Wait, that's real?
This country’s capital was called Astana, then Nur-Sultan, then Astana again — identity crisis, but make it national policy.
Kazakhstan
This traditional game is basically polo if everyone was fighting over a goat carcass.
Kok-boru, Buzkashi or Kokpar
This crop was pushed so hard in Soviet Central Asia that it helped destroy an entire sea.
Cotton
This conqueror made Samarkand the center of his empire.
Timur
This rice dish is so iconic in the region that every country acts like their version is the correct one.
Plov
This inland sea was nearly destroyed after Soviet planners diverted the rivers feeding it.
Aral Sea
This drink, made from fermented mare’s milk, is traditional across parts of the steppe.
Kumis
This former fishing town in Uzbekistan is now famous for rusting ships sitting in the desert after the Aral Sea shrank.
Moynaq
This Bukhara-born scholar is known in the West as Avicenna.
Ibn Sina
This is the only Central Asian country that borders all four of the other “stans.”
Uzbekistan
This launch site in Kazakhstan has been one of the world’s most important spaceports since the Soviet era.
Baikonur
This portable nomadic home is known in English by this four-letter word.
Yurt
This former island in the Aral Sea became infamous as a Soviet bioweapons testing site.
Vozrozhdeniya Island / Rebirth Island
This poet and philosopher from Kazakhstan is so important nationally that he’s basically a cultural giant with statues, universities, and everything else named after him.
Abai
This capital city’s name literally means “Monday.”
Dushanbe
This Central Asian country has a famous gas crater nicknamed the “Door to Hell.”
Turkmenistan
Without this animal, steppe warfare and nomadic power in Central Asia would have looked completely different.
Horse
This nuclear test site in Kazakhstan became one of the most infamous places in the Soviet weapons program.
Semipalatinsk
This 19th-century rivalry between Britain and Russia turned Central Asia into an imperial chessboard.
The Great Game
This Central Asian country is the only one of the five that does not border China.
Turkmenistan
A city in Kazakhstan once had a huge wooden cathedral built without nails, which sounds fake until you realize it’s absolutely real.
Almaty
This empire stormed through Central Asia in the 13th century under Genghis Khan and his successors.
Mongol Empire
This valley became a long-term regional headache because Soviet borders sliced through a densely mixed population.
Fergana Valley
This Timurid ruler was both a prince and a serious astronomer, which is not the usual combo.
Ulugbek
This mountain range, whose name means “Mountains of Heaven,” stretches through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Tian Shan