Turkmenistan History Made Easy: The Essential Illustrated Guide to Turkmenistan’s and Culture

Behind the desert, marble capital, fine carpets, horses, and gas wealth lies a history built around water and movement. Jeitun farmers, Bronze Age Gonur, Margiana, Nisa, Parthia, Merv, Seljuk power, Mongol destruction, Turkmen communities, Russian conquest, Gokdepe, Soviet cotton, the 1948 earthquake, the Karakum Canal, independence, gas politics, and family succession fill the timeline. Oasis cities and mobile communities repeatedly adapt to a demanding landscape.Did You Know?- Did you know Jeitun preserves some of the earliest settled farming evidence in southern Central Asia?- Did you know Gonur Depe belonged to the Bronze Age Oxus Civilization, whose networks reached far beyond the desert?- Did you know Nisa was one of the early centers of the Parthian Empire?- Did you know Merv became one of the major cities of the Islamic world?- Did you know the Russian conquest of the region culminated in the battle of Gokdepe?- Did you know the Karakum Canal expanded irrigation while contributing to salinization and the wider Aral Sea crisis?What This Book Includes- Jeitun, Gonur, Nisa, Merv, Gokdepe, the Karakum Canal, and independence serving as anchors from prehistory to the present.- Jeitun, Gonur, Nisa, Merv, Oghuz migrations, Seljuks, Russia, and independence.- Ancient cultures and the modern Turkmen nation distinguished so archaeology is not mistaken for modern ethnicity.- Water, cotton, gas, deserts, cities, and family power used as recurring historical threads.