Support HistoryMaps

Settings

Dark Mode

Voice Narration

3D Map

MapStyle
HistoryMaps Last Updated: 02/01/2025

Ā© 2025 HM


AI History Chatbot

Ask Herodotus

Play Audio

Instructions: How it Works


Enter your Question / Request and hit enter or click the submit button. You can ask or request in any language. Here are some examples:


  • Quiz me on the American Revolution.
  • Suggest some books on the Ottoman Empire.
  • What were the causes of the Thirty Year's War?
  • Tell me something interesting about the Han Dynasty.
  • Give me the phases of the Hundred Yearsā€™ War.
herodotus-image

Do you have a question about History?


ask herodotus

History of the Soviet Union

National delimitation in Central Asia


History of the Soviet Union

National delimitation in Central Asia

1917 Dec 1
Central Asia
National delimitation in Central Asia
National delimitation in Central Asia Ā© Image belongs to the respective owner(s).

Russia had conquered Central Asia in the 19th century by annexing the formerly independent khanates of Kokand and Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara. After the Communists took power in 1917 and created the Soviet Union it was decided to divide Central Asia into ethnically based republics in a process known as National Territorial Delimitation (NTD). This was in line with Communist theory that nationalism was a necessary step on the path towards an eventually communist society, and Joseph Stalin's definition of a nation as being ā€œa historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common cultureā€.


NTD is commonly portrayed as being nothing more than a cynical exercise in divide and rule, a deliberately Machiavellian attempt by Stalin to maintain Soviet hegemony over the region by artificially dividing its inhabitants into separate nations and with borders deliberately drawn so as to leave minorities within each state. Though indeed Russia was concerned at the possible threat of pan-Turkic nationalism, as expressed for example with the Basmachi movement of the 1920s, closer analysis informed by the primary sources paints a much more nuanced picture than is commonly presented.


The Soviets aimed to create ethnically homogenous republics, however many areas were ethnically-mixed (especially the Ferghana Valley) and often proved difficult to assign a ā€˜correctā€™ ethnic label to some peoples (e.g. the mixed Tajik-Uzbek Sart, or the various Turkmen/Uzbek tribes along the Amu Darya). Local national elites often strongly argued (and in many cases overstated) their case and the Russians were often forced to adjudicate between them, further hindered by a lack of expert knowledge and the paucity of accurate or up-to-date ethnographic data on the region. Furthermore, NTD also aimed to create ā€˜viableā€™ entities, with economic, geographical, agricultural and infrastructural matters also to be taken into account and frequently trumping those of ethnicity. The attempt to balance these contradictory aims within an overall nationalist framework proved exceedingly difficult and often impossible, resulting in the drawing of often tortuously convoluted borders, multiple enclaves and the unavoidable creation of large minorities who ended up living in the ā€˜wrongā€™ republic. Additionally the Soviets never intended for these borders to become international frontiers.

Page Last Updated: 10/13/2024

Support HistoryMaps

There are several ways to support the HistoryMaps Project.

Shop Now
Donate
Say Thanks