Why is this place like one giant crackhouse mess throughout history?

just talking out my ass here but I think being so far from the ocean kinda fucks the place over as far as development goes, since oceans were where (probably?) most of trading happened throughout history. Also most of the population lived along the silk road which was being conquered by different flavors of mongols every century or two.

the Caspian Sea is the obscure underground hipster band as far as bodies of water go

>>2139919
the Aral Sea is so underground that it's just ground now

>>2139895
Africa without the bleeding heart mentality we have towards it

>>2139895
It used to be Indo-Iranian but then it gradually became turkified only to end up as a buffertzone for Turko-Mongol warfare and Persianate dynasties.

The last legit centralized entity of the region was the Persian Samanid Empire before they were conquered by their own Turk subjects of the Ghaznavid dynasty, who in turn got conquered by the other Turk subjects still loyal to the Samanids of the Seljuk tribes. This then opened the floodgates for Turkic migration into Central Asia and Anatolia, which resulted in the mess we got today.
Still, alot of the cities still have their ancient Persian names.

>>2139928
lmao

>>2139895
steppe corridor is like playing basketball on a highway

>>2139895

"""Indo-Iranians"""

'cause there's fuck all there and the soviets fucked it even harder

>russians allowed near it
>a successful country

you may only choose one

>>2140101
That's ironic because they literally owe all of their development to the Soviets.

>>2139928
Kek

File: Shah-i-Zinda.original.12511.jpg (1MB, 2640x1980px) Image search: [Google]

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It was pretty legit and even culturally significiant when silk trade was relevant.

>>2140228
Define 'legit'.

>>2140101
Without the Russians they'd be still all sleeping in yurts and sucking off camels.

>>2140101
>'cause there's fuck all there and the soviets fucked it even harder
>I have no idea what I'm talking about
Pretty much every trace of modern civilization in the whole region was left there by the russians/soviets. As an example of what independent central asia would've looked like, check out modern Afganistan +rural steppe Mongolia.

File: Varakhsha Mural (c. 750 AD).jpg (420KB, 2048x391px) Image search: [Google]

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It's mostly desert full of steppe nomads. There are some small oases like Khwarezm, Merv, Transoxiana and Ferghana which have been centers of civilization since the bronze age. They were the center of the Sogdian civilization which pioneered the Silk Road, and later became one of the most important parts of the Islamic world under the Samanids before falling under the rule of various Turkic dynasties. It was then fucked by the Mongols, but compared to Iran and Iraq it recovered fairly fast and flourished under the Timurids and later the Shaybanid Uzbeks. The region's importance declined alongside the Silk Road and after the 18th century invasions of Nadir Shah it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century.

>>2139928
fucking lol

>>2139928
I really love this board guys

>>2139928
:(

>>2140007
Interesting. Thank you.

>>2140007
Literally the first white genocide.

The people here are so retarded they are literally still nomads.

There should be a series made about the blonde Andronovo Aryans who conquered Bactria-Margiana archeological complex.
It's a really fascinating topic.