Admin: Yeni sayfa: "Russian steppe in the [[Orenburg Oblast]] The '''Eurasian Steppe''', also cal..."

2017-03-26T17:23:19Z

Yeni sayfa: "Russian steppe in the [[Orenburg Oblast]] The '''Eurasian Steppe''', also cal..."

Yeni sayfa

[[File:Красноковыльная степь в Адамовском районе.JPG|thumb|400px|Russian steppe in the [[Orenburg Oblast]]]]
The '''Eurasian Steppe''', also called the '''Great Steppe''' or '''the steppes''', is the vast [[steppe]] [[ecoregion]] of [[Eurasia]] in the [[temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]] [[biome]]. It stretches from [[Romania]], [[Moldova]] through [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Xinjiang]] and [[Mongolia]] to [[Manchuria]], with one major [[exclave]] located mostly in [[Hungary]], the [[Puszta]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.sk/books?id=QpHCHdrgSVoC&pg=PA150&dq=Eurasian+Steppe&hl=sk&sa=X&ei=foIzT9-DOdDmtQaJxaSfDA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Eurasian%20Steppe&f=false |title=Canada's vegetation: a world perspective - Geoffrey A. J. Scott - Google Knihy |publisher=Books.google.sk |date= |accessdate=2012-02-09}}</ref>

The steppe has connected [[Eastern Europe]], [[Central Asia]], [[China]], [[South Asia]], and the [[Middle East]] economically, politically, and culturally through overland trade routes, most notably the [[Silk Road]] during [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages]], and the [[Eurasian Land Bridge]] in the modern era. It has been home to [[nomadic empire]]s and many large [[tribal]] [[confederations]] and ancient states throughout history, such as the [[Xiongnu]], [[Scythia]], [[Cimmerians|Cimmeria]], [[Sarmatians|Sarmatia]], [[Hunnic Empire]], [[Chorasmia]], [[Transoxiana]], [[Sogdiana]], [[Xianbei]], [[Mongols]], and [[Göktürk Khaganate]].
[[File:Eurasian steppe belt.jpg|thumb|400px|The Eurasian Steppe Belt (in {{Colorsample|#AAEEFF}})]]

==Geography==

===Divisions===
[[File:two-point-equidistant-asia.jpg|thumb|A map of Eurasia with emphasis on deserts. Note the oval [[Tarim Basin]] at the center of the map.]]

The Eurasian Steppe extends thousands of miles from near the mouth of the [[Danube River]] almost to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. It is bounded on the north by the forests of Russia and [[Siberia]]. There is no clear southern boundary although the land becomes increasingly dry as one moves south. The steppe narrows at two points, dividing it into three major parts.

====Western Steppe====
[[File:Pontic Caspian climate.png|thumb|150px|The Pontic–Caspian Steppe]]

*The ''Western Steppe'' begins near the mouth of the [[Danube]] and extends [[northeast]] almost to [[Kazan]] and then southeast to the southern tip of the [[Ural Mountains]]. Its northern edge was a broad band of [[forest-steppe]] which has now been obliterated by the conversion of the whole area to agricultural land. In the southeast the [[Black Sea-Caspian Steppe]] extends between the [[Black Sea]] and [[Caspian Sea]] to the [[Caucasus Mountains]]. In the west, the [[Great Hungarian Plain]] is an island of steppe separated from the main steppe by the mountains of [[Transylvania]]. On the north shore of the Black Sea, the [[Crimean Peninsula]] has some interior steppe and ports on the south coast which link the steppe to the civilizations of the Mediterranean basin.

====Ural-Caspian Narrowing====
*The ''[[Ural Mountains]]'' extend south to a point about 650 km (400 mi) northeast of the ''[[Caspian Sea]]''. This is not a major barrier to movement, but the area near the Caspian is quite dry.

====Central Steppe====
[[File:Seidenstrasse_GMT_Ausschnitt_Zentralasien.jpg|thumb|right|The Kazakh Steppe in the north with the Tarim Basin (Takhlamakan) and Dzungaria]]

*The ''Central Steppe'' or [[Kazakh Steppe]] extends from the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]] to [[Dzungaria]]. To the south, it grades off into semi-desert and desert which is interrupted by two great rivers, the [[Amu Darya]] (Oxus) and [[Syr Darya]] (Jaxartes), which flow northwest into the [[Aral Sea]] and provide irrigation agriculture. In the southeast is the densely populated [[Fergana Valley]] and west of it the great oasis cities of [[Tashkent]], [[Samarkand]] and [[Bukhara]] along the [[Zarafshan River]]. The southern area has a complex history (see [[Central Asia]] and [[Greater Iran]]), while in the north, the Kazakh Steppe proper was relatively isolated from the main currents of [[recorded history|written history]].

====Dzungarian Narrowing====
On the east side of the former Sino-Soviet border mountains extend north almost to the forest zone with only limited grassland in Dzungaria.

====Eastern Steppe====
*''[[Xinjiang]]'' is the northwestern province of China. The east-west Tien Shan Mountains divide it into Dzungaria in the north and the Tarim Basin to the south. ''[[Dzungaria]]'' is bounded by the [[Tarbagatai Mountains]] on the west and the Mongolian [[Altai Mountains]] on the east, neither of which is a significant barrier. Dzungaria has good grassland around the edges and a central desert. It often behaved as a westward extension of Mongolia and connected Mongolia to the Kazakh steppe. To the north of Dzungaria are mountains and the Siberian forest. To the south and west of Dzungaria, and separated from it by the [[Tianshan Mountains]], is an area about twice the size of Dzungaria, the oval ''[[Tarim Basin]]''. The Tarim Basin is too dry to support even a nomadic population, but around its edges rivers flow down from the mountains giving rise to a ring of cities which lived by irrigation agriculture and east-west trade. The Tarim Basin formed an island of near civilization in the center of the steppe. The [[Northern Silk Road]] went along the north and south sides of the Tarim Basin and then crossed the mountains west to the [[Ferghana Valley]]. At the west end of the basin the [[Pamir Mountains]] connect the Tien Shan Mountains to the [[Himalaya Mountains]]. To the south, the [[Kunlun Mountains]] separate the Tarim Basin from the thinly peopled [[Tibetan Plateau]].
*The ''Mongol Steppe'' includes both [[Mongolia]] and the Chinese province of [[Inner Mongolia]]. The two are separated by a relatively dry area marked by the [[Gobi Desert]]. South of the Mongol Steppe is the high and thinly peopled [[Tibetan Plateau]]. The northern edge of the plateau is the [[Gansu]] or [[Hexi Corridor]], a belt of moderately dense population that connects [[China proper]] with the Tarim Basin. The [[Hexi Corridor]] was the main route of the [[Silk Road]]. In the southeast the Silk Road led over some hills to the east-flowing [[Wei River]] valley which led to the [[North China Plain]].

[[File:China 100.78713E 35.63718N.jpg|thumb|270px|China and surrounding regions. Note the oval Tarim Basin, the dryer area separating Inner and Outer Mongolia and the projection of steppe into Manchuria]]

*''[[Manchuria]]'' is a special case. Westerners tend to think of Manchuria as the northeast projection of China that they see on maps. The Chinese now call this, or the eastern two thirds of it, [[Northeast China]]. The dryer western third west of the [[Greater Khingan]] Mountains has normally been part of [[Inner Mongolia]]. Before 1859, Manchuria also included [[Outer Manchuria]] to the north and east, which is now part of Russia. South of the Khingan Mountains and north of the [[Taihang Mountains]], the [[Mongolian-Manchurian steppe]] extends east into Manchuria as the Liao Xi steppe. In Manchuria, the steppe grades off into forest and mountains without reaching the Pacific. The central area of forest-steppe was inhabited by pastoral and agricultural peoples, while to the north and east was a thin population of hunting tribes of the Siberian type.

===Fauna===
There seems to be little information about steppe ecology before the coming of [[nomadic pastoralism]]. The primary animals raised were [[sheep]] and [[goats]] with fewer [[cattle]] than one might expect. [[Camel]]s were used in the drier areas for transport as far west as [[Astrakhan]]. There were some [[yak]]s along the edge of [[Tibet]]. The horse was used for transportation and warfare.

[[Domestication of the horse|The horse was first domesticated]] on the Pontic–Caspian or Kazakh steppe sometime before 3000 BC, but it took a long time for [[mounted archery]] to develop and the process is not fully understood. The [[stirrup]] does not seem to have been completely developed until 300 AD. (See [[Stirrup]], [[Saddle]], [[Composite bow]], [[Domestication of the horse]] and related articles.)

===Ecoregions===
The [[World Wide Fund for Nature]] divides the Euro-Asian Steppe's temperate [[grassland]]s, [[savanna]]s, and shrublands into a number of [[ecoregion]]s, distinguished by [[elevation]], [[climate]], [[rainfall]], and other characteristics, and home to distinct animal and [[plant community|plant communities]] and species, and distinct [[habitat]] [[ecosystem]]s.

* [[Alai-Western Tian Shan steppe]] (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)
* [[Altai steppe and semi-desert]] (Kazakhstan)
* [[Daurian forest steppe]] (China, Mongolia, Russia)
* [[Emin Valley steppe]] (China, Kazakhstan)
* [[Kazakh forest steppe]] (Kazakhstan, Russia)
* [[Kazakh steppe]] (Kazakhstan, Russia)
* [[Kazakh upland]] (Kazakhstan)
* [[Mongolian-Manchurian grassland]] (China, Mongolia, Russia)
* [[Pontic steppe]] (Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine)
* [[Sayan Intermontane steppe]] (Russia)
* [[Selenge-Orkhon forest steppe]] (Mongolia, Russia)
* [[South Siberian forest steppe]] (Russia)
* [[Tian Shan foothill arid steppe]] (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan)
* [[Pannonian steppe]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Annales historico-naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici|author=Természettudományi Múzeum (Hungary)|year=1969|url=http://books.google.sk/books?id=cOrRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22pannonian+steppe%22+pannonian+basin&dq=%22pannonian+steppe%22+pannonian+basin&hl=sk&sa=X&ei=i9s0T_OeF8uQswaBlOigDA&redir_esc=y}}</ref> (Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia)

==Human activities==

===Trade habits===
The major centers of population and high culture in Eurasia are Europe, the Middle East, India and China. For some purposes it is useful to treat [[Greater Iran]] as a separate region. All these regions are connected by the steppe. The [[Silk Road]] started in the [[Guanzhong]] region of China and ran west along the Hexi Corridor to the Tarim Basin. From there it went southwest to Greater Iran and turned southeast to India or west to the Middle East and Europe. A minor branch went northwest along the great rivers and north of the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. When faced with a rich caravan the [[Eurasian nomads|steppe nomads]] could either rob it, or tax it, or hire themselves out as guards. Economically these three forms of taxation or parasitism amounted to the same thing. Trade was usually most vigorous when a strong empire controlled the steppe and reduced the number of petty chieftains preying on trade. The silk road first became significant and Chinese silk began reaching the Roman Empire about the time that the [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor of Han]] pushed Chinese power west to the Tarim Basin.

===Agriculture===
The nomads would occasionally tolerate colonies of peasants on the steppe in the few areas where farming was possible. These were often captives who grew grain for their nomadic masters. Along the fringes there were areas that could be used for either plowland or grassland. These alternated between one and the other depending on the relative strength of the nomadic and agrarian heartlands. In the last few hundred years the Russian steppe and much of Inner Mongolia has fallen to the plow. The fact that most of the Russian steppe is not irrigated implies that it was held in grass due to the military strength of the nomads.

===Language===
According to the most widely held hypothesis of the origin of the [[Indo-European languages]], the [[Kurgan hypothesis]], their common ancestor is thought to have originated on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The [[Tocharians]] were an early Indo-European branch in the [[Tarim Basin]]. At the beginning of written history the entire steppe population west of Dzungaria spoke [[Iranian languages]]. From about 500 AD the [[Turkic languages]] replaced the Iranian languages first on the steppe and later in the oases north of Iran. The reasons for this are poorly understood. After 1077 a group of Turkic speakers pushed into Anatolia and founded the modern nation of Turkey. Similarly, [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] speakers, a branch of the [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] language family, who previously lived in the steppe in what is now Southern Russia, settled in the [[Carpathian basin]] in year 895. [[Mongolic languages]] are in Mongolia. In Manchuria one finds [[Tungusic languages]] and some others.

===Religion===
If the [[Kurgan hypothesis]] of Indo-European origins is accepted, then the earliest hypothesised steppe religion would have been the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|mythology of the Indo-Europeans]]. Later, [[Tangriism]] was introduced by [[Turko-Mongol]] nomads. [[Nestorianism]] and [[Manichaeism]] spread to the Tarim Basin and into China but they never became an established majority religion. [[Buddhism]] spread from India north to the Tarim Basin and found a new home in China. By about 1400 the entire steppe west of Dzungaria had adopted [[Islam]]. By about 1600 Islam was established in the Tarim Basin while Dzungaria and Mongolia had adopted [[Tibetan Buddhism]].

== History ==
{{Original research section|date=September 2014}}

=== Warfare ===
Raids between tribes were prevalent throughout the region's history. This is connected to the ease with which a defeated enemy's flocks can be driven away, which makes raiding profitable. In relation to sedentary societies, the horse gave the nomads the supreme advantage of mobility. Horsemen can raid a village and be gone with their loot before a land army can be gathered. When confronted with superior infantry, horsemen can simply ride away and regroup where there are no soldiers. Outside of Europe and parts of the Middle East, agrarian societies had difficulty raising a sufficient number of war horses and often had to buy them from their nomadic enemies. Nomads could not easily be pursued onto the steppe since the steppe could not easily support a land army. If the Chinese sent an army into Mongolia, the nomads would flee and come back when the Chinese ran out of supplies. But the steppe nomads were relatively few and their rulers had difficulty holding together enough clans and tribes to field a large army. If they conquered an agricultural area they often lacked the skills to administer it. If they tried to hold agrarian land they gradually absorbed the civilization of their subjects, lost their nomadic skills and were either absorbed by their subjects or driven out.

=== Relations with neighbors ===
Along the northern fringe the nomads would collect tribute from and blend with the forest tribes (see [[Khanate of Sibir]], [[Buryats]]).{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} From about 1240 to 1480 Russia paid tribute to the [[Golden Horde]].{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} South of the Kazakh steppe the nomads blended with the sedentary population, partly because the Middle East has significant areas of steppe (taken by force in past invasions) and pastoralism. There was a sharp cultural divide between Mongolia and China and almost constant warfare from the dawn of history until 1757.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} The nomads collected large amounts of tribute from the Chinese and several Chinese dynasties were of steppe origin. Perhaps because of the mixture of agriculture and pastoralism in Manchuria its inhabitants knew how to deal with both nomads and the settled populations, and therefore were able to conquer much of northern China when both Chinese and Mongols were weak.

==Historical peoples and nations==
* [[Chorasmia]] 13th-3rd centuries BC
* [[Cimmerians]] 12th-7th centuries BC
* [[Magyars]] 11th century BC - 8th century AD
* [[Scythians]] 8th–4th centuries BC
* [[Sogdiana]] 8th–4th centuries BC
* [[Issedones]] 7th-1st century BC
* [[Massagatae]] 7th-1st century BC
* [[Thyssagetae]] 7th-3rd century BC
* [[Donghu people|Donghu]] 7th - 2nd century BC
* [[Dahae]] 7th BC-5th century AD
* [[Saka]] 6th-1st centuries BC
* [[Sarmatians]] 5th century BC – 5th century AD
* [[Bulgars]] 7th century BC–7th century AD<ref>{{cite web|url=http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html|title=The Proto-Turkic Urheimat and the Early Migrations of Turkic Peoples|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|accessdate=April 20, 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224111409/http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html|archivedate=December 24, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Transoxiana]] 4th century BC - 14th century AD
* [[Xiongnu]] 3rd century BC - 2nd century AD
* [[Iazyges]] 3rd century BC - 5th century AD
* [[Yuezhi]] 2nd century BC - 1st century AD
* [[Wusun]] 1st century BC - 6th century AD
* [[Xianbei state|Xianbei]] 1st-3rd centuries
* [[Goths]] 3rd–6th centuries
* [[Huns]] 4th–8th centuries
* [[Alans]] 5th–11th centuries
* [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] 5th-9th centuries
* [[Hepthalite]]s 5th-7th centuries
* [[Avars (Carpathians)|Eurasian Avars]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Göktürks]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Sabirs]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Khazars]] 7th-11th centuries
* [[Onogurs]] 8th century
* [[Pechenegs]] 8th–11th centuries
* [[Bashkirs]] 10th century-present day
* [[Kipchaks]] and [[Cumans]] 11th–13th centuries
* [[Mongol Empire]] 13th–14th centuries
* [[Tsagadai Ulus]] 13th–15th centuries
* [[Golden Horde]] 13th–15th centuries
* [[Cossacks]], [[Kalmyks]], [[Crimean Khanate]], [[Volga Tatars]], [[Nogais]] and other [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] states and tribes 15th–18th centuries
* [[Russian Empire]] 18th–20th centuries
* [[Soviet Union]] 20th century
* [[Moldova]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Russian Federation]], [[Ukraine]] 20th–21st centuries

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights=220>
File:Красноковыльная степь в бассейне Кукуйки в Курьинском районе.JPG|Steppe south of [[Siberia]], [[Altai Krai]].
File:Луговая красноковыльная степь около Колыванского озера в Змеиногорском районе.JPG|Steppe south of Siberia, [[Altai Krai]].
File:Horses in Kazakhstan.jpg|Steppe in east [[Kazakhstan]].
File:Steppe of western Kazakhstan in the early spring.jpg|Semi arid steppe in west [[Kazakhstan]] in early spring.
File:Khopyor River (Nizhnehopersky Nature Park) 001.JPG|Steppe adjacent to the [[Khopyor River]], [[Volgograd Oblast]], Russia.
File:Natural Park Donskoy 001.jpg|Steppe on calcareous plate adjacent to the [[Khopyor River]], [[Volgograd Oblast]], Russia.
File:Скала Дракон.jpg|Eastern Steppe south of Siberia, [[Zabaykalsky Krai]].
File:Ishenbek surveys the rolling expanse of the high steppe. (3968890120).jpg| [[Kyrgyzstan|Kyrgyz]] Steppe.
</gallery>

==See also==
{{commons category}}
* [[Izyumsky Trail]]
* [[Great Alföld]]
* [[Little Alföld]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* John of Plano Carpini, "History of the Mongols," in Christopher Dawson, (ed.), Mission to Asia, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005, pp. 3–76.
* Barthold, W., Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion, T. Minorsky, (tr.), New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1992.
* Christian, David, A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire’, Malden MA, Oxford, UK, Carlton, Australia: Blackwell Publishing 1998.
* Fletcher, Joseph F., Studies on Chinese and Islamic Inner Asia, Beatrice Forbes Manz, (ed.), Aldershot, Hampshire: Variorum, 1995, IX.
* [[René Grousset|Grousset, René]], The Empire of the Steppes: a History of Central Asia, Naomi Walford, (tr.), New Brunswick, NJ: [[Rutgers University Press]], 1970.
* Krader, Lawrence, "Ecology of Central Asian Pastoralism," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 11, No. 4, (1955), pp. 301–326.
* [[Owen Lattimore|Lattimore, Owen]], "The Geographical Factor in Mongol History," in Owen Lattimore, (ed.), Studies in Frontier History: Collected Papers 1928–1958, London: Oxford University Press, 1962, pp. 241–258.
* [[Denis Sinor|Sinor, Denis]], "The Inner Asian Warrior," in Denis Sinor, (Collected Studies Series), Studies in Medieval Inner Asia, Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, Variorum, 1997, XIII.
* Sinor, Denis, "Horse and Pasture in Inner Asian History," in Denis Sinor, (Collected Studies Series), Inner Asia and its Contacts with Medieval Europe, London: Variorum, 1977, II.

{{coord missing|Russia}}

[[Category:Eurasian Steppe| ]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Asia]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Europe]]
[[Category:Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Asia]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Europe]]
[[Category:Central Asia]]
[[Category:Eastern Europe]]
[[Category:Geography of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Geography of Eastern Europe]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Russia]]
[[Category:Nomads of the Eurasian steppe|*]]
[[Category:History of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Social history of India]]

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