Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. It is one of the six independent Turkic states. With a population of 6.5 million, Turkmenistan is the 35th most-populous country in Asia and has the lowest population of the Central Asian republics while being one of the most sparsely populated nations on the Asian continent.
Turkmen helmet (15th century)
City of Çärjew in Russian Turkestan, 1890
A Turkmen man of Central Asia in traditional clothes. Photo by Prokudin-Gorsky between 1905 and 1915.
Golden statue of Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat
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.
