The Stan Lands Trivia Quiz

Answer: seven

It makes sense that the suffix -stan has a similar meaning to -land in English. It could be translated as, "place of," or, "homeland of." When combined with the name of a people, such as Afghanistan, it means the homeland of the Afghanis.

Answer: Pakistan

Pakistan's seacoast is about 1200 kilometers long. The port of Karachi is Pakistan's largest port. There are also beaches and resorts along the coast.

Answer: Abbottabad

The actual suffix from the Urdu language is -abad which obviously has a similar meaning to -town in English. Islamabad, in the north, is the capital of the country. Abbottabad is near Islamabad. Hyderabad is in the south near Karachi.

Answer: The National Museum of Afghanistan

The National Museum is located in the capital. It contains treasures of antiquity, archaeological finds, and a large collection of ancient coins. All the other places are found in Kandahar, the capital before 1770. Kandahar was founded by Alexander the Great.

Answer: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan

Near Mary, Turkmenistan, in the Karakum Desert, you can visit the ancient site of Merv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thought to be the largest city in the world at one time. From there you could travel through Kairakum, Tajikistan, enjoying the sight of the Kairakum Reservoir, before continuing to Andijan, Uzbekistan. If you take this trip, bring lots of pistachios to trade for silks, since you will be following a major route of the Northern Silk Road that was used for the exchange of both goods and culture.

Answer: Caspian Sea

Turkmenbashi, located on the west coast, is the country's only port. The Caspian Sea is landlocked, but the Volga-Don Canal provides a navigable connection to the Black Sea. A ferry across the Caspian can take you to visit Azerbaijan.

Answer: Rivers were diverted for irrigation projects

The diversion of the rivers that fed the sea destroyed a prosperous fishing industry. Now there are ship graveyards where ships can be seen grounded in the middle of the desert! The remaining waters of the Aral Sea have also been dangerously polluted. A group of the -stan countries has begun the Aral Sea Basin Program, an effort to rehabilitate this environmental disaster.

Answer: This very poor country exports cotton for revenue

Tajikistan is a high, mountainous country, with half the land being over 3000 meters in elevation. Russia, and later the Soviet Union, promoted the production of cotton in the area. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviets defeated a Tajiki rebellion, took over the government and discouraged the free practice of religion, which was predominantly Muslim. One benefit of the Soviet Union was the establishment a system of free education, resulting in Tajikistan having one of the highest rates of literacy in the world.

Answer: gold

The mountainous land is rich in mineral deposits. It has gold mines as well as mines for numerous other metals. After mining, the main industry is agriculture, primarily the raising of livestock. It has nearly no fishing industry, containing little water to fish in except for Issyk-Kul Lake, the second highest mountain lake in the world and a popular vacation resort.

Answer: Its land area is larger than Western Europe

Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world in land area. Its population consists of more than one hundred distinct ethnicities. Although it did inherit nuclear warheads from the breakup of the Soviet Union, it has returned all of them to Russia and closed down its nuclear testing facilities.

It is active in the UN, supporting numerous peacekeeping missions. It also sent humanitarian aid to the Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.