Deck 10: Central Asia

Question 1

Which of the following did NOT happen as a result of the destruction of the Aral Sea?

A)Agriculture has been destroyed with a concomitant impact on public health.
B)Its shoreline retreated at an unprecedented rate, causing villages that previously enjoyed a "seaside" location to be stranded 40 miles inland from the shore.
C)Eventually, the Aral Sea consisted of two separate lakes.
D)Salinity levels increased in the Aral Sea, causing fish species to disappear.
E)Oil was discovered on the seabed.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

What is the primary reason for the shrinking of the Aral Sea?

A)There is climatic change in Central Asia.
B)The Chinese purchase of the Aral Sea as an aquifer has led to a dramatic drop in its water level.
C)Much of the water has been removed directly from the sea surface by the numerous nuclear desalinization plants along the Aral's shore.
D)Tectonic rifting in the region is causing the sea's water to be removed beneath the ground surface.
E)Large-scale irrigation projects implemented by the Soviets in the 1950s have diverted water from the two rivers that feed the sea.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following major world rivers does NOT originate on the Tibetan Plateau?

A)Ganges
B)Brahmaputra
C)Yangtze
D)Indus
E)Volga

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The vast majority of the climate of Central Asia

A)is a dry summer/wet winter climate pattern
B)has fairly consistent temperatures throughout the year
C)is largely dominated by dry and highland climates
D)is sub-tropical with intermittent rainfall in the summer
E)favors polar climates due to its northerly latitudes

Question 5

Which nation, twice the size of Texas, has a population of only 3.1 million people?

A)Kyrgyzstan
B)Kazakhstan
C)Uzbekistan
D)Mongolia
E)Afghanistan

Question 6

Why is the environment in Central Asia relatively clean?

A)a strong "green" political movement in the region
B)low population density
C)favorable breezes that sweep the heavy industrial pollution that would otherwise permeate the region
D)Soviet environmental policies kept the environment intact
E)stringent environmental standards and controls

Question 7

All of the following are nations in Central Asia with the exception of

A)Uzbekistan
B)Kazakhstan
C)Afghanistan
D)Mongolia
E)Pakistan

Question 8

People who raise livestock for subsistence purposes are known as

A)pastoralists
B)transhumanists
C)farmers
D)herders
E)migrant laborers

Question 9

People of which of the following countries of Central Asia are noted for their traditional economy based on transhumance?

A)Kazakhstan
B)Tibet
C)Kyrgyzstan
D)Afghanistan
E)Turkmenistan

Question 10

The Aral Sea and Caspian Sea have which of the following in common?

A)both frequently generate hurricanes
B)neither is connected to the ocean.
C)they both form part of the coastline of Afghanistan
D)both are located within Tibet
E)both have lost the vast majority of their volume due to irrigation

Question 11

Which part of Central Asia underwent the Soviet "Virgin Lands Campaign" of the 1950s?

A)central Kyrgyzstan
B)Azerbaijan
C)northwestern Tibet
D)northern Kazakhstan
E)southern Uzbekistan

Question 12

What is transhumance?

A)agriculture in dry areas, made possible by irrigation
B)agriculture that relies on evapotranspiration
C)the movement of humans from transition zones of agriculture to more inhabitable lowlands
D)the movement of livestock from urban regions to rural areas where more grass is available for animal consumption
E)seasonal movement of livestock to cooler, greener high-country pastures in the summer and returning them to lowland valleys during the winter

Question 13

Virtually the entire area of the Tibetan Plateau is higher than feet above sea level.

A)18,000
B)15,000
C)24,000
D)12,000
E)21,000

Question 14

Which Central Asian lake is the largest lake in the world?

A)Caspian Sea
B)Lake Baikal
C)Aral Sea
D)Kara Deniz
E)Lake Erie

Question 15

In which country of Central Asia is the Gobi Desert found?

A)Azerbaijan
B)Mongolia
C)Tibet
D)Afghanistan
E)Turkmenistan

Question 16

What do most climate change experts predict will happen to Central Asia as climate change continues?

A)This dry region will benefit from higher overall precipitation.
B)The region will move to the forefront of solar energy technology development.
C)This region will not be affected by climate change.
D)It will be hit hard by climate change, leading to melting of glaciers and reduced water flows.
E)Because of the region's low density, the problems will be minimal.

Question 17

Which Central Asian country has taken the lead on restoration of the Aral Sea?

A)Mongolia
B)Kazakhstan
C)Tajikistan
D)Kyrgyzstan
E)there have been no restoration efforts of the Aral Sea

Question 18

Which nation in the region has a coastline on the Caspian Sea?

A)Mongolia
B)Afghanistan
C)Tajikistan
D)Kyrgyzstan
E)Kazakhstan

Question 19

The Pamir Knot

A)is the term for the border between Mongolia and China.
B)is located in Turkmenistan.
C)refers to the political isolation experienced by Azerbaijan on the western side of the Caspian Sea.
D)refers to the mountainous region lying on the border between Nepal and China.
E)is a complex tangle of east-west and north-south trending mountain ranges on the borders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China.

Question 20

The Caspian Sea

A)is in much greater danger than is the Aral Sea.
B)is threatened by oil-industry pollution.
C)drains into the Mediterranean.
D)is the smallest lake in Central Asia.
E)has increased in size over the last three decades.

Question 21

Which Central Asian city is famed for its traditional Islamic architecture dating back to the 1400's during the medieval kingdom of Tamerlane?

A)Astana
B)Baku
C)Tashkent
D)Samarkand
E)Kabul

Question 22

Which of the following nations of Central Asia does NOT speak a Turkic language?

A)Tajikistan
B)Kazakhstan
C)Turkmenistan
D)Kyrgyzstan
E)Uzbekistan

Question 23

Until recently, what has been the choice destination for Central Asian migrants seeking work?

A)Iran
B)India
C)China
D)Mongolia
E)Russia

Question 24

What development led to the emergence of nomadic pastoralism in Central Asia?

A)a climate change that made the region dryer
B)domestication of wheat
C)domestication of the horse
D)the advent of a well-developed road network built by the Soviet authorities
E)domestication of the sheep

Question 25

You live in Xinjiang Province in western China. Which two languages will likely be the most practical to speak?

A)Uyghur and Chinese
B)Pashtun and Dari
C)Mongol and Uyghur
D)Uyghur and Russian
E)Russian and Chinese

Question 26

In the Tarim Basin, where do most of the people reside?

A)high in the mountains surrounding the basin
B)toward the eastern opening of the basin
C)in the foothills of the mountains along the basin's edge
D)in an evenly distributed pattern, throughout the region
E)near the basin's center

Question 27

What percent of Mongolians still practice nomadic pastoralism?

A)one-fifth (20%)
B)one-fourth (25%)
C)one half (50%)
D)two-thirds (66%)
E)one-third (33%)

Question 28

What is the most common language group in Central Asia, based on the number of native speakers?

A)Turkic
B)Mongolian
C)Tibetan
D)Farsi
E)Indo-European

Question 29

Which of the following statements about the Uyghur language is most accurate?

A)Uyghur is a Tibeto-Burman language, and the main native language of China's Xinjiang province.
B)Uyghur is an Indo-European language, and the main native language of Russia's eastern provinces.
C)Uyghur is an Indo-European language, and the main native language of China's Xinjiang province.
D)Uyghur is a Turkic language, and the main native language of Russia's eastern provinces.
E)Uyghur is a Turkic language, and the main native language of China's Xinjiang province.

Question 30

Which of the following cities of Central Asia is largely a Soviet creation?

A)Astana, Kazakhstan
B)Kabul, Afghanistan
C)Tashkent, Uzbekistan
D)Baku, Azerbaijan
E)Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Question 31

What group replaced Turkish control on the eastern steppes in the 1100s?

A)Tibetan
B)Persian
C)Mongol
D)Pashtun
E)Russian

Question 32

Which language of Central Asia is an Indo-European language?

A)Pashtun
B)Tibetan
C)Azeri
D)Kirghiz
E)Mongolian

Question 33

The most common meat found in the diet of Central Asian pastoralists is

A)chicken
B)beef
C)fish
D)pork
E)mutton

Question 34

To which of the following languages is Tajik most closely related?

A)Chinese
B)Persian
C)Russian
D)Uyghur
E)Turkish

Question 35

Because the Soviet regime converted most productive pastures into farmland in the mid-1900s to increase the country's supply of grain, northern Kazakhstan

A)has serious problems with desertification.
B)has a large number of immigrants.
C)had a major drop in its population
D)has the highest population density in the steppe belt.
E)has the lowest population density in the region.

Question 36

The most urbanized nation in the region is

A)Kazakhstan
B)Tajikistan
C)Afghanistan
D)Uzbekistan
E)Mongolia

Question 37

The country in Central Asia with the highest rate of natural increase is

A)Azerbaijan
B)Afghanistan
C)Kyrgyzstan.
D)Tajikistan
E)Mongolia

Question 38

A fertile, silty soil deposited by the wind is known as

A)silt
B)alkaline
C)dust
D)alluvium
E)loess

Question 39

Early urban development in Central Asia was located near

A)the Silk Road
B)in populated areas.
C)ports.
D)major riverways.
E)ports and rivers.

Question 40

Which city in Kazakhstan is an example of a "forward capital"?

A)Samarkand
B)Tashkent
C)Kabul
D)Almaty
E)Astana

Question 41

What is the Taliban?

A)a liberal Islamic group in Kazakhstan that is very tolerant of other belief systems
B)a sect of Buddhist monks in Tibet
C)a fundamentalist Christian group in Azerbaijan
D)an extremist organization that insisted all aspects of society conform to a harsh Islamic orthodoxy in Afghanistan
E)an offshoot of Orthodox Judaism whose believers are calling for the formation of the Central Asian Jewish state in Kyrgyzstan

Question 42

Where can one find clusters of Shi'ite Islam in Central Asia?

A)among the Hazaras of central Afghanistan
B)throughout the Pashtun communities of Afghanistan
C)in the deserts of Turkmenistan
D)on the steppes of Kazakhstan
E)in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan

Question 43

Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding the ethnolinguistic geography of Afghanistan?

A)The Pashto language is not spoken within Afghanistan
B)Hazara speaking people tend to be clustered along the frontier with Pakistan
C)Pashto speaking people tend to be found on the northern frontier with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
D)Turkic speaking people tend to be located on the frontier with Pakistan
E)Pashto speaking people largely are found in the southern half of Afghanistan

Question 44

In what former Soviet republic did war break out immediately after 1991 between Islamist groups and smaller ethnic groups and the government?

A)Azerbaijan
B)Uzbekistan
C)Armenia
D)Tajikistan
E)Kyrgyzstan

Question 45

What three nations actively supported anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the Afghan-Soviet War?

A)United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
B)Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China
C)Pakistan, India and China
D)Pakistan, India and Iran
E)United States, Israel and Turkey

Question 46

The Taliban drew its support primarily from

A)ethnic Uzbeks.
B)Hazaras and Tajiks.
C)Pashtuns.
D)ethnic Tajiks.
E)Shiite Hazaras.

Question 47

The Fergana Valley of Central Asia is home to some of the most convoluted geopolitical boundaries in the world. Which three nations own various parts of the Fergana Valley?

A)Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
B)Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
C)Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan
D)Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
E)Russia, China and Kyrgyzstan

Question 48

The Taliban was founded by

A)Pakistani supported terrorists.
B)Muslim religious students desiring improvement from anarchic conditions.
C)Buddhists extremists.
D)Warlords desiring power after Soviet withdrawal.
E)Marxist-oriented reformers.

Question 49

Which Central Asian country did NOT have a U.S. military presence post 9/11?

A)Afghanistan
B)Kyrgyzstan
C)Kazakhstan
D)Uzbekistan
E)Tajikistan

Question 50

What country objected to the post-Soviet boundary drawn between it and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan?

A)Russia
B)China
C)Uzbekistan
D)Kazakhstan
E)Armenia

Question 51

With which nation has Azerbaijan had a long-running dispute over its exclave of Nakhchivan?

A)Armenia
B)Iran
C)Kazakhstan
D)Russia
E)Turkmenistan

Question 52

Which of the following religions is NOT found among the peoples of Central Asia?

A)Islam
B)Hinduism
C)Christianity
D)Buddhism
E)Judaism

Question 53

How many new countries appeared in Central Asia between the Caspian Sea and the Chinese border as a result of the break-up of the Soviet Union?

A)three
B)five
C)four
D)six
E)ten

Question 54

Which of the following was NOT a strategy of the Soviet Union in Central Asia?

A)nurture local nationalisms
B)creation of complex borders for new republics
C)replace local leaders with Communist Party officials
D)encouragement of Russian immigration and the use of Russian (Cyrillic)alphabet
E)defining a series of union republics based on ethnicity

Question 55

Violence flared in 2007 and 2015 in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang between Han Chinese and which ethnic group?

A)Muslims
B)Pashtuns
C)Uyghurs
D)Uzbeks
E)Mongols

Question 56

Which nation never had any involvement in the partitioning of the steppes of Central Asia?

A)Soviet Union
B)Great Britain
C)Manchu China
D)Russia
E)France

Question 57

The two most commonly spoken languages in Afghanistan are

A)Hazara and Baluchi
B)Pashto and Dari
C)Pashto and Uzbek
D)Dari and Uzbek
E)Russian and Turkish

Question 58

Followers of which religion in Central Asia have suffered persecution from Chinese authorities in Tibet?

A)Zoroastrianism
B)Buddhism
C)Judaism
D)Shiite Islam
E)Sunni Islam

Question 59

Which nation did the Taliban use as a safe haven against US/NATO bombing raids within Afghanistan?

A)Tajikistan
B)Uzbekistan
C)India
D)Iran
E)Pakistan

Question 60

The central religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism (sometimes known as the "Great Teacher")is the

A)Grand Mufti
B)Dalai Lama
C)Bodhisattva
D)Taliban
E)Great Ayatollah

Question 61

Which one of the following statements is FALSE regarding the role of women in Central Asia?

A)Women tend to have more autonomy in pastoral societies of the steppe zone than did women in more agricultural and urban areas.
B)Women have achieved relatively high levels of education due to the egalitarian principles imported into the region by the Soviet Union.
C)Women outnumber men in the majority of parliaments and governmental bodies throughout Central Asia.
D)A large proportion of households are run by women due to the fact many men have migrated to Russia for work.
E)Kidnapping of women for forced marriages is still a common practice in many traditional Central Asian societies.

Question 62

The two largest and most developed economies within Central Asia are

A)Afghanistan and Turkmenistan
B)Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
C)Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
D)Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
E)Kazakhstan and Mongolia

Question 63

Most of Kazakhstan's oil reserves are found near which physical feature of Central Asia?

A)the Aral Sea
B)the Kyzyl Kum desert
C)the Tarim Basin
D)the Caspian Basin
E)the Pamir Knot

Question 64

Turkmenistan is a major exporter of what crop?

A)cotton
B)corn
C)wheat
D)soy
E)opium

Question 65

Of all the Central Asian countries, which one has the worst overall composite record of social indicators?

A)Tajikistan
B)Kazakhstan
C)Mongolia
D)Afghanistan
E)Turkmenistan

Question 66

Which countries are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?

A)Russia, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
B)Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan
C)Afghanistan, China and Kyrgyzstan
D)Russia, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
E)Russia, China and the United States

Question 67

What is the major impediment to foreign investment in Afghanistan?

A)lack of resources
B)unwillingness of the Afghan government to provide tax breaks for investors
C)political instability
D)its landlocked position within Central Asia
E)lack of resources and unwillingness of the Afghan government to provide tax breaks for investors

Question 68

What country has offered itself as a model secular state for Central Asian republics to emulate?

A)Saudi Arabia
B)Syria
C)Iran
D)Turkey
E)Kyrgyzstan

Question 69

Which nation within Central Asia suffers from an extremely low Human Development Index?

A)Uzbekistan
B)Kazakhstan
C)Mongolia
D)Afghanistan
E)Azerbaijan

Question 70

Afghanistan refuses to recognize the political border between it and which other country?

A)Uzbekistan
B)Tajikistan
C)Turkmenistan
D)Iran
E)Pakistan

Question 71

The majority of the world's opium is produced in

A)Afghanistan
B)Mongolia
C)Tajikistan
D)China
E)Uzbekistan

Question 72

The recently completed Qinghai-Tibet Railway connects what city to the rest of China?

A)Tashkent
B)Moscow
C)Kabul
D)Lhasa
E)Samarkand

Question 73

Azerbaijan's economy is highly dependent upon which export?

A)uranium
B)natural gas
C)oil
D)hydropower
E)coal

Question 74

The economy of Turkmenistan rests largely on what energy export?

A)natural gas
B)oil
C)uranium
D)hydropower
E)coal

Question 75

What country completed a rail link with Turkmenistan in the 1990s?

A)Russia
B)Pakistan
C)Iran
D)Kazakhstan
E)China

Question 76

What asset does Kyrgyzstan possess which places it in a prime economic position in the coming decades?

A)freshwater
B)uranium
C)iron ore
D)salt
E)gold

Question 77

Almost half of which former Soviet republic's labor force works abroad?

A)Tajikistan
B)Kyrgyzstan
C)Uzbekistan
D)Turkmenistan
E)Kazakhstan

Question 78

Which nation is taking the initiative to reinvent the ancient Silk Road as a modern transportation route for contemporary trade?

A)Kazakhstan
B)Russia
C)Mongolia
D)China
E)Uzbekistan

Question 79

Which nation in Central Asia has the highest overall GNI per capita?

A)Mongolia
B)Kazakhstan
C)Azerbaijan
D)Afghanistan
E)Tajikistan

Question 80

What transportation technology is needed to take advantage economically of the oil wealth of Central Asia?

A)highways
B)specialized oil tankers
C)pipelines
D)canals
E)railroads