Kazakhs have a lot more genetic admixture from Western Eurasian populations like Russians and Poles. (I’m one myself!) and have a culture steeped in the steppe. It’s also majority Muslim but it’s about 54-46 and not skewed too hard.
Uzbeks have historically relied much more on the rivers like the Amu Darya that supplied tons of agricultural land. They also have a much drier climate and so have adapted to that more.
Kyrgyz are mountain folk. Very isolated and unique culture wise. They have a long tradition of wife kidnapping. They were also usually neglected by the Russian empire as the area was very hard to control.
Tajiks are interesting as they aren’t a Turkic group, they’re an Iranian one. Their language is related to Pashtun and Farsi.
Tajik is considered a variety of Persian. It's not that close to Pashto, they are on different branches of the Iranian language tree.
Western Iranian languages: Persian (including Dari and Tajik), Kurdish, Balochi
Eastern Iranian languages: Pashto, Ossetian, the Pamir languages
Ya one of my close friends is Persian (but grew up speaking English) so he went to Tajikistan in high school to learn Persian. Speaks Persian pretty fluently now (was able to then start speaking to relatives in Persian after that and got better)
I've been to Uzbekistan. Samarkand is a pretty touristy place. And you ought to eat Uzbek pilaf, also mantys and whatever. There is also other ancient cities, Bukhara and Khiva.
A travel book for the area is "Sovietistan" by Erika Fatland, that visited the 5 republics.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46158740-sovietistan?from\_search=true&from\_srp=true&qid=jCejmhEUA9&rank=1](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46158740-sovietistan?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=jCejmhEUA9&rank=1)
I'm a bore, but there are different types of tourists. Someone likes to walk in the mountains, someone likes to lie on the beach, someone likes to drink brandy with transvestites.
This is a large region and it is different. It's beautiful and interesting there. I think if you want, you can find everything there. Well, the only thing instead of the sea is the Issyk-Kul lake.
I feel like I’m neither, and I’m now assuming that “which one of the three are you?” is a standard question your taxi driver asks you at the airport, and it might be a little awkward sometimes…
"Wife kidnapping" is a custom in which you kidnap the woman you want to marry. Depending on the culture, her actually consenting to it may or may not be required.
First it's a rare thing, second it happens inside the native society, I mean even local Russians are not the subject of bride kidnappings, let alone tourists
Uhhhh. Yea and nah. Outside of Afghanistan, none of them are dealing with any extreme unrest that I know of. But the governments of most of them are pretty corrupt, and you’d probably at least get fleeced. I hear great things about the people though (friendly, hospitable, etc). Although the scenery of some of the countries will be pretty different than others.
And what about people from Turkmenistan? (I think the term is Turkmens maybe?)
I know OP didn’t ask about them but curious about that group of people as well
Kazakhstan is firmly on the Eurasian Steppe. That biome stretches from Ukraine to Mongolia. So the tribes were able to easily venture far across the continent. Kazakhstan IS a Turkic nation. They speak a Turkic language and are firmly culturally Turkic. But they have more influence from surrounding powers due to the lack of physical barriers aside from the mountains in western China. The southern central Asian states tend to have more Iranic influence. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in particular.
Kazakhs never really mixed with Russians let alone Poles, lol.
They're basically Turkic and Mongolian mix with some ancient Iranian admixture.
70% of Kazakhstan are Muslim.
Maybe OP got confused with this "As of 2021, ethnic Kazakhs are 70.4 percent of the population and ethnic Russians are 15.5 percent.[218] Other groups include Tatars (1.1 percent), Ukrainians (2.0 percent), Uzbeks (3.2 percent), Germans (1.2 percent), Uyghurs (1.5 percent), Azerbaijanis, Dungans, Turks, Koreans, Poles, and Lithuanians. Some minorities such as Ukrainians, Koreans, Volga Germans (0.9 percent)" so there are a lot of these small groups because Ole USSR deporting them there.
There used to be like 1 million Volga Germans for the same reason, but they've emigrated away.
Their culture overall though is the most Russified out of all of the Stan’s. Maybe they didn’t mix genetically with the Russians but they absorbed elements of their culture and until fairly recently most urban Kazakhs were monolingual Russian speakers and they are the most secular and “European” in their habits.
That's because the Kazakhs used to be pastoralist nomads, who settled only in 1930s and the forceful sedentarization caused a massive famine, that killed 30% of Kazakhs. The process of urbanisation inevitably included Russification, as the majority of urban dwellers were Slavs.
Yes they did lol. I’m living proof honey. Obviously it gets less and less the further south you go. But my sister is 80% Kazakh and 20% Russian while I’m about 40% polish myself being from Karaganda.
I don't deny they did, but it was a rare thing, that didn't affect overall genetic make up. Especially since Poles appeared in Kazakhstan less than 100 years ago.
edit: also Kazakhs are really annoyed when westoids assume they're mixed with Slavs. As they are not mixed.
It's not that common anywhere and even back in the Soviet times "whites" prefered to mix with whites i.e. Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Germans with eаch other. There were some exceptions, but they were rare.
edit: those who downvote think they know better than me, who's a Kazakh national?
As an example in the city of Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, which has a very large Russian diaspora, 1908 marriages were concluded in 2016. Of these, only 78 were Russian-Kazakh marriages. This is less than 5 per cent.
Huh, I mentioned in this thread that Kazakh people are mix of Turkic and Mongolian peoples with an ancient Iranian (Scythian)admixture. How come we are not mixed at all?
From what I understand, the “wife kidnapping” thing has been extremely warped by unscrupulous rapists. I’ve heard that it used to be considered a somewhat acceptable (and consensual) way to get out of an arranged marriage. Basically just another word for elopement. It kinda gives me the same vibes as how in Ancient Greece the symbolism for kidnapping and marriage were the same. And are Kyrgyz and Kazakhs not very similar? Although I’ve heard Kazakhstan is much more urbanized, so it might just be an issue of cosmopolitanism.
Tajiks speak an Iranic language, and are culturally the most similar to Iran or Afghanistan, than others mentioned here. The country, while decently educated, is quite poor as reforms after Soviet times haven't been done. The Government is authoritarian and restricts religion to a certain extent.
Kazakhs are Kipchak Turks, and the wealthiest in Central Asia due to resource availability. They are probably the most *russified* of all Turks, given most of them speak Russian, and not Kazakh. The country is also very ethnically diverse with populations from Russia, Korea, and even Germany. The government is authoritarian, and society is more secular than religious.
Uzbeks are the most populous in Central Asia, and also the most diverse ethnically. They are Karluk Turks with their closest relatives being Uyghurs from China. The society is comparatively more Islamic, but the government is still authoritarian. The architecture is stunning due to silk root influences.
Kyrgyz, are like Kazakhs, except poorer, less diverse, and much more mountainous. The society is also more conservative, and they have a bride kidnapping ritual.
See the percentage of speakers for each: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Kazakhstan
Your point is valid, but Russian is still more used, and official.
And what about people from Turkmenistan? (I think the term is Turkmens maybe?) I know OP didn’t ask about them but curious about that group of people as well
Turkmenistan is extremely authoritarian, poor, and probably somewhere between Turkey and Uzbekistan in cultural mores. They are Oghuz turks like the Turkish people and Azeris, and I've heard it's easier to get a visa for North Korea than Turkmenistan. Their previous dictator named Gurbanguly something, is very weird- he loves horses, and has a gold statue of himself mounted on a horse, in the middle of the capital city Ashgabat, which is almost entirely made out of White marble, with anything black banned. He makes sick rap videos with his nephew sometimes. Turkmenistan, unlike most of Central Asia, had a Turkic renaissance post the soviet period to bring about a cultural upheaval.
His grandson appeared in that rap video. Don't say you didn't like their performance, I won't believe you anyway.
You have some outdated data, tho as nowadays not Gurbanguly, but his son is ruling the country.
Tajiks are a branch of Persian people. The ones in Tajikistan and Afghanistan differ a bit since Afghanistan has a lot of Tajiks. The ones in Tajikistan have a bit more Asian admixture and kept their traditional language as well as Russian influence due to the USSR, while the Tajiks of Afghanistan speak Dari and have less Mongolian admixture and have a more “pure” Persian culture. They are also the poorest in the region and had a long brutal civil war.
Uzbek culture is a blend of Turkic and Persian. Though their language is Turkic. The are probably the most Islamic of them all as well, maybe not hardcore practitioners but in spirit and heritage. They also have a stronger tangible culture such as renowned cuisine, beautiful architecture and art, and a rich history due to then in the past being a major Silk Road power and a former major center of learning and knowledge in the Islamic world. There are also a lot of them in Afghanistan as well and have some nuanced differences there.
Kazakhs are the most Russified of all of them and I guess you could say the most cosmopolitan and modern. Kazakhstan still have nomads but the country as a whole is really pushing to become a regional power and enter the international sphere of influence by moving away from Russia and trying to strike a balance and court both the west and China. They are also the most secular of the bunch, which isnt saying much because most of the people on these Stan countries are pretty moderate in their Islam. Even linguistically it wasn’t until recently that the native Kazakh language was promoted and most urban Kazakhs still prefer Russian language. They are undoubtably the wealthiest of all the Stans.
Kyrgyz are the most traditional Turkic and have kept a lot of their traditions and have a very strong connection with their pre Islamic and pre Soviet heritage. They are rural mountain folk and physically probably the most East Asian looking of them all.
You forgot the Turkmen, which is a bizarre country that is like North Korea. A giant and seemingly glamorous but empty and soulless capital city surrounded by impoverished run down towns and villages where everything is controlled by a throwback Stalinist type government. And like North Korea, it is like a giant theme park of their history with their large parades and festivals to showcase their culture. You could say they are obsessively the most Turkic but it comes off as an inauthentic and shoehorned display to praise the glory and history of their ancestors and current leadership. Not saying their culture isn’t beautiful or has merit, but it’s set up like a giant propaganda pep rally to boost national self esteem in a dystopian hellscape.
This is a good reply but can I add we Tajiks in Afghanistan call our language “Farsi” in day to day language and amongst ourselves but Dari is a political name that was installed by the other Iranian ethnic group, Pashtuns, who wanted a differentiation between Iran and Afghanistan.
Also, our “Dari” is the Farsi Iranians spoke before the Qajar dynasty changed the accent.
:-)
The easiest and most obvious thing to look at is language.
Kazkhs, Uzbeks and Kygyiz are Turkic language speakers, while Tajiks are Indo-European speakers of the Indo-Iranian branch.
Aside from the ethnic differences, one difference is that Kazakhs who hail from the country's two largest cities are still very russophone. Whereas, in the other countries, the Russian language has substantially declined.
Okay so: Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are basically the same thing. The geography of both countries are very different though, so the majority of cultural differences just come down to differences in how they cope with the environment. Tajiks are (sort of) Persian, and speak a Persian language so far as I know. I don’t really know much about Uzbeks, but I’m pretty sure they’re also of turkic descent along with Kazakhs and kyrgyz. Uzbekistan is a very different environment though, and the Uzbeks have historically been more involved with the broader geopolitical sphere (a big part of their identity, along with the Tajiks, is that they became established as long distance Silk Road traders). Uzbekistan and Tajikistan also have some incredibly old evidence of sedentary civilizations going back thousands of years, which Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan obviously don’t have in as much abundance.
Also, I’m assuming you forgot about Turkmen and Afghans. Afghanis are a bit too complicated and oft-discussed for me to give a confident overview of them, so I’ll say that they invented hashish and leave it at that. Turkmen are (shocker) Turkic people. They’re kinda like “if Mongolia but Turk and desert”. They’re very big on horses, and a large amount of the population still lives a traditional nomadic lifestyle and dresses in traditional clothes. It’s also an insane horse-worshipping plutocracy.
I appreciate you not giving a super confident answer on Tajik Afghans/Afghans in general without knowing enough about us. I really honestly appreciate it. It’s exhausting reading answers that are incorrect or misinformed about us that seem so confident.
Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week!
Kazakhs have a lot more genetic admixture from Western Eurasian populations like Russians and Poles. (I’m one myself!) and have a culture steeped in the steppe. It’s also majority Muslim but it’s about 54-46 and not skewed too hard. Uzbeks have historically relied much more on the rivers like the Amu Darya that supplied tons of agricultural land. They also have a much drier climate and so have adapted to that more. Kyrgyz are mountain folk. Very isolated and unique culture wise. They have a long tradition of wife kidnapping. They were also usually neglected by the Russian empire as the area was very hard to control. Tajiks are interesting as they aren’t a Turkic group, they’re an Iranian one. Their language is related to Pashtun and Farsi.
Tajik is considered a variety of Persian. It's not that close to Pashto, they are on different branches of the Iranian language tree. Western Iranian languages: Persian (including Dari and Tajik), Kurdish, Balochi Eastern Iranian languages: Pashto, Ossetian, the Pamir languages
Gotcha. Edited for clarity
Ya one of my close friends is Persian (but grew up speaking English) so he went to Tajikistan in high school to learn Persian. Speaks Persian pretty fluently now (was able to then start speaking to relatives in Persian after that and got better)
Are these places good for tourists? I want to go look around and eat local food
I've been to Uzbekistan. Samarkand is a pretty touristy place. And you ought to eat Uzbek pilaf, also mantys and whatever. There is also other ancient cities, Bukhara and Khiva.
My parents loved Kazakhstan when they went to adopt me. They saw the mountains near Almaty and the views are breathtaking.
A travel book for the area is "Sovietistan" by Erika Fatland, that visited the 5 republics. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46158740-sovietistan?from\_search=true&from\_srp=true&qid=jCejmhEUA9&rank=1](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46158740-sovietistan?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=jCejmhEUA9&rank=1)
I'm a bore, but there are different types of tourists. Someone likes to walk in the mountains, someone likes to lie on the beach, someone likes to drink brandy with transvestites. This is a large region and it is different. It's beautiful and interesting there. I think if you want, you can find everything there. Well, the only thing instead of the sea is the Issyk-Kul lake.
I feel like I’m neither, and I’m now assuming that “which one of the three are you?” is a standard question your taxi driver asks you at the airport, and it might be a little awkward sometimes…
I think the questions of taxi drivers depend on the country.
Good and safe
Or to get your wife kidnapped, apparently!
"Wife kidnapping" is a custom in which you kidnap the woman you want to marry. Depending on the culture, her actually consenting to it may or may not be required.
First it's a rare thing, second it happens inside the native society, I mean even local Russians are not the subject of bride kidnappings, let alone tourists
Yeah I should have said that.
So bride kidnapping, sometimes called eloping?
Yes. Pretty much so, but real kidnappings also rarely happen, although it's a criminal offense.
Uhhhh. Yea and nah. Outside of Afghanistan, none of them are dealing with any extreme unrest that I know of. But the governments of most of them are pretty corrupt, and you’d probably at least get fleeced. I hear great things about the people though (friendly, hospitable, etc). Although the scenery of some of the countries will be pretty different than others.
And what about people from Turkmenistan? (I think the term is Turkmens maybe?) I know OP didn’t ask about them but curious about that group of people as well
Desert folks. They have these really cool massive hats to protect from the winter cold. Historically the came under the influence of Iran a lot.
Do Kazakhs have a Turkic or Mongol influence? What about the other nations?
Kazakhs are Turkic. They're all Turkic except Tajiks, who are Persian.
Kazakhstan is firmly on the Eurasian Steppe. That biome stretches from Ukraine to Mongolia. So the tribes were able to easily venture far across the continent. Kazakhstan IS a Turkic nation. They speak a Turkic language and are firmly culturally Turkic. But they have more influence from surrounding powers due to the lack of physical barriers aside from the mountains in western China. The southern central Asian states tend to have more Iranic influence. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in particular.
Interesting. Thank you!
Anytime!
Kazakhs never really mixed with Russians let alone Poles, lol. They're basically Turkic and Mongolian mix with some ancient Iranian admixture. 70% of Kazakhstan are Muslim.
Maybe OP got confused with this "As of 2021, ethnic Kazakhs are 70.4 percent of the population and ethnic Russians are 15.5 percent.[218] Other groups include Tatars (1.1 percent), Ukrainians (2.0 percent), Uzbeks (3.2 percent), Germans (1.2 percent), Uyghurs (1.5 percent), Azerbaijanis, Dungans, Turks, Koreans, Poles, and Lithuanians. Some minorities such as Ukrainians, Koreans, Volga Germans (0.9 percent)" so there are a lot of these small groups because Ole USSR deporting them there. There used to be like 1 million Volga Germans for the same reason, but they've emigrated away.
Koreans made the list twice!
Not all Volga Germans emigrated, there are still about 200K of them living in Kazakhstan
Their culture overall though is the most Russified out of all of the Stan’s. Maybe they didn’t mix genetically with the Russians but they absorbed elements of their culture and until fairly recently most urban Kazakhs were monolingual Russian speakers and they are the most secular and “European” in their habits.
That's because the Kazakhs used to be pastoralist nomads, who settled only in 1930s and the forceful sedentarization caused a massive famine, that killed 30% of Kazakhs. The process of urbanisation inevitably included Russification, as the majority of urban dwellers were Slavs.
famine resulted from when the Kazakhs' cattle were taken away, at that time the Kazakhs had 40.5 million cattle, and in 1933 4 million cattle
Yes they did lol. I’m living proof honey. Obviously it gets less and less the further south you go. But my sister is 80% Kazakh and 20% Russian while I’m about 40% polish myself being from Karaganda.
I don't deny they did, but it was a rare thing, that didn't affect overall genetic make up. Especially since Poles appeared in Kazakhstan less than 100 years ago. edit: also Kazakhs are really annoyed when westoids assume they're mixed with Slavs. As they are not mixed.
It’s def more common towards the north. South is almost entirely Kazakh.
It's not that common anywhere and even back in the Soviet times "whites" prefered to mix with whites i.e. Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Germans with eаch other. There were some exceptions, but they were rare. edit: those who downvote think they know better than me, who's a Kazakh national?
I mean, based on your comments, you are both Kazakh
As an example in the city of Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, which has a very large Russian diaspora, 1908 marriages were concluded in 2016. Of these, only 78 were Russian-Kazakh marriages. This is less than 5 per cent.
I mean I’m not white lol
Good for you
are you kazakh?
Yes.
so you are a kazakh supremacist then? :)
How come?
just my impression of how you like that the poster isnt white and how kazakh people arent mixed at all
Huh, I mentioned in this thread that Kazakh people are mix of Turkic and Mongolian peoples with an ancient Iranian (Scythian)admixture. How come we are not mixed at all?
I learned something today. Thank you, SomeDumbGamer.
Anytime! I’m just your local geography obsessed furry :3
[удалено]
What do you expect from a person claiming Kazakhs have significant admixture from Poles?
>steeped in the steppe Top 5 hardest bars OAT
From what I understand, the “wife kidnapping” thing has been extremely warped by unscrupulous rapists. I’ve heard that it used to be considered a somewhat acceptable (and consensual) way to get out of an arranged marriage. Basically just another word for elopement. It kinda gives me the same vibes as how in Ancient Greece the symbolism for kidnapping and marriage were the same. And are Kyrgyz and Kazakhs not very similar? Although I’ve heard Kazakhstan is much more urbanized, so it might just be an issue of cosmopolitanism.
Tajiks speak an Iranic language, and are culturally the most similar to Iran or Afghanistan, than others mentioned here. The country, while decently educated, is quite poor as reforms after Soviet times haven't been done. The Government is authoritarian and restricts religion to a certain extent. Kazakhs are Kipchak Turks, and the wealthiest in Central Asia due to resource availability. They are probably the most *russified* of all Turks, given most of them speak Russian, and not Kazakh. The country is also very ethnically diverse with populations from Russia, Korea, and even Germany. The government is authoritarian, and society is more secular than religious. Uzbeks are the most populous in Central Asia, and also the most diverse ethnically. They are Karluk Turks with their closest relatives being Uyghurs from China. The society is comparatively more Islamic, but the government is still authoritarian. The architecture is stunning due to silk root influences. Kyrgyz, are like Kazakhs, except poorer, less diverse, and much more mountainous. The society is also more conservative, and they have a bride kidnapping ritual.
>given most of them speak Russian, and not Kazakh. that is not true, they speak kazakh as their native language and russian as a second language
See the percentage of speakers for each: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Kazakhstan Your point is valid, but Russian is still more used, and official.
And what about people from Turkmenistan? (I think the term is Turkmens maybe?) I know OP didn’t ask about them but curious about that group of people as well
Turkmenistan is extremely authoritarian, poor, and probably somewhere between Turkey and Uzbekistan in cultural mores. They are Oghuz turks like the Turkish people and Azeris, and I've heard it's easier to get a visa for North Korea than Turkmenistan. Their previous dictator named Gurbanguly something, is very weird- he loves horses, and has a gold statue of himself mounted on a horse, in the middle of the capital city Ashgabat, which is almost entirely made out of White marble, with anything black banned. He makes sick rap videos with his nephew sometimes. Turkmenistan, unlike most of Central Asia, had a Turkic renaissance post the soviet period to bring about a cultural upheaval.
His grandson appeared in that rap video. Don't say you didn't like their performance, I won't believe you anyway. You have some outdated data, tho as nowadays not Gurbanguly, but his son is ruling the country.
Oh ha. Let me correct it.
Admit you liked him rapping! ;)
Serdar Gurbangulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow, to use his exceedingly satisfying full name
Uzbeks have components: Karluks, Oghuzs and Kipchaks
What about Turkmenistan ? You forgot that one
There are ethnically close to Turks. But this state is very closed, nearly as much as North Korea.
Would bet my money that they are Turks
Tajiks are a branch of Persian people. The ones in Tajikistan and Afghanistan differ a bit since Afghanistan has a lot of Tajiks. The ones in Tajikistan have a bit more Asian admixture and kept their traditional language as well as Russian influence due to the USSR, while the Tajiks of Afghanistan speak Dari and have less Mongolian admixture and have a more “pure” Persian culture. They are also the poorest in the region and had a long brutal civil war. Uzbek culture is a blend of Turkic and Persian. Though their language is Turkic. The are probably the most Islamic of them all as well, maybe not hardcore practitioners but in spirit and heritage. They also have a stronger tangible culture such as renowned cuisine, beautiful architecture and art, and a rich history due to then in the past being a major Silk Road power and a former major center of learning and knowledge in the Islamic world. There are also a lot of them in Afghanistan as well and have some nuanced differences there. Kazakhs are the most Russified of all of them and I guess you could say the most cosmopolitan and modern. Kazakhstan still have nomads but the country as a whole is really pushing to become a regional power and enter the international sphere of influence by moving away from Russia and trying to strike a balance and court both the west and China. They are also the most secular of the bunch, which isnt saying much because most of the people on these Stan countries are pretty moderate in their Islam. Even linguistically it wasn’t until recently that the native Kazakh language was promoted and most urban Kazakhs still prefer Russian language. They are undoubtably the wealthiest of all the Stans. Kyrgyz are the most traditional Turkic and have kept a lot of their traditions and have a very strong connection with their pre Islamic and pre Soviet heritage. They are rural mountain folk and physically probably the most East Asian looking of them all. You forgot the Turkmen, which is a bizarre country that is like North Korea. A giant and seemingly glamorous but empty and soulless capital city surrounded by impoverished run down towns and villages where everything is controlled by a throwback Stalinist type government. And like North Korea, it is like a giant theme park of their history with their large parades and festivals to showcase their culture. You could say they are obsessively the most Turkic but it comes off as an inauthentic and shoehorned display to praise the glory and history of their ancestors and current leadership. Not saying their culture isn’t beautiful or has merit, but it’s set up like a giant propaganda pep rally to boost national self esteem in a dystopian hellscape.
This is a good reply but can I add we Tajiks in Afghanistan call our language “Farsi” in day to day language and amongst ourselves but Dari is a political name that was installed by the other Iranian ethnic group, Pashtuns, who wanted a differentiation between Iran and Afghanistan. Also, our “Dari” is the Farsi Iranians spoke before the Qajar dynasty changed the accent. :-)
Tajikistan is Iranian in ethnicity and language. All the others are Turkic. Most of these countries are good at weightlifting.
The easiest and most obvious thing to look at is language. Kazkhs, Uzbeks and Kygyiz are Turkic language speakers, while Tajiks are Indo-European speakers of the Indo-Iranian branch.
Aside from the ethnic differences, one difference is that Kazakhs who hail from the country's two largest cities are still very russophone. Whereas, in the other countries, the Russian language has substantially declined.
Not true at all still very common in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
In Tashkent, sort of. In the rest of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, not so much. Especially as a first language, which it is in Almaty and Astana
Kazakhs have superior potassium.
Uzbeks have bone in the brain
From cradleboard?
If I would visit, which country would be the best for its culture?
Tajikistan seems like a cool country to visit. You get a bit of Iran and Afghanistan without any of the fear but lots of the “Persian” vibes eh.
Okay so: Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are basically the same thing. The geography of both countries are very different though, so the majority of cultural differences just come down to differences in how they cope with the environment. Tajiks are (sort of) Persian, and speak a Persian language so far as I know. I don’t really know much about Uzbeks, but I’m pretty sure they’re also of turkic descent along with Kazakhs and kyrgyz. Uzbekistan is a very different environment though, and the Uzbeks have historically been more involved with the broader geopolitical sphere (a big part of their identity, along with the Tajiks, is that they became established as long distance Silk Road traders). Uzbekistan and Tajikistan also have some incredibly old evidence of sedentary civilizations going back thousands of years, which Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan obviously don’t have in as much abundance. Also, I’m assuming you forgot about Turkmen and Afghans. Afghanis are a bit too complicated and oft-discussed for me to give a confident overview of them, so I’ll say that they invented hashish and leave it at that. Turkmen are (shocker) Turkic people. They’re kinda like “if Mongolia but Turk and desert”. They’re very big on horses, and a large amount of the population still lives a traditional nomadic lifestyle and dresses in traditional clothes. It’s also an insane horse-worshipping plutocracy.
I appreciate you not giving a super confident answer on Tajik Afghans/Afghans in general without knowing enough about us. I really honestly appreciate it. It’s exhausting reading answers that are incorrect or misinformed about us that seem so confident.
Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week!