Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, China faced the challenge of managing bilateral relations with the newly independent Central Asian states. The independence of these states exacerbated long-smoldering ethnic unrest in China's...

At approximately 2,200 kilometers in length, the Syr Dar'ya (Jaxartes and Sayhun) is Central Asia's second-longest river after the Amu Dar'ya. It derives most of its waters from the melting snows and glaciers of the Tian Shan...

It is difficult to imagine Central Asia without literature. Of the epic literature and poetry produced by numerous Central Asian ethnic groups, scholars are most familiar with Turkish and Persian literature and, to a certain extent, writings and oral...

Political, cultural, and military clashes have strongly affected Central Asia–Russia relations. In the nineteenth century, Russia tried to put the territories of today's Central Asian states under its control in order to benefit from the...

Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. Though various definitions of its exact composition exist, no one definition is universally accepted. Despite this uncertainty in defining borders, it does have some important overall characteristics....

The cataclysmic events that occurred in the 1980s and the 1990s greatly impacted the literature of Central Asia. Civil wars, environmental disasters and the disintegration of the Soviet Union into independent nation-states, all had profound effects and the writers are still coping with the...

THIS PERCEPTIVE and often provocative new book differs radically from the ideologically conformist Russian historians of the pre-glasnost era, and serves as a breath of fresh air. Written by two Russian specialists of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, it is a cogent...

The driver of the 18-wheel tractor-trailer from China idling at the Kazakhstan-China border said apples were the cargo he brought to Almaty, Kazakhstan's booming commercial center.For Kazakhs, there's a tart irony in the shipment.Almaty's region is where the first apple trees were found and the...

Russia announced a deal Saturday to dramatically increase the amount of natural gas it moves from Central Asia to Europe, a key victory in a growing rivalry with the West for the region's vast energy resources.Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the region's...