Central Asia Map
Central Asia Map.
Central Asia is one of the twenty-two subregions in which the UN divides the world. It consists of five countriesː Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its largest cities are Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
There are several definitions of what constitutes Central Asia, sometimes for ethnic reasons Mongolia, Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan, Northeast Iran, North West India, and Western China are included. Sometimes the definition of what is Central Asia is further expanded to include other parts of China such as Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia as well as southern Siberia. The fact that the five ex-Soviet republics end with the suffix "-stán" (which in Persian means "place of") means that this region is known colloquially as the Stans.
Central Asia is one of the twenty-two subregions in which the UN divides the world. It consists of five countriesː Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its largest cities are Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
There are several definitions of what constitutes Central Asia, sometimes for ethnic reasons Mongolia, Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan, Northeast Iran, North West India, and Western China are included. Sometimes the definition of what is Central Asia is further expanded to include other parts of China such as Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia as well as southern Siberia. The fact that the five ex-Soviet republics end with the suffix "-stán" (which in Persian means "place of") means that this region is known colloquially as the Stans.
