CENTRAL ASIA

Western China (which has absorbed Tibet), Mongolia, Afghanistan, and the ex-soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.

Here are some geographic highlights to consider:

• The world's highest mountains and overall toughest terrain are located in Central Asia.  It's core highland is known as the Pamir Knot, a complex tangle of ranges located where Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Tajikistan converge.  Several distinct ranges radiate outward from the Pamir Knot in various directions.  Although the Himalayas are the highest and most famous of these mountains, peaks well over 20,000 feet are found in the Karakoram, Altun Shan, and Tien Shan ranges as well.

• Central Asia is a dry region dominated by desert and steppe climates.  Even in most of Central Asia's highlands arid conditions predominate.  The north is dominated by flat grassy plains; central region is desert plains and basins; the south and scattered throughout are highland climates, mountainous areas and high plateaus.  As a mid latitude region located in the interior of a vast continent, Central Asia is marked by pronounced continentality, experiencing profound differences between summer and winter temperatures.
• Most of Central Asia is sparsely populated; by world standards it is the least populated region on earth. Nomadic pastoralism (raising livestock for subsistence purposes) is still a common way of life for many widely scattered groups across the region.
• Most of the peoples of Central Asia speak Turkish-based languages, with Mongolian and Tibetan rounding out the unique character of the region--a trait which definitely sets this region apart from China, Russia and India, and even Iran.
• As with language, religion sets distinction for the region; Islam dominates the -stan countries, while Buddhism defines the Tibetan and Mongolian areas.
• Central Asian cultural regions within China are under threat of domination, and even extinction, from massive inflows of Han Chinese into the area. The government of China encourages this overrunning of native populations to help secure their ruling status and legitimacy in these areas (especially Tibet).
• While the USSR has dissolved, Russia still exerts tremendous influence over this region, since there are still a lot of ethnic Russians living here (especially in Kazakhstan), and because of strong economic ties that most of the -stan countries still have with Russia.  What is the CIS?
• The discovery of large deposits of oil and gas, in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan especially, have renewed international interest in Central Asia--question is, how to get the resources out to the rest of the world?

• Central Asia is the only region in the world that is totally landlocked--what does this mean economically? Politically? Socially? (Landlocked countries in red on map below)

We shouldn't underestimate the role of a common history in this area either.  From their core in modern day Mongolia, the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1206 stormed across all of Central Asia in a matter of a decade.  They swept into Iran, the Caucasus, and southern  Russia in 1220-22. His successors attacked Persia in 1231, Eastern Europe in 1236-41, and Iraq and the Caucasus again in 1245-53. They finally sacked Baghdad in 1258, bringing an end to the Abbasid Caliphate. By late 1200's, they controlled modern day China and had vassal states in SE Asia, Eastern Europe, and India.

At the end of the thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire had grown into the largest continuous political unit the earth had ever seen--and has never seen since. As one might expect, this empire did not last long--less than a couple hundred years. But it did achieve another distinction that has not been duplicated since: the Mongol Empire was the only entity in history to successfully bring together east and west cultures into a single realm.  Again, quite an achievement, especially considering no one has been able to do accomplish this since the Mongols did it.

Another historical focus on Central Asia is The Great Game. The Great Game evolved from the combination of Napoleonic ambition, British expansion beyond the borders of India (present-day India and Pakistan) and Persia (present-day Iran) in the latter part of the 19th Century and Russian expansion east and south. It was a clash of imperial powers in a no-man's land north and east of the Himalayas and resulted in two major conflicts for the British: the First and Second Afghan Wars, as well as a score of minor skirmishes. For the Russians, it was a slow, progressive movement east and southeast over some of the most hostile territory on the planet until they met the British and Chinese. Once the empires collided, machinations of state, intelligence trade craft, and military adventures of the Russian and British Empires became what was to be known by the British as the Great Game. The British tried to commandeer Tibet, which pulled China into the game.  Much later, following the Russian invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, the United States of America also had a part to play in the Great Game. The US and Pakistan supplied arms and training to the Afghan warriors in a Cold War showdown with Russia in Afghanistan. If all of this sounds like historical fantasy that plays no part in today's world, consider this: with the discovery of oil in the region, a new phase of the same old game is back on.
 
 

Central Asia, long obscured by Russian and Chinese domination, has only recently reappeared on the map of the world.  Many geographers remain unconvinced that it forms a world region in its own right.  The five newly independent former Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), along with Afghanistan, might just as well be classified in with the Middle East.  But, it it this influence of Russia, and their recent release from her influence, that sets this part of the world apart from the Middle Eastern region.  Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Provinces, on the other hand, can be alternatively grouped within their political definition of China in East Asia.  Although the Mongol, Uyghur, and Tibetan peoples of this area are struggling to maintain their lands and cultural identity, they may not be able to withstand the Han Chinese demographic tide of massive Chinese inflows of people into their regions.  Moreover, the Chinese government shows no indication that it would even be willing to discuss the possibility of genuine autonomy for any of these areas.

While China maintains a firm grip on Tibet and Xinjiang, the rest of Central Asia has emerged as a key area of geopolitical and economic competition.  The United States, Russia, and China, along with Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, all content for influence.  Most of the countries within the region have attempted to play off each other to bolster their own positions in the global sphere. While the political structures throughout the area remain predominately authoritarian, the economies are gradually opening up to global connections.

However, even with the opening, Central Asia is likely to face serious economic challenges for some time to come.  Unlike other under-developed regions we have looked at in this class, the main problem in Central Asia is not lack of education or corruption, or even economic chaos---the main problem is its physical geography, and its relative location.  The region is not a significant participant in global trade, and it has attracted little foreign investment outside the oil industry for one main reason: it is landlocked.  To thrive in the global economic order, it is almost a necessity to have access to sea lanes that still form the main vehicle for global exchange of goods. Central Asia remains alone in the world lacking such connections.  However, roads and railroads have in the past provided adequate interconnections to other interior portions of large countries--namely the American midwest and Russian interior.  There is yet hope for Central Asia in terms of global trade.

Central Asia remains something of a question mark on the map of the world.  A large part of the region has recently received its independence after a century of Russian control, and it remains to be seen what economic and political directions it will take.  Much of the rest of the region--Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia--remains under the authority of what most indigenous residents consider to be a foreign power.  China, however, regards these lands as an integral part of its own territory.  Considering the demographic imbalance between the Han Chinese, on the one hand, and the Uygur and Tibetan peoples on the other, the future of indigenous Central Asian culture within China remains uncertain.

Of course, just since this semester started, this region is in the spotlight of international news.  It is still way to early to process all the political, social and economic  ramifications of the events in Central Asia since September 11.  As the future unfolds, be aware that the Great Game is underway once again, this time with a few new players:  now vying for influence in Central Asia are the US, Russia, China, India, Iran and Pakistan.  The role of Islam and oil companies may also be counted as powerful forces shaping the future of the area.

Read these two brief articles for insight into the political complications of the Central Asian region, especially the role of China and Russia on the region, long before any of the current events of this semester: