N. Africa & SW Asia:
Region - TURKESTAN

Why Include Turkestan?
Physical Geography
Cultural Geography
Economic Geography
Historical Geography

Why Include Turkestan?

Our textbook is the only one I have found that includes Turkestan in the same realm as the Middle East and North Africa. Most include Turkestan in the same chapter as Russia and call it "the former Soviet Union" [rufrmusr]. WHY do our authors put Turkestan in N. Africa and SW Asia? Look at the following maps and see which criteria they are using to justify this inclusion.

physical geography [wwclimat] [wwprec] [precip] [climate] [veget] [phys]
cultural geography [lang] [relig]
economic geography [oil] [wbgnpmap] [wwtrans] [wrpopgr]
historical geography [wwhearth] [nwmslwor] [nwottom]
population clusters [wwecumen] [nwecumen]

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REGIONAL CRITERIA

Physical Geography

• dry in west: steppe and desert [climate] [precip]
• highlands in the east [nwelev]
  • Tian Shan Mt.. in Kyrgyzstan
  • Hindu Kush Mt.. in Afghanistan
  • Pamir Mt. in Tajikistan
• population more dense in the north and highlands [ecumene] [wwecumen]

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Cultural Geography

• Turkic languages (some Tajic) [lang]
• Islam (mostly Sunni) [relig]
• Russians: especially in Kazakstan
• irredentism
• Muslim fundamentalism

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Economic Geography

• oil in east and west [oil]
• Aral Sea environmental disaster

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Historical Geography

• part of former Soviet Union [rufrmusr]

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