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...

The application of Communist ideology to the Central Asian environment was always a difficult undertaking. Throughout much of the Soviet Union's history, efforts were made to revise, adapt, or forcibly introduce Communist thought in the region,...

The art of Central Asia has always been the consequence of the contacts of local cultures with neighboring great civilizations. Being at the crossroads of the Persian, Hellenic, Indian, Arabic, Mongol, and Turkic worlds and later influenced by European...

The five Central Asian republics (CARs: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan) were prime suppliers of agricultural products, metals, and minerals to population centers in the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, farm...

Located at the heart of the great Silk Road, Central Asia is crossed by an ancient network of caravan routes that linked China with the Mediterranean. The dances of the region reflect the rich legacy of many cultures, both indigenous and foreign....

An enormous number of languages are spoken by the various ethnic groups that inhabit Central Asia. Turkic languages, which belong to the Altaic family of world languages, are the most frequently spoken in Central Asia, followed by the Iranian (mainly...

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...

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....