Overview
Known as Turan to Iranians, western Turkestan has also been known historically as Sogdiana, Ma wara'u'n-nahr (by its Arab conquerors), and Transoxiana by Western travellers. The latter two names refer to its position beyond the River Oxus when approached from the south, emphasizing Turkestan's long-standing relationship with Iran, the Persian Empires and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates.
The regions of Central Asia lying between Siberia on the north; Tibet (now China), British India (now Pakistan), Afghanistan, and Iran on the south; the Gobi Desert on the east; and the Caspian Sea on the west. It has been referenced in many Turkic and Persian sagas and is an integral part of Turan. Oghuz Turks (also known as Turkmens), Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Khazars, Kyrgyz, Hazara and Uyghurs are some of the Turkic inhabitants of the region who, as history progressed, have spread further into Eurasia forming such Turkic nations as Turkey and Azerbaijan, and subnational regions like Tatarstan in Russia and Crimea in Ukraine. Tajiks and Russians form sizable non-Turkic minorities.
It is subdivided into Afghan Turkestan and Russian Turkestan in the West, and Xinjiang (previously Chinese Turkestan) in the East. The Tian Shan and Pamir ranges form a rough division between the latter two.'
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