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GeoPol - Middle East, Stans - Bal >> .
Central Asia is a region in
Asia which stretches from the
Caspian Sea in the west to
China and
Mongolia in the east, and from
Afghanistan and
Iran in the south to
Russia in the north, including the
former Soviet republics of
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan. It is also colloquially referred to as "the stans" as the countries all have names ending with the
Persian suffix "
-stan", meaning "land of".
Central Asia was historically closely tied to the
Silk Road, acting as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between
Europe and
Asia.
Pre- and early Islamic Central Asia was
predominantly Iranian, populated by
Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians,
Sogdians,
Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic
Scythians and
Dahae. After
expansion by Turkic peoples, Central Asia also became the homeland for the
Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tatars, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, and
Uyghurs;
Turkic languages largely replaced the Iranian languages spoken in the area.
From the mid-19th century until almost the end of the 20th century, Central Asia was colonised by the
Russians, and incorporated into the
Russian Empire, and later the
Soviet Union, which led to Russians and other
Slavs emigrating into the area.
Modern-day Central Asia is home to a large population of
European settlers, who mostly live in Kazakhstan; 7 million Russians, 500,000
Ukrainians, and about 170,000
Germans.
Stalinist-era forced deportation policies also mean that over 300,000
Koreans live there.
Central Asia (2019) has a population of about
72 million, consisting of
five republics:
Kazakhstan (pop. 18 million), Kyrgyzstan (6 million), Tajikistan (9 million), Turkmenistan (6 million), and Uzbekistan (33 million).
South Asia is the southern region of
Asia, which is defined in both
geographical and
ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of
Afghanistan,
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
India,
Nepal,
Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives. Topographically, it is dominated by the
Indian Plate and defined largely by the
Indian Ocean on the south, and the
Himalayas,
Karakoram, and
Pamir mountains on the north. The
Amu Darya, which rises north of the
Hindu Kush, forms part of the northwestern border. On land (clockwise), South Asia is bounded by
Western Asia,
Central Asia,
East Asia, and
Southeast Asia.
The
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which was established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia. South Asia covers about 5.2 million km2 (2.0 million sq mi), which is 11.71% of the Asian continent or 3.5% of the world's land surface area. The
population of South Asia is about
1.891 billion or about one-fourth of the world's population, making it both the
most populous and the
most densely populated geographical region in the world. Overall, it accounts for about 39.49% of Asia's population, over 24% of the world's population, and is home to a vast array of people.
In
2010, South Asia had the world's largest populations of
Hindus,
Muslims,
Sikhs,
Jains and
Zoroastrians. South Asia alone accounts for 98.47% of Hindus, 90.5% of Sikhs, and 31% of Muslims worldwide, as well as 35 million
Christians and 25 million
Buddhists.
