 Central Asia is a large, compact, landlocked region within the Eurasian landmass

 After September 11th, Central Asia became more well-established on the map
 Central Asia, central region of Asia, extending from the Caspian Sea in the west to the
border of western China in the east. It is bounded on the north by Russia and on the south
by Iran, Afghanistan, and China. The region consists of the former Soviet republics
of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.
 The Gobi Desert has gradually spread southward
 Desertification in northern Kazakstan
 Much of the region has been deforested

 Caspian Sea – world’s largest lake; construction of reservoirs on the Volga River
diverted water
 Aral Sea, Lake Balqash shrinking
The Central Asian Highlands
 Formed by the collision of Indian subcontinent into Asian mainland
 Himalayas, Karakoram Range, Pamir Mountains
 Pamir Knot – a tangle of mountains where Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan
converge
 Tibetan Plateau – source area of many of Asia’s large rivers

Mammals in Central Asia are represented by 153 species, distributed from hot deserts to the
glaciers of the Pamirs and Tien Shan.

Snow leopard, siberian mountain goat, mountain sheep, mensbir marmot, turkestan gecko and
rocky nuthatch. Gray lizard (got here from Africa), Jackal, Hyena, Lane, Longtail flytrap
Markhor

Central Asian

Red Deer (Maral)

Turkestan lynx

Snow leopards

Saiga antelope

Pallas's cat