1. © T. M. Whitmore Today Central Asia  Physical environment  Population & settlement  Culture  Geopolitical issues

2. © T. M. Whitmore Last Time Historical development of Russia (and neighbors) geo-politically and industrially  Historical development of Russian Empire  USSR (1921 - 1989)  Industrial development & its geography

3. © T. M. Whitmore Central Asia: Defined Once home to the powerful Mongol empireMongol Now site of emerging - little known stateslittle known states  The “stans”  Kazakhstan  Uzbekistan  Kyrgyzstan  Turkmenistan  Afghanistan  Azerbaijan  Mongolia  Western and Northern provinces of China

6. © T. M. Whitmore Central Asia: Physical Environment Importance of aridity and semi- aridityaridity Continentality Tectonic landscape Tectonic Mountain zones Mountain Deserts Basin and plains – steppessteppes

7. © T. M. Whitmore

11. Mountain Zones

12. © T. M. Whitmore Desert Zones

15. © T. M. Whitmore Central Asia: Population, settlement, culture Vast area more-or-less emptyempty Strongly circumscribed settlementcircumscribed Ethnic/cultural/linguistic diversity Ethnic/cultural/linguistic Religious diversity Religious

17. © T. M. Whitmore

24. Central Asia: Geopolitical issues History of political domination from Russia/USSR Russia/USSR History of political domination from China China Ethnic tensions Ethnic Afghanistan Current issues Current

28. © T. M. Whitmore

33. Central Asia

34. © T. M. Whitmore

35. Central Asia: Contemporary development All states very poor Breakup of USSR => economic collapse of ‘Stans Afghanistan in chaos