TURKMENISTAN INFORMATION

Turkmenistan is located in Central Asia and is bordering with Uzbekistan to the north and to the west, Kazakhstan to the north, Afghanistan to the south and to the east and Iran to the south. To the west it is washed by the Caspian sea.
The total area of the country is 488 100 square km, which makes it one of the largest in Central Asia. These vast lands are mainly low sandy and desert plains, mostly Kara-Kum desert. Kara-Bogas-Gol Gulf is 35 meters lower than the sea level. The main areas of population are stretched along the largest and the most important river of Turkmenistan - Amudaria. The biggest lake is salty Sarykamysh Lake.
Turkmenistan is rich with natural resources: oil, natural gas, kalian salt, non-ferrous metals. The climate is strong continental and dry. Rains are rare, the sky is mainly clear and sunny. Winters are warm and there are no frosts. July is extremely dry and hot. Annual precipitation ranges from 80mm per year to the northeast to 300-400 to the south. There are no extremely high mountains in Turkmenistan. To the west and southwest of the country there are mountains - Kopetdag. The highest ranges are in the south-west with the highest point Mount Rizee, 2942m.
The population of Turkmenistan is a little bit more than 4 million people. This figure is quite small for the vast Turkmenian territory thus the population desnity is only about 8 per square km. The country is mainly inhabited by Turkmen, but there are also Russians (9.5%), Uzbeks (9%), Kazakhs (2.5%), Ukrainians, Tatars, Azerbaijani, Armenians, Beludzhi. The main religion of the country is Islam, (85% Sunnites) and there are also Russian Orthodox (10%). Official language is Turkmen, Russian is also spoken.
During the first millennium B.C. The present Turkmen territory was occupied by Margiana, Parfia, Midia. In the 6th century B.C. Turkmenia went to Persia and later to Alexander Macedonian Empire. In the 8th century A.D. the territory was conquered by Ararbs. They spread Muslim Religion and culture all over Turkmenia. During the next 4 centuries the country was controlled by Takhirid state, Samanid state, and Seldzhukh Empire. In the 13th century the country was conquered by Mongols and Genghis Khan included it into his vast Empire. During 17 - 19 centuries Turkmenia was disputed between Persian Sheikh, the Khan of Khiva and the Emir of Bukhara. In 1869 Russians founded their first port on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, and till the middle of 1800s the country was annexed to Russia. After the revolution in 1917 Turkmenia was proclaimed independent but in 1920 Bolsheviks made it Soviet. In 1924 Turkmenia became one of the 15 Soviet Republics of the former USSR. In 1991 Turkmenia became independent. Nowadays the country is a presidential republic which consists of 5 regions.