14 Facts About Central Asia

1. Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches 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.

2. 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 Europe and the Far East.

3. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions.

4. Central Asia is a region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains, vast deserts (Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan), and especially treeless, grassy steppes.

5. 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.

6. Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming.

7. Central Asia is bounded on the north by the forests of Siberia.

8. The northern half of Central Asia is the middle part of the Eurasian steppe.

9. Central Asia is land-locked and not buffered by a large body of water, temperature fluctuations are often severe, excluding the hot, sunny summer months.

10. The largest biome in Central Asia is the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome.

11. Central Asia contains the montane grasslands and shrublands, deserts and xeric shrublands and temperate coniferous forests biomes.

12. The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography.

13. Relations between the steppe nomads and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict.

14. The eastern part of Central Asia, known as East Turkestan or Xinjiang, was incorporated into the People's Republic of China, having been previously subjugated by the Manchu Empire.