Central Asia - Zentralasien

The Central Asia region includes the one in the center Asia located states west of the Caspian Sea until Altai-Mountains. This region is also known as Central Asia. The affiliation of individual countries and regions is not entirely clear. UNESCO defines the region as shown on the map and in the list below with the addition of the northern regions of the Iran, Pakistan and the Punjabthat we left in the countries.

Central Asian countries

Central Asia includes the following countries:

AfghanistanFlag of AfghanistanAfghanistan, will partly also to South asia or Middle East counted
KazakhstanKazakhstan flagKazakhstan
KyrgyzstanFlag of KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan
TajikistanFlag of TajikistanTajikistan
TurkmenistanFlag of TurkmenistanTurkmenistan
UzbekistanFlag of UzbekistanUzbekistan

In addition, the following are sometimes added:

XinjiangFlag of XinjiangXinjiang - also called Uighuria, western province of China
TibetFlag of TibetTibet - China's autonomous region on the roof of the world
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Central Asia has been shaped in the past by its nomadic Turkic peoples. Thus, the Scythians, Huns, Saks, Wusun and Mongols were extremely successful conquerors who were both China as well as Europe threatened.

The region was later Islamized, so that - except for the Mongolia and Tibet - Islam was the dominant cultural and religious current. This is how, among other things, Tashkent and Samarkand impressive buildings of Islam.

In Mongolia and Tibet, Lamaist Buddhism was equally influential, as was the no less impressive buildings such as the Potala Palace in Lhasa spawned.
location
Definitions of Central Asia: Dark brown: outdated, from the times of the Soviet Union. Medium brown: modern definition. Light brown: UNESCO definition
Political map
Political map
World map depicting Asia
Regions Asia
Middle East (Asia Minor, middle East, Transcaucasia), Central Asia, East asia, South East Asia, South asia
Other regions:Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India), Hong Kong (China), Macau (China)
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