Geography: Central Asia
By Keefe I., 5th Grade
Central Asia consists of 16 countries and a lot of “states.” The major countries are Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Iran. Russia has very architectural churches and great rural land in Siberia. China has many landmarks, a lot of fish, and big cities. Mongolia has deserts, and small tribes. Kazakhstan has farmland in the south. Iran has oil, deserts, and a variety of big and small cities, usually the big cities have the landmarks. In where Azerbaijan and Georgia are, they have a lot of ancient architecture, and old ruins of Russian towns. Where the Middle East meets Central Asia, oil is produced, and there is more Arabic and tribes than in Central Asia. Where Central Asia meets Southern Asia, there are more mountains, and Kashmir is up for leaders, either Pakistan or India will take it over. Where the heart of Central Asia is, Uzbekistan holds Samarkand, an ancient city in which Genghis Khan went through. Samarkand holds really middle-aged buildings with great food and architecture. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, there is a lot of rural land, and some pretty small towns. Where Afghanistan is, they have Kabul, which is interesting. People still wear traditional “burkas” which are covers in which women put over their face, and it covers all of the body except legs. Where China is, they have big cities, millions of people, not many nomadic tribes (unlike Mongolia), and a lot of landmarks. Central Asia is just one of the many cool places in the world.
Use the paragraph to help you with this quiz:
- In what country do they still wear traditional burkas?
- In what country does the ancient city, Samarkand, live?
- In what country has a lot of nomadic tribes?
- In what countries are Russian ruins found in?
See what you think and find the answers at Central Asia geography quiz answers!
Keefe, I’m impressed by your enthusiasm for and knowledge of geography, politically, culturally and visually. Thanks for sharing your information, map and quiz! I struggle to remember country names and places, but once I heard a great way to remember some of them: “My name is Jordan, and I rock (Iraq) because I ran (Iran) to Afghanistan.” That tells you those four countries, from west to east… What part of the world will you report on next?
What great knowledge you have! And I love your map—nice and colorful! Ginny & I have been to Armenia but I don’t see it. It is right above Iran and between Turkey & Georgia. See if you can find it and add it to your map. THANKS! I think that you will write a book some day.
Iver & Ginny
Look again, Armenia is in the inset map in the upper corner! The things I remember about being in Armenia were the horovats (grilled meat skewers), really old, beautifully carved stone churches, and having my fortune told by flipping my coffee cup over and reading the lines made by the muddy grounds, and lots of great hospitality! One morning, my sister’s host mother Sirran made us the most amazing breakfast of pasta triangles with a garlic-butter-yogurt sauce that was out of this world!
Hey Keefe, if you click the map that shows our visitors, you’ll see we’ve had 8 visitors from China, 6 from Turkey, 5 each from Russia and Pakistan, 2 each from Armenia and Kazakstan, and one each from Azerbaijan , Iran, Mongolia and Turkmenistan. I wonder if we’ll get more now that you’ve written about their countries!
Oh what a goose I am!!! Kirsti showed me that I was wrong!
You had Armenia right where it belonged! This was the 2nd mistake I ever made!! Sorry.
Iver Haugen
I don’t like the “scenic trail” geography or physical geography; I’m in to the capitals/countries geography because it just seems interesting to me. I don’t like scenic trails that much because they just don’t seem like geography to me. Thank you everyone for the nice compliments:)
Your maps and information are terrific. I never had too much of an interest in geography in school, but since I started reading your articles it seems a lot more interesting. Keep up the great reporting!