Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – An Overview of Central Asia
October 2006
Central Asia has also sometimes also called Middle Asia or Inner Asia. Over time it has meant the land from Iran to Mongolia. Today it usually is used to refer to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The nation of Iran is also sometimes included in Western Asia. It could be thought of as a bridge between the two regions.
Most of Central Asia is landlocked, with no access to the ocean—only Iran has a southern coastline. The region has a wide and varied terrain, ranging from the mountains of the Tien Shan (home to the highest peaks on earth) to vast deserts and grassy steppes. There are several large rivers and lakes, including the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea. However, the governments in the region have not taken very good care of these resources, and environmental disasters have been the result. The Aral Sea in particular is drying up.
The combined population of the countries in the region is over 120 million people. About half of these (sixty-six million) live in Iran. Afghanistan is the second most populous country, with twenty-three million people. The tribes considered part of Central Asia include the Eastern Turkic, Eastern Iranian and Mongolian peoples.
The arid nature of Central Asia’s land makes farming very difficult. Its distance from the sea forced trade to go overland through the famous Silk Road routes. With little farming or trade, few of the tribes settled; as a result, few cities were developed. For thousands of years Central Asia has been controlled by the famous horse-riding peoples. Their nomadic lifestyle was ideally suited to mobile warfare, and they were some of the most powerful military peoples in the world during their time. Some of the most famous armies to originate in this region included the Huns and the Mongols who at different times controlled much of Europe and European Asia. Their military power declined in the sixteenth century with the proliferation of firearms that shifted power into the hands of the settled people. Russia and China had taken control of most of the region by the nineteenth century. After the collapse of the Soviet Union (mostly sparked by the conflict with the rural and semi-nomadic peoples of Afghanistan) much of Central Asia gained its independence.
Central Asia is politically fragmented, with divisions between tribes and between different political ideologies.
Today, Central Asia still follows the historical patterns established over the centuries. The peoples tend to identify themselves more by tribes than by national identity. The region is politically fragmented, with divisions between tribes and between different political ideologies. Local “strongmen” and “warlords” may be far more powerful than the national governments. In Afghanistan, for example, President Hamid Karzai has little control outside the city of Kabul. What national governments exist are highly controlling if not outright dictatorial, and when elections occur they may be influenced, bought or completely rigged. As in China, one could say Central Asia is ruled mostly by men rather than laws. The region’s policies are dominated in turn by Russia, China, Iran and Turkey. These “great powers” continue to be concerned about the region, whose instability can give rise to individuals with the power to do a great deal of damage (one example being extreme fundamentalists who, unable to muster significant military forces, resort to terror attacks to achieve their goals).
Oil and natural gas are two major resources contained within the region. There are significant reserves of both in the region. Strategic pipelines carrying oil to distant ports have also been built across the countries. However, it is unlikely that the oil reserves in Central Asia will last much beyond the next two generations. Most of the Central Asian nations are struggling to wisely use their petrodollars, but economic corruption is rampant in these countries. Iran is in a much better place to manage its oil wealth, which is not likely to run out as quickly as the northern states. However, little of the oil wealth trickles down to the average individual.