Central Asia

Central Asia is west of China, south of Russia, and north of Afghanistan. The western border of this region runs along the Caspian Sea. Central Asia is politically divided into five countries: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Given that the name of each of these countries ends in "-stan," Central Asia is sometimes informally referred to as "The Stans." The region covers 1,545,741 square miles and has a population size of just over 77 million individuals. Central Asia played an essential role in the transportation of goods between China and Europe during the Silk Road trading era.