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The land area of Central Asia is impressive to say the least and stretches from China in the east to the Caspian Sea in the west and from Russia in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. The countries of the Central Asian region are
Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Pakistan,
Russia,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan. Many of these nations are ex-Soviet republics and once helped to form what was once known as the USSR or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The eastern half of Central Asia's terrain is of a low-lying desert terrain, irrigated by the Aral Sea and its contributory Amu Darya River. Nearly 70% of Turkmenistan's land area is covered by the Kara Kum desert. The western half of the Asian Middle East is almost entirely a mountainous plateau and is home to the spectacular glacial Lake Qarokul and the Naryn River. Lake Ozero Issyk-Kul' is a high altitude lake, yet it never freezes due to the salinity of its water. |
