The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum, is a desert in Central Asia. The name refers to the shale-rich sand beneath the surface. It occupies about 70 percent, or roughly 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), of Turkmenistan.
Sand dunes in the desert, in Turkmenistan
The Darvaza gas crater, also known as the Door to Hell, at night in the Karakum Desert
Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southwest and Eastern Europe in the northwest to Western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan" in both respective native languages and most other languages.
On the south shore of Issyk Kul lake, Issyk Kul Region
The Eurasian Steppe in Kazakhstan has a semi-arid, continental climate
Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes and across Central Asia. The Andronovo culture existed in Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.
The Mongol Empire at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later Timurid Empire.
