Editing Central Asia (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Central Asia}}{{See also|Soviet Central Asia}}
Although, during the golden age of Orientalism the place of Central Asia in the world history was marginalised, contemporary historiography has rediscovered the "centrality" of the Central Asia. The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography. The aridness of the region made [[Agriculture in Central Asia|agriculture]] difficult, and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region; instead, the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the [[steppe]].
[[File:Indo-European migrations.jpg|thumb|Early [[Indo-European migrations]] from the [[Pontic steppes]] and across Central Asia. The [[Andronovo culture]] existed in Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.]]
[[File:Assimilation of Baltic and Aryan Peoples by Uralic Speakers in the Middle and Upper Volga Basin (Shaded Relief BG).png|thumb|Various [[List of ancient Iranian peoples|Iranic]] speaking populations in Central Asia during the Iron Age (highlighted in green)]]
Relations between the [[steppe nomads]] and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to [[war]]fare, and the steppe [[Horses in warfare|horse riders]] became some of the most militarily potent people in the world, limited only by their lack of internal unity. Any internal unity that was achieved was most probably due to the influence of the [[Silk Road]], which traveled along Central Asia. Periodically, great leaders or changing conditions would organise several tribes into one force and create an almost unstoppable power. These included the [[Hun]] invasion of Europe, the [[Five Barbarians]] [[Invasion and rebellion of the Five Barbarians|rebellions in China]] and most notably the [[Timeline of Mongol conquests|Mongol conquest]] of much of [[Eurasia]].<ref>[http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Three.html A Land Conquered by the Mongols] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423014420/http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta%27s_Trip_Three.html |date=23 April 2008 }}</ref>

During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by speakers of [[Iranian languages]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in ''History of Civilisations of Central Asia'', Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.</ref> Among the ancient sedentary [[Iranian peoples]], the [[Sogdians]] and [[Khwarezmian language|Chorasmians]] played an important role, while Iranian peoples such as [[Scythians]] and the later on [[Alans]] lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.

The main [[Turkic migration|migration]] of Turkic peoples occurred between the 6th and 11th centuries, when they spread across most of Central Asia. The [[Eurasian Steppe]] slowly transitioned from [[Indo European]] and [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]-speaking groups with dominant West-Eurasian ancestry to a more heterogeneous region with increasing East Asian ancestry through Turkic and Mongolian groups in the past thousands years, including extensive Turkic and later Mongol migrations out of Mongolia and slow assimilation of local populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Damgaard|first1=Peter de Barros|last2=Marchi|first2=Nina|last3=Rasmussen|first3=Simon|last4=Peyrot|first4=Michaël|last5=Renaud|first5=Gabriel|last6=Korneliussen|first6=Thorfinn|last7=Moreno-Mayar|first7=J. Víctor|last8=Pedersen|first8=Mikkel Winther|last9=Goldberg|first9=Amy|last10=Usmanova|first10=Emma|last11=Baimukhanov|first11=Nurbol|last12=Loman|first12=Valeriy|last13=Hedeager|first13=Lotte|last14=Pedersen|first14=Anders Gorm|last15=Nielsen|first15=Kasper|date=May 2018|title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=557|issue=7705|pages=369–374|doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2|pmid=29743675|bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D|issn=1476-4687|hdl=1887/3202709|s2cid=13670282|hdl-access=free|access-date=6 August 2022|archive-date=21 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221160318/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 8th century AD, the [[Islamic expansion]] reached the region but had no significant demographic impact. In the 13th century AD, the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia|Mongolian invasion of Central Asia]] brought most of the region under Mongolian influence, which had "enormous demographic success", but did not impact the cultural or linguistic landscape.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhabagin|first1=Maxat|last2=Balanovska|first2=Elena|last3=Sabitov|first3=Zhaxylyk|last4=Kuznetsova|first4=Marina|last5=Agdzhoyan|first5=Anastasiya|last6=Balaganskaya|first6=Olga|last7=Chukhryaeva|first7=Marina|last8=Markina|first8=Nadezhda|last9=Romanov|first9=Alexey|last10=Skhalyakho|first10=Roza|last11=Zaporozhchenko|first11=Valery|last12=Saroyants|first12=Liudmila|last13=Dalimova|first13=Dilbar|last14=Davletchurin|first14=Damir|last15=Turdikulova|first15=Shahlo|date=8 June 2017|title=The Connection of the Genetic, Cultural and Geographic Landscapes of Transoxiana|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=3085|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-03176-z|pmid=28596519|pmc=5465200|bibcode=2017NatSR...7.3085Z |issn=2045-2322}}</ref>

=== Invasion routes through Central Asia ===
[[File:Mongol dominions1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Mongol Empire]] at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later [[Timurid Empire]].]]
Once populated by [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] tribes and other [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European speaking people]], Central Asia experienced numerous invasions emanating out of [[Southern Siberia]] and [[Mongolia]] that would drastically affect the region. Genetic data shows that the different Central Asian Turkic-speaking peoples have between ~22% and ~70% East Asian ancestry (represented by "Baikal hunter-gatherer ancestry" shared with other Northeast Asians and Eastern Siberians), in contrast to Iranian-speaking Central Asians, specifically [[Tajiks]], which display genetic continuity to [[Indo-Iranians]] of the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal|last1=Guarino-Vignon|first1=Perle|last2=Marchi|first2=Nina|last3=Bendezu-Sarmiento|first3=Julio|last4=Heyer|first4=Evelyne|last5=Bon|first5=Céline|date=14 January 2022|title=Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=12|issue=1|pages=733|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4|pmid=35031610|pmc=8760286|bibcode=2022NatSR..12..733G|issn=2045-2322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dai|display-authors=etal|date=25 August 2022|title=The Genetic Echo of the Tarim Mummies in Modern Central Asians|url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590|access-date=5 December 2022|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=39|issue=9|doi=10.1093/molbev/msac179|pmid=36006373|pmc=9469894|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205180435/https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590|url-status=live}}</ref> Certain Turkic ethnic groups, specifically the [[Kazakhs]], display even higher East Asian ancestry. This is explained by substantial [[Mongolic peoples|Mongolian]] influence on the [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] genome, through significant admixture between blue eyes, blonde hair, the medieval [[Kipchaks]] of Central Asia and the invading medieval Mongolians. The data suggests that the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia]] had lasting impacts onto the genetic makeup of Kazakhs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhao|first1=Jing|last2=Wurigemule|first2=null|last3=Sun|first3=Jin|last4=Xia|first4=Ziyang|last5=He|first5=Guanglin|last6=Yang|first6=Xiaomin|last7=Guo|first7=Jianxin|last8=Cheng|first8=Hui-Zhen|last9=Li|first9=Yingxiang|last10=Lin|first10=Song|last11=Yang|first11=Tie-Lin|last12=Hu|first12=Xi|last13=Du|first13=Hua|last14=Cheng|first14=Peng|last15=Hu|first15=Rong|date=December 2020|title=Genetic substructure and admixture of Mongolians and Kazakhs inferred from genome-wide array genotyping|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33059477/|journal=Annals of Human Biology|volume=47|issue=7–8|pages=620–628|doi=10.1080/03014460.2020.1837952|issn=1464-5033|pmid=33059477|s2cid=222839155|access-date=6 December 2022|archive-date=13 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113192926/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33059477/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":2">Estimating the impact of the Mongol expansion upon the gene pool of Central Asians. ЛД Дамба · 2018</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhabagin|first1=Maxat|last2=Sabitov|first2=Zhaxylyk|last3=Tarlykov|first3=Pavel|last4=Tazhigulova|first4=Inkar|last5=Junissova|first5=Zukhra|last6=Yerezhepov|first6=Dauren|last7=Akilzhanov|first7=Rakhmetolla|last8=Zholdybayeva|first8=Elena|last9=Wei|first9=Lan-Hai|last10=Akilzhanova|first10=Ainur|last11=Balanovsky|first11=Oleg|last12=Balanovska|first12=Elena|date=22 October 2020|title=The medieval Mongolian roots of Y-chromosomal lineages from South Kazakhstan|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=21|issue=1|pages=87|doi=10.1186/s12863-020-00897-5|issn=1471-2156|pmc=7583311|pmid=33092538|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Khussainova|first1=Elmira|last2=Kisselev|first2=Ilya|last3=Iksan|first3=Olzhas|last4=Bekmanov|first4=Bakhytzhan|last5=Skvortsova|first5=Liliya|last6=Garshin|first6=Alexander|last7=Kuzovleva|first7=Elena|last8=Zhaniyazov|first8=Zhassulan|last9=Zhunussova|first9=Gulnur|last10=Musralina|first10=Lyazzat|last11=Kahbatkyzy|first11=Nurzhibek|last12=Amirgaliyeva|first12=Almira|last13=Begmanova|first13=Mamura|last14=Seisenbayeva|first14=Akerke|last15=Bespalova|first15=Kira|date=2022|title=Genetic Relationship Among the Kazakh People Based on Y-STR Markers Reveals Evidence of Genetic Variation Among Tribes and Zhuz|journal=Frontiers in Genetics|volume=12|page=801295|doi=10.3389/fgene.2021.801295|pmid=35069700|pmc=8777105|issn=1664-8021|doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:Men from Khiva.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Uzbek men from [[Khiva]], {{c.|1861}}–1880]]
According to recent [[genetic genealogy]] testing, the genetic admixture of the Uzbeks clusters somewhere between the [[Iranian peoples]] and the [[Mongols]].<ref name="journal">{{cite journal|doi=10.1086/342096|author=Tatjana Zerjal|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|year=2002|volume=71|issue=3|pages=466–482|pmid=12145751|pmc=419996|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Another study shows that the Uzbeks are closely related to other Turkic peoples of Central Asia and rather distant from Iranian people. The study also analysed the maternal and paternal DNA haplogroups and shows that Turkic speaking groups are more homogenous than Iranian speaking groups.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heyer|first1=Evelyne|last2=Balaresque|first2=Patricia|last3=Jobling|first3=Mark A.|last4=Quintana-Murci|first4=Lluis|last5=Chaix|first5=Raphaelle|last6=Segurel|first6=Laure|last7=Aldashev|first7=Almaz|last8=Hegay|first8=Tanya|date=1 September 2009|title=Genetic diversity and the emergence of ethnic groups in Central Asia|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=10|issue=1|pages=49|doi=10.1186/1471-2156-10-49|issn=1471-2156|pmc=2745423|pmid=19723301|doi-access=free }}</ref> Genetic studies analyzing the full genome of Uzbeks and other Central Asian populations found that about ~27-60% of the Uzbek ancestry is derived from East Asian sources, with the remainder ancestry (~40–73%) being made up by European and Middle Eastern components.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mezzavilla|first1=Massimo|last2=Vozzi|first2=Diego|last3=Pirastu|first3=Nicola|last4=Girotto|first4=Giorgia|last5=d'Adamo|first5=Pio|last6=Gasparini|first6=Paolo|last7=Colonna|first7=Vincenza|date=5 December 2014|title=Genetic landscape of populations along the Silk Road: admixture and migration patterns|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=15|issue=1|pages=131|doi=10.1186/s12863-014-0131-6|issn=1471-2156|pmc=4267745|pmid=25476266|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Triska|first1=Petr|last2=Chekanov|first2=Nikolay|last3=Stepanov|first3=Vadim|last4=Khusnutdinova|first4=Elza K.|last5=Kumar|first5=Ganesh Prasad Arun|last6=Akhmetova|first6=Vita|last7=Babalyan|first7=Konstantin|last8=Boulygina|first8=Eugenia|last9=Kharkov|first9=Vladimir|last10=Gubina|first10=Marina|last11=Khidiyatova|first11=Irina|last12=Khitrinskaya|first12=Irina|last13=Khrameeva|first13=Ekaterina E.|last14=Khusainova|first14=Rita|last15=Konovalova|first15=Natalia|date=28 December 2017|title=Between Lake Baikal and the Baltic Sea: genomic history of the gateway to Europe|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=18|issue=1|pages=110|doi=10.1186/s12863-017-0578-3|issn=1471-2156|pmc=5751809|pmid=29297395|doi-access=free }}</ref> According to a recent study, the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Turkmens share more of their gene pool with various East Asian and Siberian populations than with West Asian or European populations, though the Turkmens have a large percentage from populations to the east, their main components are Central Asian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click+on+image+to+zoom&p=PMC3&id=4405460_pgen.1005068.g002.jpg|title=PubMed Central Image Viewer.|website=National Center for Biotechnology Information}}</ref> The study further suggests that both migration and linguistic assimilation helped to spread the Turkic languages in Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Villems|first1=Richard|last2=Khusnutdinova|first2=Elza|last3=Kivisild|first3=Toomas|last4=Yepiskoposyan|first4=Levon|last5=Voevoda|first5=Mikhail|last6=Osipova|first6=Ludmila|last7=Malyarchuk|first7=Boris|last8=Derenko|first8=Miroslava|last9=Damba|first9=Larisa|date=21 April 2015|title=The Genetic Legacy of the Expansion of Turkic-Speaking Nomads across Eurasia|journal=PLOS Genetics|language=en|volume=11|issue=4|pages=e1005068|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005068|issn=1553-7404|pmc=4405460|pmid=25898006 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Medieval to modern history ===
[[File:Mongolia in 1636.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asia in 1636. The [[Dzungar Khanate]] was the last great [[nomadic empire]] in Central Asia.]]
The [[Tang dynasty]] of China expanded westwards and controlled large parts of Central Asia, directly and indirectly through their Turkic vassals. Tang China actively supported the Turkification of Central Asia, while extending its cultural influence.<ref name="XZ">{{cite journal|last1=Zhou|first1=Xiuqin (University of Pennsylvania)|date=2009|title=Zhaoling: The Mausoleum of Emperor Tang Taizong|url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp187_taizong_emperor.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923100254/http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp187_taizong_emperor.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2011|url-status=live|journal=Sino-Platonic Papers|issue=187|pages=155–156}}</ref> The Tang Chinese were defeated by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751, marking the end of the Tang dynasty's western expansion and the 150 years of Chinese influence. The [[Tibetan Empire]] would take the chance to rule portions of Central Asia and South Asia. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the [[Mongols]] conquered and ruled the largest contiguous empire in recorded history. Most of Central Asia fell under the control of the [[Chagatai Khanate]].

The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century, as [[firearm]]s allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. [[Russia]], [[China]], and other powers expanded into the region and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The [[Qing dynasty]] gained control of [[East Turkestan]] in the 18th century as a result of a [[Dzungar–Qing Wars|long struggle with the Dzungars]]. The Russian Empire [[Russian conquest of Central Asia|conquered]] the lands of the [[nomad]]ic Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kyrgyz and Central Asian [[khanat]]es in the 19th century. A major revolt known as the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Revolt]] occurred in the 1860s and 1870s in the eastern part of Central Asia, and [[Xinjiang under Qing rule|Qing rule]] almost collapsed in all of East Turkestan. After the [[Russian Revolution]], the western Central Asian regions were incorporated into the [[Soviet Union]]. The eastern part of Central Asia, known as [[Xinjiang]], was [[Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China|incorporated]] into the [[People's Republic of China]], having been previously ruled by the [[Qing dynasty]] and the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. Mongolia gained its independence from China and has remained independent but became a Soviet [[satellite state]] until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Afghanistan remained relatively independent of major influence by the Soviet Union until the [[Saur Revolution]] of 1978.
[[File:Karazin - Entry of Russian troops into Samarkand 1868.jpg|thumb|Russian troops taking [[Samarkand]] during the [[Russian conquest of Bukhara]], 1868]]
The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much [[Soviet infrastructure in Central Asia|industrialisation and construction of infrastructure]], but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivisation programmes, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. Soviet authorities [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported]] millions of people, including entire nationalities,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.faqs.org/minorities/USSR/Deported-Nationalities.html|title=Deported Nationalities|access-date=14 November 2014|archive-date=4 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104090832/http://www.faqs.org/minorities/USSR/Deported-Nationalities.html|url-status=live}}</ref> from western areas of the Soviet Union to Central Asia and [[Siberia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.anneapplebaum.com/gulag/intro.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013124127/http://anneapplebaum.com/gulag/intro.html|url-status=dead|title=Anne Applebaum – Gulag: A History Intro|archivedate=13 October 2007}}</ref> According to Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale, "From 1959 to 1970, about two million people from various parts of the Soviet Union migrated to Central Asia, of which about one million moved to Kazakhstan."<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zwKBZmpBo5YC&pg=PA66 Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131014/https://books.google.com/books?id=zwKBZmpBo5YC&pg=PA66 |date=10 April 2023 }}''". Touraj Atabaki, Sanjyot Mehendale (2005). p.{{nbs}}66. {{ISBN|0-415-33260-5}}.</ref>

=== After the collapse of the Soviet Union ===
With the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], five countries gained independence, that is, [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]]. The historian and [[Turkologist]] [[Peter B. Golden]] explains that without the imperial manipulations of the Russian Empire but above all the Soviet Union, the creation of said republics would have been impossible.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Golden |first1=Peter B. |author1-link=Peter B. Golden |editor1-last=Schmidtke |editor1-first=Sabine |editor1-link=Sabine Schmidtke |title=Studying the Near and Middle East at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1935–2018 |date=2018 |publisher=Gorgias Press |location=Piscataway, New Jersey, US |page=421 |url= |chapter=The construction of ethnicity in medieval Turkic Eurasia}}</ref>

In nearly all the new states, former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen. None of the new republics could be considered functional democracies in the early days of independence, although in recent years Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and [[Mongolia]] have made further progress towards more open societies, unlike Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, which have maintained many Soviet-style repressive tactics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eiu.com//public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2011|title=Democracy Index 2011|work=Economist Intelligence Unit|access-date=22 March 2012|archive-date=7 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307135720/http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Chinese government engaged in a [[Persecution of Uyghurs in China|series of human rights abuses]] against [[Uyghurs]] and other ethnic and religious minorities in [[Xinjiang]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=8 February 2021|title=Uighurs: 'Credible case' China carrying out genocide|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215|archive-date=8 February 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210208184814/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215|url-status=live}}</ref>