Geography - Chapter 14 (The Caucasus. Central Asia, and South Asia)

twenty

Afghanistan has how many ethnic groups?; include Turkics, Mongols, Arabs, Aryans, and Persians

Armenia

conflict with this nation has left Azerbaijan unsettled and ready for war

disputed border with Turkey and a violent past

contribute to instability in Armenia

Sharia

severe Islamic law

Aral Sea

the Syr Darya flows into this body of water in the middle of the deserts in Kazakhstan; was a salt lake with no outlet to the ocean; once the world's fourth-largest lake; considered to be one of the world's greatest environmental disasters in history

Asian nomads led by Muslim conquerors

this people group settled on the coast of the Caspian Sea

Tajiks and Pashtuns

two largest ethnic groups of Afghanistan; constitute about three-quarters of the population

Ghats

two ranges of long, low, hardwood-covered mountains that run along the coasts of India

Kyzyl-Kum

vast desert that covers 80% of Uzbekistan; most of it is wilderness, but it does have a few oases and mining towns

Kabul

Afghanistan's largest city and capital; lies in one of the many mountain valleys of the Hindu Kush; small industries include afghans, rugs, and jewelry made from mined gems

Rigestan Desert

Afghanistan's least populous region; located in the southwest of the country

"mountains of a thousand languages"

Arabs call the Caucasus this

dry

Armenia's climate is very ___________; provides twenty inces of rainfall annually

ocean ports

Georgia is the only Caucasian country with these; allow the country to trade with Russian and Ukraine

mountains, rivers, a plateau, and a desert

India can be divided into these regions which are also the major features in the country

Democracy

India is called the world's largest _________________; however, it is a federal republic with 25 states and 6 territories

Taliban

Islamic extremists; eventually prevailed and restored order in Afghanistan by enforcing rigid adherence to Islamic law; allowed Islamic terrorists to set up training camps in the country

Khyber Pass

Kabul became important because of this; 33 miles long; 100 miles southeast of the city; allows easy passage through the Hindu Kush; narrowest point is 50 feet wide; Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great used this

lead

Kazakhstan is the second-leading producer of this resource

Syr Darya

Kazakhstan's main river; uranium is mined south of this river

Caspian Sea

Kura River empties into this body of water; largest lake in the world; provides fish and salt; 92 feet below sea level; rivers flow into this body of water, but no water flows out; oil and natural gas reserves are important resources from here

Himalayas

South Asia is separated from the rest of Asia by these on the north and the Indian Ocean on the south; highest mountain range on earth; Sanskrit for "House of Snow"

Subcontinent

South Asia is sometimes called this because it is bigger than a peninsula and smaller than a continent; dominate the weather system of the region

rivers

Tajikistan has few resources except for these; the country also has some of the world's highest dams (Rogun Dam and the Nurek Dam)

oil, natural gas, and mineral deposits

Uzbekistan's natural resources

Kara-Kum

a desert that covers 80% of Turkmenistan; summer temperatures can exceed 122 degrees F

Hindu Kush

a mountain barrier extending southwest from the Pamirs and across central Afghanistan; mean "Hindu Death"; has 34 7,000 meter-high peaks

Mt. Everest

a mountain located in the Himalayas; highest mountain in the world

Turkmenistan

about the size of Utah and Nevada combined; lies south of Kazakhstan and east of the Caspian Sea; most important border is on the south with Iran; only former Soviet republic bordering Iran; has relative inaccessibility to other countries

Wakhan Corridor

all of the highest peaks in the Hindu Kush lie in the eastern section of this; a narrow panhandle that Russia and Great Britain created to stretch the buffer zone to China

Tien Shan

also called the "Celestial Mountains;" runs one thousand miles from Tashkent to Urumqui in China and divides Kyrgyzstan from China

Eduard Shevardnadze

became president of Georgia in 1995, but his administration was characterized by corruption and mismanagement

Georgian Orthodox Church

being a member of this in Georgia was a way to identify with the people's ancestors; form of patriotism rather that spiritual faith; 76% of the population identifies with this church

Mongols

briefly dominated Central Asia when they terrorized all of Eurasia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD

Almaty

capital of Kazakhstan during the Soviet rule; put strong Russian authority in the heart of Kazakh territory; major industrial city in Kazakhstan at the south end of the Kazakh Uplands; largest city and cultural center

Dushanbe

capital of Tajikistan

Tashkent

capital of Uzbekistan; 2.2 million people; the largest city in the Caucasus and Central Asia; has a rich heritage that dates back to the second century BC; a 1966 earthquake destroyed most of the historic buildings

Islamic beliefs & conquest or attempted conquest by foreign powers

characteristics that countries in our studied regions share:

Sunni Muslims believe

continued to support the practice off appointing a caliph, who was any worthy Muslim capable of being their leader; divided the leadership between a political leader and a local religious leader (80-90% of the Muslim population)

Pamir Mountains

cover the eastern half of Tajikistan; sometimes called the Pamir Knot because it ties together the great ranges: the Tien Shan, the Hindu Kush, the Himalaya, and the Kunlun

Kazakh Uplands

cover the eastern lake regions around Lake Balkhash and Lake Zaysan in Kazakhstan; climate here is similar to that of the northern steppes

Shiite Muslims

declare that Muhammad had intended Ali, his cousin to rule; therefore, only members of Muhammad's family and a certain group of his descendants could rule; believe that their ruler should retain Muhammad's dual role of political and religious leader (10% of the Muslim population)

Armenian Apostolic Church

despite Christian growth, the Armenian people identify with this church for traditional reasons

Kyrgyzstan

dominated by the Tien Shan; one of the major problems for the country is that its boundaries divide similar ethnic groups and put dissimilar groups together

Georgia

enjoyed independence and prosperity from AD 1000 to 1212; was trampled as a pathway in wars between nations; in 1990, it became the second Soviet republic to declare independence

Kura River

flows southeast from Georgia into Azerbaijan; irrigation from this supports tobacco and wheat

Kura River

flows through the lowland valley of the Caucasus and the southeast plain across Azerbaijan, where farmers grow cotton, grain, and tea; provides water for textile and chemical plants

Buffer State

following decades of wars during the nineteenth century, Afghanistan became this; a neutral state between two rivals who agreed to keep their armies out

9/11

following this attack, the United States invaded Afghanistan, overthrowing the Taliban and chasing down terrorists who had taken refuge in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border

Monsoon

formed when summer heat rises in the south and a low-pressure system results, drawing warm, moist air from the Indian Ocean; strong winds that bring rain; the timing of these winds is important because if they are too early or too late famine will come as the result

Himalayan Mountain System

forms the great mountain barrier along the south border of china; only mountain barrier with peaks exceeding 26,246 feet; the highest and most rugged mountains in the world

Turkic peoples

had the longest-standing impact of Central Asia when the migrated between the fifth and tenth centuries; this causes the entire region to be sometimes referred to as Turkistan

Iran (formerly Persia)

has the greatest influence over Azerbaijan

oil

income from the production of this resource sparked ambitious building projects in Kazakhstan

Baku

leading port and capital of Azerbaijan; threatened by floods and rising waters

Caucasus Mountains

lie at the crossroads between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; western border runs along the Black Sea and the eastern border touches the coast of the Caspian Sea

Samarqand

lies near the eastern border of Uzbekistan; ancient Arab manuscripts called it "the Gem of the East;"famous for its excellent examples of various types of architecture; Alexander the Great destroyed the city; became a leading city on the Silk Road between Rome and China

Armenia

live in a landlocked mountainous region in the Caucasus Mountains; in the fourth century, their nation became the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity; developed a unique language with its own alphabet in the fifth century

Sunni Islam

major religion in Turkmenistan (96%); even though the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, Christians, Jews, and non-Sunni Muslim groups are persecuted and forbidden

Pastun

most Afghan people are of this ethnicity and they live in the central and eastern mountain regions

Sunni Islam

most of the people in Tajikistan practice this religion

Shia Islam

most of the people of Azerbaijan practice are of this religious minority

Muslim

most of the people of Uzbekistan practice this religion

Betpak-Dala

most of the southern portion of Kazakhstan is made up of this desert that contains great wealth; copper comes from here

Uzbekistan

most populous nation in Central Asia; located in the heart of Central Asia; completely surrounded by other Central Asian nations; borders every other nation in the region and is the only double landlocked state in the region

Silk Road

once went though Central Asia between the East and West; linked the two great ancient empires of Rome and China; used to trade one valuable material that the Europeans traded gold, silver, wool, jewels for

North Ossetia

one of the breakaway Muslim minorities from Georgia located across the border from Russia's republic of North Ossetia

Abkhazia

one of the breakaway Muslim minorities from Georgia located along the Black Sea

transporting oil to other nations

one of the most difficult tasks of Azerbaijan

Rioni River

one of the rivers that forms the central valley of Georgia, which drains into the Black Sea

Mujahideen

opposed the Soviet conquest of Afghanistan; a coalition of Muslim tribes

Persian

people of Azerbaijan speak this language

pastoral

people of Kyrgyzstan are primarily involved in this kinds of occupation; raising yaks, sheep, and cattle

economic blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey

recovery in Armenia from an earthquake that killed 25,000 people has been slow due to this

Silk

ruled trade across Central Asia

Western Ghats

run for about a thousand miles along the west coast from just north of Mumbai southward to the southernmost tip of India; home to numerous rare species of plants and animals; contain many wildlife sanctuaries and national parks

Kazakhstan

the "giant" of Central Asia; only Central Asian nation that borders Russia; the southern part is influenced by its Turkish background while the majority connects to Russia because of its history; has no major cities on the salt sea

petroleum and natural gas

the Kara-Kum desert's most important resources; these make Turkmenistan one of the richest Central Asian nations

Tbilisi

the capital of Georgia, located on the Kura River

Armenian Genocide

the event where Turkish leaders decided to murder 1.5 million Armenians so that the country wouldn't side with Russia during WWI

Bukhara

the greatest oasis in the Kyzyl-Kum lies here, which is north of the Amu Darya; served as a crucial juncture of the Silk Road; was the capital of a Muslim dynasty (Samanids) in the tenth century; today, it is a center of Tajik culture in the middle of an Uzbek nation

India

the largest country in South Asia; 7th largest country in area in the world and 2nd largest in population; predicted to overtake China as the world's most populous country

Caspian Depression

the lowest spot in the barren wasteland in Kazakhstan; lowland forms a deep bowl, or depression, in the earth; 433 feet below sea level

Tajikistan

the mountain hub of Central Asia; about the size of Iowa; shares borders with China and Afghanistan and is only a few miles north of Pakistan

Hindi

the national language in India even though several other languages are spoken

Islam

the official religion in Afghanistan; 99.85% of the population practice this

Ulugh Beg madrasah

the oldest Islamic seminary in Central Asia located in Bukhara

Revolution of Roses

the people of Georgia demanded Shevardnadze's resignation in this

the language is more Iranian than Turkic

the reason why Tajikistan is unique in Central Asia

the fertile northern plains, the rugged central highlands, and the desert of the southern plateau

the three zones that Afghanistan is geographically divided into

Britain and Russia

the two nations that fought over Afghanistan

northern steppes

these land forms in Kazakhstan are good for grazing sheep and cattle

Huns

these people from Central Asia threatened ancient Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries AD

Trans-Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir Knot

these three mountain ranges are part of the Himalayas divided by the Indus and Brahmaputra river vallyes

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

these two countries lying south of Kazakhstan were settled by Turkic peoples, speak Turkic languages, and follow the Turkish branch of Islam (Sunni Islam)

China

this country is seeking ways to gain the fuel it needs for its its expanding industrial economy and to end its dependence on long ocean routes; Kazakhstan is of great importance to this country; Kazakhstan has granted it sole rights to exploration and exploitation of oil along its border with the Caspian Sea

water

this has a very fragile supply in Uzbekistan

Turkistan

when Central Asia broke from the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan hoped that the Turkic people in the region would unite into a single nation called this; Uzbekistan had much to gain from this union because of its weak economy and lack of trade opportunities

Astana

when the Soviet Union fell, Kazakhs feared that the Russians in the north would try to become part of Russia, so the capital was moved here

Central Asia

wide-ranging term that includes all of the arid plains between the Caspian Sea and western China; isolated from other regions by deserts and high mountains; fierce nomads left an imprint of war and conquest in this region; is still effected by Communist rulers