Central Asia peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan. There are several places that claim to be the geographic center of Asia, for example Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva in the Russian Federation, and a village north of Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region of China. Central Asia is an extremely large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains (Tian Shan), vast deserts (Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan), and especially treeless, grassy steppes. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a homogeneous geographical zone known
Ethnic groups in Asia Ethnic groups in Asia The ancestral population of modern Asian people has its origins in the two primary prehistoric settlement centers - greater Southwest Asia and from the Mongolian plateau towards Northern China. Migrations of distinct ethnolinguistic groups have probably occurred as early as 10,000 years ago. However, about 2.000 BCE early Iranian speaking people and Indo-Aryans have arrived in Iran and northern India. Pressed by the Mongols, Turkic peoples subsequently migrated to the western and northern regions of the Central Asian plains. Prehistoric migrants from South China and Southeast Asia seem to have populated East Asia, Korea and Japan