BJU Cultural Geography Chapter 18

Almaty

The capital in the south of Kazakhstan when it was under Soviet rule.

Tashkent

The capital of Uzbekistan that has 2.3 million people and is the largest city in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Has a rich heritage that dates back at least to the second century BC, according to Chinese sources.

Bukhara

The greatest oasis of Kyzyl-Kum is north of the Amu Darya. Served as a crucial junction of the Silk Road as caravans crossed eight hundred miles through the deserts.

Caspian Sea

The largest lake in the world. It provides key resources such as fish and salt, but the most important one is oil and natural gas reserves. Baku is the leading port. Kura River empties into this lake, but no water leaves because it is 92 feet below sea level.

Caspian Depression

The lowest spot in Kazakhstan. It is 433 feet below sea level--lower than any location in the Western Hemisphere.

Turkistan

Uzbekistan hoped that the Turkic peoples of Central Asia would unite into this single nation when Central Asia broke from the Soviet Union.

Turkic Peoples

Conquered Turkey and the Mongols. Later settled most of Central Asia..

Armenians

Have a unique language with its own alphabet, invented in the fifth century. In the fourth century, their nation became the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity.

Astana

Kazakhs moved the capital to the north so that Kazakh authorities would rule in the heart of the Russified area. Originally known as Tselinograd, when it was formed as a fortress city in 1824. Now modernized and known as a "City of Peace".

Caucasus Mountains

Lie at the crossroads between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The western border of the mountains runs along the Black Sea. The eastern border touches the coast of the Caspian Sea. Arabs call this the "Mountains of a thousand languages".

Samarqand

Lies near the eastern border of Uzbekistan, where the Kyzyl-Kum desert reaches the first spur of the mountains. Ancient Arab manuscripts called it "the Gem of the East." Famous for excellent examples of various types of architecture.

Silk Road

Linked the two great ancient empires: Rome and China. Europeans gladly traded anything of value to the Chinese in return for silk.

Pashtun

People that predominate Afghanistan.

Central Asia

A broad term that encompasses all of the dry steppes between the Caspian Sea and western China. Deserts and high mountains seperate this region from the rest of the world.

Mujahideen

A coalition of Muslim tribes that opposed the Soviets. Name means "strugglers."

Kara-Kum

A desert that covers 80 percent of Turkmenistan. Summer temperatures can exceed 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Petroleum and natural gas here make Turkmenistan the richest country in Central Asia.

Hindu Kush

A mountain barrier extending southwest from the Pamirs and across central Afghanistan. Persian for "Hindu Death."

Wakhan Corridor

A narrow panhandle that Russia and Great Britain created to stretch the buffer zone to China. All of Hindu Kush's peaks are here in the east.

Buffer State

A neutral state between two rivals who agreed to keep their armies out.

Aral Sea

A salt lake with no outlet to the ocean. Although it was once the world's fourth-largest lake, extensive irrigation has reduced it to eigth in only thirty years.

Nagorno-Karabakh

A territory where a large Armenian minority lives. Armenian soldiers have fought Azerbaijan for control of this territory.

Madrasah

An Islamic seminary. The oldest in Central Asia is Ulugh Beg in Bukhara, dating from 1418.

Kyzyl-Kum

A vast desert that covers 80 percent of Uzbekistan, except for a few mountains on the eastern edge. The main crop, cotton requires irrigation.

Kabul

Afghanistan's largest and capital city which lies in one of the many mountain valleys of the Hindu Kush.

Khyber Pass

Allows easy passage through the Hindu Kush. At its narrowest point, the pass is only a little more than three feet wide. A southern extension of the old Silk Road brought goods from India to Samarqand.

Pamir Mountains

Cover the eastern half of Tajikistan. This range is sometimes called the Pamir Knot because it ties together the great ranges: the Tien Shan, the Hindi Kush, the Himalaya (and Karakoram), and the Kunlun.

Tien Shan

Dominates Kyrgyzstan. This northern range runs one thousand miles from Tashkent to Urumqi in China and divides Kyrgyzstan from China. Also known as the Celestial Mountains.

Taliban

Islamic extremists who eventually prevailed and restored order by enforcing rigid adherence to sharia, including amputation of hands and arms. Name means "seekers" or "students."