| Major Ethnic Groups in Central Asia |
| The
Andronovo Culture shows evidence of a very early history (late Bronze
Age) of the Indo-Iranian speaking peoples in Central Asia. Turkic people came to these areas much later, during the middle age. Ethnically, Central Asia occupies a kind of bridge between the Turkic and Persian worlds. While various ethnic groups historically occupied different economic niches, they were all nativeto the land. Bi-lingualism was seen as normal for many centuries, not only among the intellectual elite but the common people as well. Command of three or four languages was not exceptional. Society and culture were formed on a multi-lingual basis. This process was facilitated by the fact that no nation-states, as understood in Western terms, took shape in Central Asia for many centuries. Local khanates and emirates were not formed from any one ethnic community. No ethnic criteria were applied in forming a ruling elite. For a variety of reasons the designers of the Soviet "national delimitation" in Central Asia discriminated against the Tajiks, having deprived the newly formed republic of Tajikistan of the two most important centers of Tajik urban culture, Bukhara and Samarkand , as well as regions of Fergana, Surhandarya and Khwrazm which were awarded to Uzbekistan. The majority of population in Uzbekistan are Tajiks. In the words of William Beeman, professor of anthropology at Brown University: "The Tajik situation in some ways resembles that of post-colonial Africa. Tajiks have been given an impossible piece of territory with disparate population and have been forced to make a nation out of it." More About The majority of Tajiks live outside border of what is known as Tajikistan today.The largest number of Tajiks are living in Uzbekistan, where the majority of Tajiks are forced to be registered as Uzbeks (the Tajiks on the official Uzbeki data, make about 4% of the population of this republic), but the real number of Tajiks living in Uzbekistan believed to be over 50 percent (11-14 millions) of the population. More About |
| Kazakistan Population: 16,731,303 (July 2001 est.) Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 50.4%, Russian 32%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Tajiks 3%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Uighur 1.4%, other 6.6% (1999 census) Language: Kazakh, Russian, other. |
| Kyrgizistan Population: 4,753,003 (July 2001 est.) Ethnic groups: Kirghiz 51.4%, Russian 18%, Uzbek 8.7 %, Tajik 7%, Ukrainian 2.5%, German 2.4%, other 10.3% Language: Kirgiz, Russian, Tajik, other |
| Tajikistan Population: 6,578,681 (July 2001 est.) Ethnic groups: Tajik 81.9%, Uzbek 9 %, Russian 4.7%, other 6.8% Language: Tajik, Russian, other |
| Turkmenistan Population: 4,603,244 (July 2001 est.) Ethnic groups: Turkmen 71%, Uzbek 7%, Russian 7%, Tajik 6%, Baluche 2%, Kazakh 2%, other 6.1% Language: Turkmen, Russian, Tajik, other. |
| Uzbekistan Population: 25,155,064 (July 2001 est.) Ethnic groups: Uzbek 31 %, Tajik 50 %, Russian 8.5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 3%. Language: Tajik, Russian, Uzbek, other. |
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