-
Turkic-speaking peoples established kingdoms in Central Asia. Not long after, Chinese armies conqeured the region. And in 751 the Arab armies defeated the Chinese.
-
Mongols from farther east, led by Genghis Khan, began a 200*year rule of Central Asia. The Mongols destroyed many cities.
-
A Mongol named Timur (Tamerlane) rose to power and built an empire that lasted 35 years. He supported the arts, literature, and science. He ordered the building of beautiful gardens, mosques, and places.
-
The Europeans began to sail to East Asia which resulted in trade declining in Central Asia and the region became isolated.
-
Under the czars, Russia conqered and colonized Central Asia. The Russians built railroads throughout the region which helped them create a stronger military and offered better access to the region's resources. It also expanded cotton and oil production.
-
The Brittish defeated the Russians in the Crimean war. The war was a part of a long-running contest between major Europen powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire
-
The Soviet government took power after the Russian Revolution. They drew new political boundaries that separated people and resources. Central Asian countries were fully under Soviet control. Russian migration tot he region increased, brinign in several million people.
-
Stalin deported some 180,000 Soviets Koreans from their farms and homes and sent them by cattle to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
-
The shrinking of the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan split in two leaving a patch of desert in between.
-
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Central Asian republics declared their independence. Troublesome internation boundaries remained from the Soviet era. Today, the governments can't stop smugglers who ship illegal drugs through the area.
