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From the Cartographic archives
Central Asia: new
plans for old lands
The former Soviet republics of Central AsiaTurkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakstanare the lands of the -istans, a Persian suffix meaning land of. Home to more than 50 million, these newly independent nations hold vast oil resources and are able to tap a rich cultural tradition going back to the caravan days of the Silk Road more than 2000 years ago. But independence comes with some nasty problems: appalling environmental degradation from cotton farming during the Soviet era, and spillover violence from troubled neighbor Afghanistan. Oil reserves face marketing problems. New friends in the regionTurkey, Iran, Pakistanstress linguistic and religious ties and seek to open up economic contact with the former republics, but Russia maintains a strong presence in the area. The map shown is from the National Geographic Atlas of the World.
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