Transcript PowerPoint 프레젠테이션 - DePaul Geography

Central Asia
2 Independent countries before 1991
6 former Soviet republics
3 Autonomous regions of China
Kazakhstan
Mongolia
Azerbaijan
Kyrgyzstan Xinjiang
Tajikistan
Afghanistan
Tibet
Inner Mongolia
Introduction
 Geopolitical

void
Long obscured by Russian and Chinese domination
 Low
economic link
 Arid physical environments
 Currently,
key area of geopolitical and economic
competition
 Al
Qaeda training camp
 Discovery of oil/gas reserves
Environmental Geography
Steppes, Deserts, and Threatened Lakes of the Eurasian Heartland
Central Asia’s Physical Regions
Northern Steppes
Central Deserts
Southern Highlands
Southern Highlands

Highest and most extensive mountains in the world

Collision of the Indian subcontinent into the Asian
mainland

Tibetan Plateau
Extensive uplands between Hymalayas and Kunlun Shan;
averaged around 15,000 feet
 Origin of many rivers


Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze, and Huang He River
Central Deserts
 Western
desert belt
elevation
 Larger rivers
 Eastern
 Higher
elevation
 Smaller river
 Lower
 Kara
Kum Desert
 Kyzyl Kum Desert
 Caspian/Aral Sea
Basin
desert belt
Tien Shan
Pamir Mt.
 Taklamakan
 Gobi
Desert
 Tarim Basin
Desert
Northern Steppes
 Between
desert zone and taiga
 Extensive pastures
 Northern Kazakstan, Northern/central Mongolia

Dominance of
dry climate
Deserts
 Steppes
 Arid
highlands


Pronounced
continentality
Environmental issues
 Desertification
Aridity
 Salinization
 Desiccation
The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
1973
1987
2000
The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
 Cause
 Diversion
of rivers nearby (irrigation projects)
 eg. Kara Kum Canal
 Consequences
 Ecological
devastation
 Economic damage: Fisheries, agricultural yields
 Public health: High infant and maternal death
Population and Settlement
Settled Oases amid Vacant Lands
 Most
of Central Asia is sparsely populated
 Highland
 Too
is largely uninhabited
arid or too high to support human life
 Lowland
(Desert, Steppe)
 Concentrated
population along the river valleys
Importance of mountains
 For
migratory pastoralists
 Transhumance
 For
sedentary farmers
 Source
of water and wood supplies
Tarim Basin

Most of the inhabitants of Central Asian deserts live in the narrow
belt where the mountains meet the basins and plains
Farmland in Uzbekistan
Steppe pastoralism
Migration of
Han-Chinese
High TFR in
Afghanistan




Unparalleled high TFR in Afghanistan
Higher TFR compared to other former Soviet zones  Islam
Different TFR within Islamic countries  urbanization
Low TFR in Tibet  monasticism & polyandry
Recent migration and
refugee flows



Return of ethnic Russians to Russia
Influx of Han Chinese into western China
Refugees from Afghanistan, and Tibet
Urbanization in ancient/medieval time
Mercantile centers
Silk Road
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Urbanization under communist rule
Administrative cities
Hohot, Inner Mongolia
Cultural Coherence and Diversity
A Meeting Ground of Disparate Traditions
Historic overview of Central Asia
1000 B.C.
Birthplace of IndoEuropean peoples?
0
13c
7c
Replaced by Tibetan Conquered by
Altaic peoples kingdom Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 1200s
Geography of language
Altaic
Indo-European
Tibetan
Geography of language

Influx of Han-Chinese into autonomous regions threatens
the sphere of indigenous languages in
Inner Mongolia: Mongolian
 Xinjiang: Uygur
 Tibet: Tibetan


Crossroad of disparate ethnic groups (Indo-European &
Altaic peoples) creates ethnic complexity in
Tajikistan: dialects of Persian, etc…
 Afghanistan: Pashtuns, etc…

Afghanistan’s ethnic patchwork
Geography of religion
Islam
Lamaist
Buddhism
Islamic fundamentalism
Afghan women in public
Lamaist Buddhism
 Mongolia, Tibet
 Buddhism
merged with the indigenous religion
 Theocracy
 Dedication
to monasticism
 Persecution under communist rule (1959)
Geopolitical Framework
Political Reawakening in a Power Void
Partitioning of the Steppes

Power struggle between sedentary and nomadic groups
(16c ~ 18c)  victory of sedentary states: China and
Russia bordering the Steppes

Manchu (Ch’ing) dynasty (1644-1912)


Captured Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, eastern Kazakstan
Russian Empire (17c – 1917)

Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
Central Asia was partitioned by Russia and China by the
early 1900s with buffer states bordering British-ruled states
Russia
China
British
Central Asia under communist rule
 Soviet
Union (1922)
 Union
republics  became independent states (1991)
 Mongolia
 China
(1924)
(1949)
 Autonomous
regions
Current geopolitical tension

The former Soviet republics
Kazakstan: Nationalistic effort of Kazaks against ethnic Russian
in north
 Tajikistan: war between secular lowland Tajik and Muslim
mountain Tajik
 Azerbaijan: invasion of Armenia in west


Autonomous regions in western China
Tibet: Tibetan’s protest against Chinese rule
 Xinjiang: Uygur’s opposition to Chinese use of their homeland
for nuclear testing, and suppression of religion

War in Afghanistan
 1978-89
Invasion of Soviet Union
 1995-97 Taliban (young Muslim religious students)
 2001 U.S.’s war against Al Qaeda and Taliban
 2002 Interim government in Kabul; other areas are
controlled by local warlords
International dimensions of Central
Asian tension

Since 1991, Central Asia emerged as a key arena of
geopolitical tension

A number of important countries, including China, Russia,
Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and U.S. vied for power and
influence in the region

9/11 completely changed the balance of power in the
region
Economic and Social Development
Abundant Resources, Devastated Economies
One of the least prosperous regions of the world
 Economic collapse in 1990s  end of Soviet subsidies

The post-communist economies
7 former communist economies
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Mongolia
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan



Economic liberalization since 1991
With the exception of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
Agricultural base
eg. Uzbekistan (3rd largest cotton exporter)
Large deposits of oil and natural gas
eg. Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Turmenistan
Oil development in Azerbaijan
The economy of Tibet and Xinjiang
Autonomous regions of China
Xinjiang
Tibet



Tibet: Relatively isolated from the Chinese/global economy
Xinjiang: Large oil reserves, Dominance of Han Chinese
New transportation project that connects eastern China
Ethnic tension in Xinjiang
Economic misery in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
One of the weakest economies in the world
 Production of illicit drugs in the late 1990s
 War-torn economy (Taliban, US bombing campaign)

Global linkages:
direct foreign investment



Influential countries have proposed different
routes such that they can favor their interests


High level of social indicator in the former Soviet republics
 legacy of social program enacted by socialist regime
Afghanistan ranks the lowest  warfare, low connectivity
Social conditions and the status of
women in Afghanistan
 Afghan
 15
6
women lead highly constrained lives
percent adult female literacy
million Afghan refugees in neighboring states
 Pakistan,
Iran…