Eps 1: CENTRAL ASIA
Few major cities developed in the region; instead, the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the steppe .
The eastern part of Central Asia, known as East Turkestan or Xinjiang , was incorporated into the People's Republic of China .
Yama , Lord of Death, was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge.
Host
Jo Gilbert
Podcast Content
While similar threads are found in history and modern diplomacy, Central Asia and the Caucasus have long been considered separate entities, even if they are considered part of the same study. Moreover, much of this area is dominated by Turkish languages and Islam, including people with a history that is linked to both China and Central Asia, but whose identities are decidedly separate from their core. They are also Turkic and Persian, and both languages have been strongly influenced by the Middle East and China.
The partially closed geography shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan has led to a common history and cultural elements. Moreover, the geographical proximity of the people there has enabled them to develop a common language and cultural identity, as well as a strong sense of national identity.
Mongolia, for example, shares migration patterns and cultural heritage with the more nomadic parts of Central Asia. Mongolia stretches across East Asia and has more cultural ties to Korea and China than to most Central Asian countries. Indeed, many see the region as a region influenced by both the Middle East and East Asia, with the two regions "influences converging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The map below shows most of Central Asia as a mass stretching from Mongolia to Nepal, but the countries in the Caucasus have Turkish, Persian and Soviet influences across the Caspian Sea to Central Asia. Azerbaijan is predominantly Muslim, speaks Turkmen, forms a kind of bridge between Turkey and Central Asia and forms an ancient empire that influences all these states.
The Central Asia Region includes Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, as well as Kazakhstan. There are natural resources such as oil, natural gas, coal, oil and gas. However, historically there are Christian states and a large number of religious and ethnic minorities in the region, particularly in Turkmanistan.
The World Bank Group recently named Central Asia one of the ten most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change.
The Asian Development Bank has recommended a three-year period of economic and social development for Central Asia. During this time, the Bank supports efforts to improve the living standards of the country's people, promote economic growth and ensure that future generations benefit from sound environmental practices and social development.
Governance is presented as a cross-cutting issue with a focus on economic development, social development and environmental protection. In Russia and China, there are 19, in Kazakhstan four, in Kyrgyzstan three, in Tajikistan two, in Uzbekistan one and in Turkmenistan one each.
Kazakhstan is the most economically developed country and has a wide range of links with globalisation. Central Asian economies are not fully integrated into the global economy in many ways, but they are one of the most developed economies in the world and the second most populous. Other Central Asian countries are growing faster than Kazakhstan, where population growth is stagnant . The most dramatic increases have occurred in recent years in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
One estimate projects that the regional population will reach about 95 million by 2050, and one estimate projects population growth of about 1.5% per year by 2050. In 2018, the total population of Central Asia was about 80 million, or about one-third of the region's total population. About two-thirds of adults in Central Asia are over 60, according to the World Health Organization.
A loosely limited natural border has created a bowl in which the cultures of Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia have interacted and intermingled over the centuries.
The different borders include today's Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan . These five countries are majority Muslim, most of them speak the Turkish language, share many staple culinary foods like Plov and therefore have many things in common.
Some of the remote countries were able to continue the traditional nomadic lifestyle well into modern times, but others were more easily taxed and governed and converted to make do with agriculture and urban life. Modern Tajikistan originated from neighboring Uzbekistan, and linguistic and cultural influences have spread throughout the region.
Turkmenistan is a country with famous settlements and great dynasties of the past, which, unfortunately, were mainly destroyed by conquerors of a strict nature. The most developed cities, such as Tashkent, Tbilisi and Tuzla, are the most densely populated and populated places in the country.