Central Asia consists of three large cultural and linguistic areas, the Turkic, the Mongolian and the Tibetan/Himalayan area. Throughout history these were interconnected politically, culturally and economically.

Today these three areas consist of a fairly large number of independent or more or less autonomous political units:

- Kasakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang

- Mongolian Republic, Inner Mongolia, Tuva, Kalmyk, Burjat

- Tibet, Chinghai, Autonomous areas in Szechuan, Gansu and Yunnan, Bhutan, Himalayan regions of India and Nepal.

Tajikistan and Afghanistan, although belonging to Central Asia as well, are a special case, since Iranian languages and culture are dominant there.

In present times the whole of Central Asia undergoes dramatic changes leading to a highly volatile state of affairs. This has been caused first of all by the breakdown of the former Soviet Union, but also by the reawakening of local and ethnic independence movements in many of the above mentioned areas. No end of this phase seems to be in sight.

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