The Eurasian Heartland: Overview of a Link between Worlds

Abstract

Geography has powerfully shaped Central Asian foodways, rendering some pursuits more successful than others. Dry, mountainous, and ranging from very hot to very cold, the region is stressful for farmers. Food production always depends on extremely careful management of landscapes. Thus, some introduction to the Central Asian environment begins our work.The Eurasian heartland is built on a vast scale. The region stretches from north of 55 degrees north latitude at the north tips of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, to just south of 30 degrees in southern Afghanistan. The classic centers of Bukhara, Samarkand, and Tashkent lie near the 40th parallel. The region lies quite far north, though with a small subtropical fraction. The span is that between southern Canada and southern Texas in North America.Dry steppes and deserts seem endless until they suddenly come up against mountain walls several miles high. Lakes big enough to be called seas appear from nearly rainless dunes and salt flats. Huge rivers create fertile strips of oasis land bordered by lifeless plains. Travelers by plane, bored with watching the endless flat brown surface of the Kazakhstan steppe far below, are startled when the Tianshan 天山 peaks suddenly appear, so high that they seem to threaten an imminent crash.The heartland is bordered by a vaguely-defined East Asia, and an even more vaguely-defined western Asia, with extensions south towards the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, and north into Siberia. It contains the second lowest land elevation in the world-the Turpan (Turfan) Depression, sinking to 154 m (505 feet) below sea level. The Caspian steppes are also below sea level in portions near the Caspian Sea. Conversely, mountains soar to world-shadowing heights. The Tianshan rise to 7439 m (24,406 ft) at the center of the heartland. South of them is the vast Pamir Knot, a complex of ranges reaching 7495 m (24,590 ft). At the south edge rise the Karakoram Mountains, including the second highest peak in the world, K2, at 8611 m (28,251 ft). The vast Altai range, rising to 4500 m (about 15,000 feet), slashes across the region, from southern Siberia into southern Mongolia. These ranges are part of a single vast rugged