A report on Central Asia

Expanded definition of Central Asia. Core definition that includes the five post-Soviet states in dark green. Afghanistan, the most commonly added country to Central Asia, in green.
Three sets of possible boundaries for the Central Asia region (which overlap with conceptions of South and East Asia).
On the southern shore of Issyk Kul lake, Issyk Kul Region.
Central Asia map of Köppen climate classification.
Iranian-speaking people circa 170 BC. Eastern Iranian languages are in orange, Western Iranian languages are in red.
Uzbek men from Khiva, ca. 1861–1880
The Chinese Tang dynasty at its greatest extension, controlling large parts of Central Asia.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979
Mosque in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan
Saadi Shirazi is welcomed by a youth from Kashgar during a forum in Bukhara.
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Hazrat-e Turkestan, Kazakhstan. Timurid architecture consisted of Persian art.
Kazakh man on a horse with golden eagle
GDP growth trends in Central Asia, 2000–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.1
GDP in Central Asia by economic sector, 2005 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 14.2
GDP per capita development in Central Asia, since 1973
Trends in research expenditure in Central Asia, as a percentage of GDP, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: 2030 (2015), Figure 14.3
Central Asian researchers by sector of employment (HC), 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.5
Central Asian researchers by field of science, 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.4
Scientific publications from Central Asia catalogued by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded, 2005–2014, UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6
Cumulative total of articles by Central Asians between 2008 and 2013, by field of science. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6
Ethnic map of Central Asia. White areas are thinly-populated semi-desert. The three northwest-tending lines are the Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers flowing from the eastern mountains into the Aral Sea and in the south the irrigated north side of the Kopet Dagh mountains.
Uzbek children in Samarkand
Children in Afghanistan
Tartar prostrating before Qianlong Emperor of China (1757).
Political cartoon from the period of the Great Game showing the Afghan Amir Sher Ali with his "friends" Imperial Russia and the United Kingdom (1878)
Islam Karimov (President, Uzbekistan) in the Pentagon, March 2002

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.

- Central Asia

132 related topics with Alpha

Overall

Afghanistan

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Tents of Afghan nomads in the northern Badghis province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago.
The extent of the Indus Valley Civilization during its mature phase
A "Bactrian gold" Scythian belt depicting Dionysus, from Tillya Tepe in the ancient region of Bactria
Approximate maximum extent of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, formed by the fragmentation of Alexander the Great's Empire, circa 180 BCE
Saffarid rule at its greatest extent under Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
Mongol invasions and conquests depopulated large areas of Afghanistan
Map of the Hotak Empire during the Reign of Mirwais Hotak, 1715.
Map of the Hotak Empire at its height in 1728. Disputed between Hussain Hotak (Centered in Kandahar) and Ashraf Hotak (centered in Isfahan)
Portrait of Ahmad Shah Durrani c. 1757.
Afghan tribesmen in 1841, painted by British officer James Rattray
Map of Afghanistan (Emirate) and surrounding nations in 1860, following the conquest of [[Principality of Qandahar| Kandahar]], and before the conquest of Herat.
Emir Amanullah invaded British India in 1919 and proclaimed Afghanistan's full independence thereafter. He proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan in June 1926.
King Zahir, the last reigning monarch of Afghanistan, who reigned from 1933 until 1973.
Development of the civil war from 1992 to late 2001
U.S. troops and Chinooks in Afghanistan, 2008
A map of Afghanistan showing the 2021 Taliban offensive
Taliban fighters in Kabul on a captured Humvee following the 2021 fall of Kabul.
The mountainous topography of Afghanistan
Köppen climate map of Afghanistan
The snow leopard was the official national animal of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
A 2005 CIA map showing traditional Afghan tribal territories. Pashtun tribes form the world's largest tribal society.
Ethnolinguistic map of Afghanistan (2001)
Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif is the largest mosque in Afghanistan
UNESCO Institute of Statistics Afghanistan Literacy Rate population plus15 1980–2018
The Daoud Khan Military Hospital in Kabul is one of the largest hospitals in Afghanistan
The Arg (the Presidential palace) in Kabul
U.S. representative Zalmay Khalilzad (left) meeting with Taliban leaders, Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Suhail Shaheen, unidentified. Doha, Qatar on 21 November 2020.
Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces, which are further divided into a number of districts
Workers processing pomegranates (anaar), which Afghanistan is famous for in Asia
Afghan rugs are one of Afghanistan's main exports
Afghan saffron has been recognized as the world's best
Lapis lazuli stones
Afghanistan electricity supply 1980–2019
Band-e Amir National Park
The Minaret of Jam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently under threat by erosion and flooding
The Salang Tunnel, once the highest tunnel in the world, provides a key connection between the north and south of the country
An Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A310 in 2006
An Afghan family near Kholm, 1939 – most Afghans are tribal
A house occupied by nomadic kochi people in Nangarhar Province
Kabul skyline, displaying both historical and contemporary buildings
A traditional Afghan embroidery pattern
The Afghan rubab
Non (bread) from a local baker, the most widely consumed bread in Afghanistan
Haft Mewa (Seven Fruit Syrup) is popularly consumed during Nowruz in Afghanistan
The ancient national sport of Afghanistan, Buzkashi

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.

Tajikistan

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The Samanid ruler Mansur I (961–976)
19th-century painting of lake Zorkul and a local Tajik inhabitant
Soviet negotiations with basmachi, 1921
Soviet Tajikistan in 1964
Spetsnaz soldiers during the civil war, 1992
The Palace of Nations in Dushanbe
President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon has ruled the country since 1994.
Supreme Assembly in Dushanbe.
President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Satellite photograph of Tajikistan
Tajikistan map of Köppen climate classification
Mountains of Tajikistan
Karakul lake
A proportional representation of Tajikistan exports, 2019
A Tajik dry fruit seller
The TadAZ aluminium smelting plant, in Tursunzoda, is the largest aluminium manufacturing plant in Central Asia, and Tajikistan's chief industrial asset.
Real GPD per capita development of Tajikistan
Tajikistan: trends in its Human Development Index indicator 1970–2010
Group of Tajik women
Nowruz celebrations in Tajikistan
Tajik traditional dress
A mosque in Isfara, Tajikistan
A hospital in Dushanbe
Tajik National University in Dushanbe
Tajikistan is a popular destination amongst mountaineers. 1982 expedition to Tartu Ülikool 350.
Ambassador to the Tang dynasty, coming from Kumedh (胡密丹), Tajikistan. Wanghuitu (王会图) circa 650 CE.

Tajikistan (, ; Тоҷикистон; Таджикистан), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон), is a landlocked country in Central Asia.

Uzbekistan

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Female statuette wearing the kaunakes. Chlorite and limestone, Bactria, beginning of the second millennium BC
Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus. Mosaic in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Triumphant crowd at Registan, Sher-Dor Madrasah. The Emir of Bukhara viewing the severed heads of Russian soldiers on poles. Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin (1872).
Russian troops taking Samarkand in 1868, by Nikolay Karazin.
Two Sart men and two Sart boys in Samarkand, c. 1910
Map of Uzbekistan, including the former Aral Sea.
Uzbekistan map of Köppen climate classification
Cotton picking near Kyzyl-Kala, Karakalpakstan.
Map of flooded areas as a result of the collapse of the Sardoba Reservoir
Comparison of the Aral Sea between 1989 and 2014
The Legislative Chamber of Uzbekistan (Lower House).
Islam Karimov, the first President of Uzbekistan, during a visit to the Pentagon in 2002
President Islam Karimov with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Samarkand in November 2015
Leaders present at the SCO summit in Ufa, Russia in 2015
Political Map of Uzbekistan
A proportional representation of Uzbekistan exports, 2019
Yodgorlik silk factory
Bread sellers in Urgut
Population pyramid 2016
Newlywed couples visit Tamerlane's statues to receive wedding blessings.
Uzbek children
Shakh-i Zindeh mosque, Samarkand
Mosque of Bukhara
Bukharan Jews, c. 1899
A page in Uzbek language written in Nastaʿlīq script printed in Tashkent 1911
Central Station of Tashkent
The Afrosiyob high-speed train
Uzbek troops during a cooperative operation exercise
Traditional Uzbek pottery
Navoi Opera Theater in Tashkent
Embroidery from Uzbekistan
Silk and Spice Festival in Bukhara
Palov
Uzbek manti
Milliy Stadium in Tashkent.

Uzbekistan (, ; Ozbekiston/Ўзбекистон, ), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Ozbekiston Respublikasi/Ўзбекистон Республикаси), is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia.

The countries and autonomous regions where a Turkic language has official status or is spoken by a majority

Turkic peoples

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The countries and autonomous regions where a Turkic language has official status or is spoken by a majority
The distribution of the Turkic languages
Map from Kashgari's Diwan (11th century), showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.
A page from "Codex Kumanicus". The Codex was designed in order to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Kumans.
Descriptive map of Turkic peoples.
Eastern Hemisphere in 500 BCE
Genetic, archeologic and linguistic evidence links the early Turkic peoples to the "Northeast Asian gene pool". Proto-Turks are suggested to have adopted a nomadic lifestyle and expanded from eastern Mongolia westwards.
Xiongnu, Mongolic, and proto-Turkic tribes (ca. 300 CE)
Territory of the Xiongnu, which included Mongolia, Western Manchuria, Xinjiang, East Kazakhstan, East Kyrgyzstan, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu.
Huns (c.450 CE)
First Turk Khaganate (600 CE)
The Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates (600 CE)
Colored terracotta figurine of a Gokturk male found in a Kurgan, Kazakhstan, 5th-6th c.
A Turkic warrior from the Göktürk period. The horse's tail is knotted in Turkic style. His hair is long, braided and his big-collared caftan and boots are Turkic clothing features.
The migration of the Bulgars after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century
Golden Horde
Uyghur Khaganate
Uyghur painting from the Bezeklik murals
Old Uyghur Princes from the Bezeklik murals.
The Turkic Later Tang Dynasty
Kangar Union after the fall of Western Turkic Khaganate, 659–750
Oghuz Yabgu State (c.750 CE)
Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 CE
A map showing the Seljuk Empire at its height, upon the death of Malik Shah I in 1092.
Head of Seljuq male royal figure, 12–13th century, from Iran.
Map of the Timurid Empire at its greatest extent under Timur.
Silver dirham of AH 329 (940/941 CE), with the names of Caliph al-Muttaqi and Amir al-umara Bajkam (de facto ruler of the country)
Independent Turkic states shown in red
Map of TÜRKSOY members.
Bashkirs, painting from 1812, Paris
A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.
Circle dance of Shamans 1911
An Old Uyghur Khagan
Göktürk petroglyphs from Mongolia (6th to 8th century)
A Penjikent man dressed in “Turkic“ long coats, 6th-8th c.
Kyz kuu.
Turk vassal blacksmiths under Mongolian rule
Turkic hunting scene, Gokturk period Altai
Battle scene of a Turkic horseman with typical long hair (Gokturk period, Altai)
Old Uyghur king from Turfan, from the murals at the Dunhuang Mogao Caves.
Old Uyghur prince from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur woman from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur Princess.
Old Uyghur Princesses from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur Prince from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur Manichaean Elect depicted on a temple banner from Qocho.
Old Uyghur donor from the Bezeklik murals.
Old Uyghur Manichaean Electae from Qocho.
Old Uyghur Manichaean clergymen from Qocho.
Fresco of Palm Sunday from Qocho.
Manicheans from Qocho
Khan Omurtag of Bulgaria, from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.
Ghaznavid portrait, Palace of Lashkari Bazar.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schlumberger |first1=Daniel |title=Le Palais ghaznévide de Lashkari Bazar |journal=Syria |date=1952 |volume=29 |issue=3/4 |page=263 & 267|doi=10.3406/syria.1952.4789 |jstor=4390312 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4390312 |issn=0039-7946}}</ref>
Azerbaijani girls in traditional dress.
Gagauz women and man.
Bashkir boys in national dress.
A Chuvash girl in traditional dress.
Khakas people with traditional instruments.
Nogai man in national costume.
Turkish girls in their traditional clothes, Dursunbey, Balikesir Province.
Turkmen girl in national dress.
Tuvan men and women in Kyzyl, Tuva.
Kazakh man in traditional clothing.
Uzbek with traditional cuisine.
Kyrgyz traditional eagle hunter.
Tuvan traditional shaman.
Yakut Sakha family in traditional attire.

The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of Central, East, North, South and West Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE

Silk Road

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Network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.

Network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE
Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. British Museum.
Achaemenid Persian Empire at its greatest extent, showing the Royal Road.
Soldier with a centaur in the Sampul tapestry, wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.
A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd century CE)
Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China
The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".
Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road
A Westerner on a camel, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)
Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's Southern dynasties period of fragmentation.
Coin of Constans II (r. 641–648), who is named in Chinese sources as the first of several Byzantine emperors to send embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty
A Chinese sancai statue of a Sogdian man with a wineskin, Tang dynasty (618–907)
The empires and city-states of the Horn of Africa, such as the Axumites were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.
After the Tang defeated the Gokturks, they reopened the Silk Road to the west.
Marco Polo's caravan on the Silk Road, 1380
Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870
The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.
A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara
Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.
Map of Marco Polo's travels in 1271–1295
Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the voyages of Zheng He.
Plan of the Silk Road with its maritime branch
Yangshan Port of Shanghai, China
Port of Trieste
Trans-Eurasia Logistics
The Silk Road in the 1st century
The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China
Fragment of a wall painting depicting Buddha from a stupa in Miran along the Silk Road (200AD - 400AD)
A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian, although more likely Sogdian.
Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka, 3rd century BCE; see Edicts of Ashoka, from Kandahar. This edict advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.
A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from Sarnath, 3000 km southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century
Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.
Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh
Sultanhani caravanserai
Shaki Caravanserai, Shaki, Azerbaijan
Two-Storeyed Caravanserai, Baku, Azerbaijan
Bridge in Ani, capital of medieval Armenia
Taldyk pass
Medieval fortress of Amul, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Zeinodin Caravanserai
Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)
The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province
A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns
A Chinese Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay
Han dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang on the Silk Road.
Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China

First coined in the late 19th century, the name "Silk Road" has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, which more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Europe.

Kazakhstan

26 links

Approximate extent of Scythia within the area of distribution of Eastern Iranian languages (shown in orange) in the 1st century BC
Cuman–Kipchak confederation in Eurasia circa 1200. The Kazakhs are descendants of Kipchaks, Nogais and other Turkic and medieval Mongol tribes
Ural Cossacks skirmish with Kazakhs (the Russians originally called the Kazakhs "Kirgiz")
Map of the Kazakh Territory in 1903
Stanitsa Sofiiskaya, Talgar. 1920s
Young Pioneers at a Young Pioneer camp in Kazakh SSR
The International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978, known as the Alma-Ata Declaration
The Monument of Independence, Republic Square, Almaty
Satellite image of Kazakhstan (November 2004)
The Kazakh Steppe is part of the Eurasian Steppe Belt (in on the map)
Karaganda Region
Kazakhstan map of Köppen climate classification
Corsac fox
Ak Orda Presidential Palace
Parliament of Kazakhstan
Nur Otan Headquarters in Nur-Sultan
President Nazarbayev with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2012
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019
Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
Kazakhstan Republican Guard
A Kazakhstan Sukhoi Su-27
Downtown Nur-Sultan
GDP per capita development, since 1973
A proportional representation of Kazakhstan exports, 2019
Aktau is Kazakhstan's only seaport on the Caspian Sea
A map of Kazakhstan's imports, 2013
Kazakhstan has the largest proven oil reserves in the Caspian Sea region.
Grain fields near Kokshetau
Map of Kazakhstan railway network
Train 22 Kyzylorda – Semipalatinsk, hauled by a Kazakhstan Temir Zholy 2TE10U diesel locomotive. Picture taken near Aynabulak, Kazakhstan
Borovoe, view from Mount Bolectau
A ski resort in Almaty
Astana Expo 2017 "Nur Alem" Pavilion
Almaty
Trends in research expenditure in Central Asia, as a percentage of GDP, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: 2030 (2015), Figure 14.3
Group of Kazakhstan physicists in collaboration with Uzbek researchers working at the ion accelerator DC-60
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's oldest and largest operational spaceport
Population pyramid, 2020
Central Asian ethnolinguistic patchwork, 1992
Kazakhstanis on a Lake Jasybay beach, Pavlodar Region
Ascension Cathedral in Almaty
Khazret Sultan Mosque is the biggest mosque in Kazakhstan
Kazakh National University of Arts
A Kazakhstan performer demonstrates the long equestrian heritage as part of the gala concert during the opening ceremonies of the Central Asian Peacekeeping Battalion
Kanysh Satpayev, one of the founders of Soviet era metallogeny, principal advocate and the first president of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences
1965 Soviet stamp honouring Kazakh essayist and poet Abai Qunanbaiuly
Nowruz on stamp of Kazakhstan
A-Studio was created in 1982 in Almaty, then called Alma-Ata, hence called "Alma-Ata Studio"
Astana Arena opened in 2009
Nikolai Antropov
International Astana Action Film Festival, 2010
Timur Bekmambetov, a notable Kazakh director

Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental landlocked country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe.

Turkmenistan

21 links

Turkmen helmet (15th century)
City of Çärjew in Russian Turkestan, 1890
A Turkmen man of Central Asia in traditional clothes. Photo by Prokudin-Gorsky between 1905 and 1915.
Golden statue of Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat
President Berdimuhamedov with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2017
Topography of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan map of Köppen climate classification
A proportional representation of Turkmenistan exports, 2019
Ceremony on completion of the Turkmen section of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline.
Oil platform of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea.
The generators of the Hindukush hydro power plant
Panorama of the site of the Darvaza gas crater
Turkmenistan Airlines Boeing 777-200LR
Workers in the service of Maritime and River Transport of Turkmenistan
Turkmen Diesel locomotive
Turkmens in folk costume at the 20th Independence Day parade, 2011.
Ashgabat Mosque, 2013
Russian Orthodox church in Mary
Turkmen bakshy – traditional musicians – historically are traveling singers and shamans, acting as healers and spiritual figures, providing music for celebrations of weddings, births, and other important life events.
Turkmeni students in university uniform

Turkmenistan ( or ; Türkmenistan, ), also known as Turkmenia, is a landlocked country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.

Xinjiang

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Dzungaria (Red) and the Tarim Basin or Altishahr (Blue)
Northern Xinjiang (Junggar Basin) (Yellow), Eastern Xinjiang- Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (Red) and Altishahr/the Tarim Basin (Blue)
Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) by the Tien Shan Mountains
Map of Han Dynasty in 2 CE. Light blue is the Tarim Basin protectorate.
Old Uyghur/Yugur art from the Bezeklik murals
The Tarim Basin in the 3rd century AD
A Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel. Sancai ceramic statuette, Tang dynasty
Mongol states from the 14th to the 17th centuries: the Northern Yuan dynasty, Four Oirat, Moghulistan and Kara Del
The Dzungar–Qing Wars, between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate
The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756, between the Manchu and Oirat armies
The Qing Empire ca. 1820
Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr
Yakub Beg, ruler of Yettishar
19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar
Kuomintang in Xinjiang, 1942
Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.
The Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic encompassed Xinjiang's Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay districts.
Close to Karakoram Highway in Xinjiang.
Pamir Mountains and Muztagh Ata.
Taklamakan Desert
Tianchi Lake
Black Irtysh river in Burqin County is a famous spot for sightseeing.
Kanas Lake
Largest cities and towns of Xinjiang
Statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar
Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Government between 2007 and 2015
The distribution map of Xinjiang's GDP per person (2011)
Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang.
Wind farm in Xinjiang
Sunday market in Khotan
Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport
Karakorum highway
This flag (Kök Bayraq) has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.
"Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang
Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin
A mosque in Ürümqi
People engaging in snow sports by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu
Christian Church in Hami
Catholic Church in Urumqi
Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi
Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture
Emin Minaret
Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China
Erkin Tuniyaz, the incumbent Chairman of the Xinjiang Government

Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is a landlocked autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia.

Kyrgyzstan

19 links

Kyrgyz Khaganate
Silk road caravansarai utilized during the Islamic Golden Age
Bishkek
Urial on a Kyrgyzstan stamp
Nomads in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz family in the village of Sary-Mogol, Osh Region
Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, Osh, in 2018
Kyrgyzstan's topography
On the southern shore of Issyk Kul lake, Issyk Kul Region
A map of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan map of Köppen climate classification
Sadyr Japarov, President of Kyrgyzstan
Supreme Council building in Bishkek.
Japarov with Vladimir Putin.
President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China, June 2018
Kyrgyz soldiers conducting mine sweeping exercises.
A proportional representation of Kyrgyzstan exports, 2019
Southern shore of Issyk Kul Lake.
Issyk Kul Lake
A population pyramid showing Kyrgyzstan's age distribution (2005).
Population density of Kyrgyzstan, 2015
Kyrgyz men in Naryn Region
Uzbeks in Osh
The name of Kyrgyzstan rendered in the traditional script in use from 13th century to 1920.
Karakol Dungan Mosque
Bishkek Eastern Orthodox Church
Mosque under construction in Kyrgyzstan
Musicians playing traditional Kyrgyz music.
A traditional Kyrgyz manaschi performing part of the Epic of Manas at a yurt camp in Karakol
Hunting with an eagle
Bandy: Kyrgyzstan in red against Japan
Bishkek West Bus Terminal
Street scene in Osh.

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia.

Uzbek people at a market in Khiva, Uzbekistan.

Uzbeks

19 links

Uzbek people at a market in Khiva, Uzbekistan.
Female statuette bearing the kaunakes. Chlorite and limestone, Bactria, beginning of the 2nd millennium BC
Turkish officers during a audience with king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab murals, Samarkand.
Clothing of Uzbek men, Khiva
Timur feasts in Samarkand
Ulugbeg with ladies of his harem and retainers,1425-1450.
Shaybani Khan, 1507
A lithograph of two Uzbek Khans from Afghanistan in 1841.
The Defence of the Samarkand Citadel in 1868. From the Russian Illustrated Magazine "Niva" (1872).
Uzbek Mulla Dzhan Turdi Ali, Uncle of the Kokand Khan's Older Son, 19th century
Uzbek students after graduation
Uzbek elders
Uzbek family in the United States
Ibrahim Bek, revolutionary leader against the Soviet Union, in 1920
Traditional Uzbek costume circa 1840s
Uzbek children, in traditional clothing 19th-20th cen.
Women in school uniform, Samarkand, 2008
An Uzbek man wearing a skullcap, otherwise known as doppa or tyubeteika
thumb|Early coin of Tegin Shah, in the style of the Nezak Huns, whom he displaced. Tokharistan, late 7th century CE.
Trilingual coin of Tegin Shah towards the end of his reign. Tokharistan,728 CE
Photographs of Uzbek from Afghanistan in 1924 and Tashkent in 1872.

The Uzbeks (Oʻzbek, Ўзбек, اوزبک, plural: Oʻzbeklar, Ўзбеклар, اوزبکلر) are a Turkic ethnic group native to wider Central Asia, being the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area.