of the population professes Islam; there is a gap between rich and poor; all republics store gold and uranium reserves (Uzbekistan is the 4th in the world in terms of gold reserves); persistent violation of human rights; poorly developed democracy. In three states, power has not changed for more than 20 years (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan).

Five countries are at different stages of transit, at different stages of economic development. Kazakhstan significantly overtook the rest of the region in terms of pace of development and economic reform; the modernization of the economy of Uzbekistan is very slow; Kyrgyzstan shows a failure to develop without external support; This is especially true for the Tajik economy; Turkmenistan only recently refuses to adhere to the autarchic model of development. The agrarian and raw nature is preserved by the national economies of all Central Asian countries. Even the economy of Kazakhstan, which is developing much more dynamically, at a much faster pace and has ensured the regional leadership of the republic, retains its raw material character.

Kazakhstan, the largest and most potentially strong republic in the region, is increasingly oriented towards integration within the framework of the EurAsEC (Eurasian Economic Community is an international economic organization created with the aim of forming common external customs borders of its member states, developing a common foreign economic policy, tariffs, prices and other components of the functioning of the common market) and the Common Economic Space (CES).

It is noteworthy that, as Asian states, countries are members of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the world's largest regional security organization. It brings together 57 countries located in North America, Europe and Central Asia.). And this is a very big plus for them, since over the years the organization has taken significant measures to improve the situation of these countries.

The OSCE Center in Tashkent dealt with the most pressing issues - new threats to regional security. In this direction, seminars were held on the issues of drug trafficking, the fight against crime, and regional stability. The problems of ecology and economics were given the greatest attention, as to very promising projects. Regional environmental problems were solved - ensuring sustainable development of the Aral region.

Central Asia is seen as a region where the interests of at least three world powers intersect - Russia, the United States and, more recently, China. At the same time, it is considered that between these powers there is fierce competition for dominance in the region. It is no accident that much attention is paid in the expert environment to the issue of maintaining a balance between the interests of the three countries, the violation of which is assessed as a threat to the stability of the situation in the region. The location between China and Russia, mineral reserves - these and other factors guarantee the region a stable interest from large players.

Problems:

1. Interethnic and interfaith contradictions.

2. Balanced consumption of water resources - the problem becomes more serious every year. Rivers are transboundary, basin ecosystems are at risk. The solution to this issue is important today, and in the future. If the states located in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan) are constantly experiencing water shortages, then the upstream states (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) are faced with the problem of providing fuel resources from neighboring countries to load power plants in the winter, which leads to the additional use of hydropower facilities. However, the operation of hydropower plants in winter at full capacity is fraught with a number of negative consequences: a decrease in the volume of reservoirs, an excess of the volume of water discharged into the border regions of neighboring states. Thus, the problem of rational use of water and energy resources in Central Asia has long reached the level of interstate relations. Central Asia is a continental zone, the most remote from the ocean routes. Its land communications are closed to Russia, and the air communications are underdeveloped. The region occupies a peripheral position in relation to many large blocks of the world geopolitical space: Western Europe, the USA, South and Southeast Asia. Directly adjacent to it are only Russia, China and the Middle East. This is partly due to the choice of Central Asia by Russia and China as subjects of regional policy.

3. The absolute lack of investment capital, which is formed on the basis of internal savings.

4. Excess unskilled labor arising from agrarian overpopulation. Kazakhstan takes the 9th place in the list of the leading countries of the world accepting labor migrants from neighboring countries, that is, Central Asian.

Kyrgyz RepublicBenefits: autonomous agriculture. Since 2000, private land ownership. Exports of gold and mercury. Hydropower potential. Uranium reserves and the presence on the territory of the republic of enrichment opportunities for use in nuclear power plants. Sufficiently large reserves of antimony, the presence of rare earth metals. The presence of natural sites for the development of tourism (Issyk-Kul Lake, Dead Lake, Dzhety-Oguz gorge, etc.). Weaknesses: corruption state. organs. The economic downturn after the collapse of the USSR.

Unemployment, according to official figures, is 73.4 thousand people (3.5% of the economically active population).

The average life expectancy of the population was 70 years (66 years for men and 74 years for women).

The vast majority of believers in Kyrgyzstan are Sunni Muslims. There are Christians: Orthodox, Catholics.

Kazakhstan.By area, it occupies the ninth place among the states of the world. Kazakhstan is a secular multiconfessional country. Studies show that the religious level of the population of Kazakhstan (43%) is the lowest in the Central Asian region. In terms of mineral reserves, Kazakhstan ranks first among the CIS countries in chrome ores and lead, second in reserves of oil, silver, copper, manganese, zinc, nickel and phosphorus raw materials, and third in gas, coal, gold and tin. The Republic of Kazakhstan maintains diplomatic relations with all UN countries. The main geopolitical partners of Kazakhstan are the Turkic countries, China, the European Union, the USA, Russia and the countries of the Middle East.

Tajikistan - the only Iranian-speaking (Persian-speaking) state in the former Soviet Central Asia. Most of the population of Tajikistan professes Sunni Islam.

Tajikistan is rich in natural resources, but since mountains occupy 93% of the republic’s territory, their production is hindered by poorly developed infrastructure. Tajikistan is located away from the main Eurasian traffic flows.

Benefits:Great hydropower potential. Economic growth of 7% -7.5%. The richest deposits of mineral resources. Great tourist potential.

Weaknesses: Unstable political and economic situation. High unemployment rate (over 20%). Weak diversification of agriculture, for which only 6% of the land is suitable. Outflow of qualified specialists. Tajikistan is an agro-industrial country, one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its considerable tourism and economic potential. The vast majority of the population of Tajikistan are Muslims.

Uzbekistanit has access to the Aral Sea, however, it is one of two countries in the world, for which it is necessary to cross the territory of two states to enter the World Ocean - all neighboring countries also have no access to the sea. Uzbekistan is a neutral state (in international law - non-participation in the war, and in peacetime, refusal to participate in military blocs). In terms of the number of inhabitants, Uzbekistan ranks third among the CIS countries, after the Russian Federation and Ukraine. But unlike the latter, in Uzbekistan until recently, a high birth rate and a positive population growth were recorded, and as a result, the majority of the population are children and youth. According to official figures - Muslims - 93% (mainly Sunnis of the Hanafi madhhab, the number of Shiites does not exceed 1), Orthodox - 4%. In terms of gold reserves, the republic ranks fourth in the world, and in seventh place in terms of its production.

TurkmenistanMost believers practice Islam. Turkmenistan is the 4th largest natural gas producer in the world. It has the second largest gas field in the world. On June 23, 2008, the international non-governmental organization Amnesty International issued a report on systematic human rights violations in Turkmenistan. Saparmurat Ataevich Niyazov - head of Turkmenistan from 1985 to 2006 (in 1985-91 - first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan, in 1990-2006 - "life president" of Turkmenistan). Niyazov’s rule is characterized by the establishment of personal dictatorial power in the country, as well as a large-scale personality cult, which only declined after his death.

Ortho Asia, Karakalp. Orta Aziya, Pers. آسیای میانه; Taj. Osiyoi Miyona, Turkm. Orta Aziýa, Uzbek Oʻrta Osiyo) is the historical and geographical region of Eurasia, in the west of Asia.

Central Asia is a geographical concept that prevailed in the pre-revolutionary period for Russian Turkestan, within the framework of which four Soviet republics were formed already in the Soviet period (Uzbek SSR, Kyrgyz SSR, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR), which were included in the Central Asian economic region. In the post-Soviet period, independent states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan exist in the territory of this region.

Nature

The nature of Central Asia is determined primarily by the aridity of the climate. Most of the territory is occupied by deserts and semi-deserts.

From the point of view of climatology in Central Asia, 2 zones can be distinguished:

Plain: plains of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and the valleys of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with warm, mild, subtropical winters (snow rarely falls and usually only lasts a few days), rainy spring and very hot dry summers (almost no rainfall from June to September). Maximum rainfall in April-May. Vegetation: southern ephemeroid deserts, in places sands massifs of white-saxaul forests.
Mountain: highlands of the Tien Shan and the Pamirs in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Check the information.

About 12 thousand rivers flow in Central Asia. Over 10 thousand rivers flow in the mountainous regions. Only large rivers cross desert territories. The main rivers in Central Asia are the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which flow into the Aral Sea. Rivers are unevenly distributed throughout Central Asia. On the plains, which occupy almost 70% of its territory, there are few water bodies and rivers. In the mountains and foothills, the density of the river network is quite large. This uneven distribution of flowing water is due to the climate and relief structure. The sources of many large and small rivers of Central Asia are located high in the mountains, they are the main source of nutrition for rivers, lakes, reservoirs and canals. Thus, mountains are a place of accumulation of water resources, plains - a place where water is consumed, evaporates. This is one of the most important hydrological features of Central Asia.

There are relatively few lakes in Central Asia. Among them, the largest are Aral Lake (sea), Issyk-Kul, Balkhash, and Karakul. According to the formation of hollows, they are tectonic lakes. Large and small lakes are located in valleys, deltas and floodplains. There are lakes formed by the discharge of waters, such as Arnasay, Aydarkul.

Climate

In the South-West, the climate is hot, dry, average temperature is Karakum 36.8 ° C average maximum 40 - 44 ° C highest +53.2 ° C, average Kyzyl Kum temperature +37 ° C average maximum temperature 40 - 43 ° C highest temperature 54 ° C Navoi

Population

The total population of Central Asia is about 52.5 million people (2017). Of these, 32.3 million people live in Uzbekistan, 8.7 million in Tajikistan, 6 million in Kyrgyzstan, and about 5.5 million in Turkmenistan. For comparison, 1.78 billion people live in South Asia, 1.64 billion people in East Asia, 0.64 billion people live in Southeast Asia, and 0.31 billion people live in Southwest Asia.

The main part of the population of Central Asia are representatives of Turkic-speaking peoples who speak Turkic languages. These are: Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs. Tajiks, as well as Pamir peoples are representatives of the Iranian peoples, Tajiks speak the Tajik language (this language is very close to the Persian language, and is sometimes considered a dialect of Persian). There are also peoples who immigrated and deported in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods. The most numerous of them are currently: Russians, Uighurs, Dungans, Ukrainians, Tatars, Koreans, Turks, Germans, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and other nationalities.

The indigenous inhabitants of Central Asia are Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Central Asian Arabs, Central Asian Persians, Pamir peoples, Bukhara Jews. The bulk of Uzbeks, Tajiks and Bukhara Jews led a sedentary lifestyle, built cities, developed science and culture, developed irrigated agriculture, and formed oases. The bulk of the Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks, Turkmen and Kazakhs was associated with cattle breeding, and therefore, unlike Tajiks and Uzbeks, led a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle. Currently, all the peoples of Central Asia are sedentary.

The main part of the religious composition of Central Asia is Islam. Islam of the Hanafi madhhab of the Sunni direction is mainly widespread. The followers of this madhhab are Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs and the main part of Tajiks. Shiite madhhabs are less common. The Shiites, the Isnaasharites, are mainly Central Asian Iranians, some Tajiks and local Azerbaijanis, the Shiites, Ismailis are representatives of the Pamiri peoples. The second largest religion is Christianity. Of the directions of Christianity, Orthodoxy is mainly widespread, which is the main religion for the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, Georgians, Ossetians, and Greeks living here. Catholics, Protestants, and various Christian movements and small churches are less common. There are a small number of followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Baha'ism. Judaism is common among Bukhara Jews and the Jews themselves. Zoroastrianism is mainly prevalent among the Pamir peoples and a small part of Tajiks.

In the pre-Mongol period, 1/10 of the world's population lived in Central Asia, now a little less than 1% of the world population. Due to the geographical location of Central Asia, located mostly in the desert and semi-desert zones (highlands occupy the southeastern part of Central Asia), the population has long adapted to live in valleys, closer to water sources - on river banks, in oases. Nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples also lived in the steppes.

Story

In ancient times, quite large states existed in Central Asia. In the VII-V centuries. BC e. in the Zarafshan valley there was the state of Sogdiana, in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya - Bactria, in its lower reaches - Khorezm, in the valley of Murghab - Margiana. The northern part of Central Asia was part of Scythia, and the southern part was in the sphere of influence of Iran.

The first information about Central Asia is found in the writings of Herodotus, Strabo, Arrian, Ptolemy and others.

1793 map

1885 map

In the Middle Ages, Turkic tribes settled in Central Asia and Islam spread. After the collapse of the Arab caliphate, control of the region passed to the Samanids. In the XI century, a powerful State of Khorezmshahs was formed. In the XIII century, Central Asia became part of the Mongol Empire (Chagatai ulus).

As the American historian Stephen Starr points out, on the territory of modern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and also partially Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, now called Central Asia, in the Middle Ages, that is, many centuries before the European Enlightenment, there was one of centers of Enlightenment. In the XIV century, a powerful Timurid state with the capital in Samarkand formed in Central Asia, but in the XVI century it was replaced by the Bukhara Khanate.

In the 19th century, Central Asia became part of the Russian Empire (like Turkestan region, Transcaspian region and partially Semirechensky region), while the Kokand khanate that existed before was abolished and directly became part of Russia, and the Bukhara emirate and the Khiva khanate became its vassals.

In 1929, Tajikistan was separated from the Uzbek SSR and the Tajik SSR was formed, Karakalpakia was transformed into the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1932, which in 1936 was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Uzbek SSR, and the territory of Kyrgyzstan was transformed into the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1926 , which was separated from the Russian SPSR in 1936 and transformed into