Turkestan << `tur` kih STAN >>, also spelled Turkistan, is a vast region in Asia. It has no definite boundaries. Turkestan stretches from Siberia in the north to Iran, Pakistan, India, and Tibet in the south. The desert known as the Gobi lies to the east, and the Caspian Sea to the west. The name Turkestan refers to the Turkic-speaking tribes that have lived in this region since as early as the A.D. 500’s.
For hundreds of years, Turkestan has linked Europe with eastern Asia. Many ancient trade routes crossed the area, including Marco Polo’s Golden Road. During World War II (1939-1945), Turkestan provided a route for transporting arms from the Soviet Union to China.
Western Turkestan,
formerly also called Soviet Turkestan, lies between the Caspian Sea and the Tian Shan range. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan make up Western Turkestan. Flat and sandy in the north and west, the land rises to form mountains in the southeast. Rivers from the mountains flow inward, to disappear in the desert sands. Most of the people are Muslims. Many make their living by farming and raising cattle. Irrigation ditches provide water for wheat, rice, and cotton. Chief cities include Tashkent, Almaty, Qaraghandy, Bishkek, Dushanbe, and Samarqand.
Chinese Turkestan,
also called Eastern Turkestan, in the heart of Asia, extends east from Western Turkestan to Tibet and the Gobi. The Tian Shan range in the north, and the Kunlun Mountains, rising over 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) in the south, border the region. Chinese Turkestan, which forms part of China’s Xinjiang region, has a harsh, dry climate. The people are of Turkic origin and are called Uyghurs (also spelled Uighurs). They make their living by farming, raising domestic animals, and trading. Most of them are Muslims. Major cities include Urumqi, Shihezi, Aksu, Hami, Changji, and Yining.
Afghan Turkestan
is bounded on its north edge by the Amu Darya (Oxus River), and on its northwest edge by Western Turkestan. Uzbek chiefs ruled the country for a long time before Afghanistan gained possession of it. The many mountains found in Afghan Turkestan have rich copper, iron, lead, and gold deposits. The people of this region are chiefly of Persian and Uzbek stock.
History.
The known history of Turkestan began about the time of Christ, when much of the region belonged to the Chinese Empire. In the 500’s, Turkic-speaking tribes conquered the rich trading cities of Buxoro and Samarqand. During the 600’s, Tibet gained control of Eastern Turkestan. Later, however, the Chinese again took the region. In the 900’s, the Muslim religion began to spread over Eastern Turkestan. Turkic-speaking nomads from central Asia invaded Turkestan in 1073. Followers of Genghis Khan swept through the land in the 1200’s. Buxoro and Samarqand, in Western Turkestan, became centers of Muslim culture during the 1300’s and 1400’s.
The Muslims in Eastern Turkestan made repeated attempts to set up their own government, especially in the 1800’s. Chinese Turkestan almost became an independent state from 1872 to 1876, under the kingship of Yakub Beg. But after he died, China regained control. Chinese Turkestan is now governed as a part of the province of Xinjiang.
Russia began to extend its rule to Western Turkestan soon after the Russian conquest of Siberia during the 1600’s. During the 1700’s, Kazak tribes accepted Russian authority. Most of Western Turkestan became Russian during the 1800’s. The Russian czar’s government created the province of Turkestan and made Tashkent the capital of the province. In 1887, an Anglo-Russian commission established the boundary between Afghanistan and Russian Turkestan.
In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Western Turkestan was divided into five separate states of the Soviet Union: the Kazak, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet government developed the region’s resources. It also built schools, extended irrigation systems, and laid additional railroad lines. In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, each of the five republics became independent.
