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Kyrgyzstan
Physical Environment
The smallest of the newly independent Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan
is about the same size as the state of Nebraska, with a total
area of about 198,500 square kilometers. The national territory
extends about 900 kilometers from east to west and 410 kilometers
from north to south. Kyrgyzstan is bordered on the southeast by
China, on the north and west by Kazakstan, and on the south and
west by Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. One consequence of the Stalinist
division of Central Asia into five republics is that many ethnic
Kyrgyz do not live in Kyrgyzstan. Three enclaves, legally part
of the territory of Kyrgyzstan but geographically removed by several
kilometers, have been established, two in Uzbekistan and one in
Tajikistan (see fig. 8). The terrain of Kyrgyzstan is dominated
by the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain systems, which together occupy
about 65 percent of the national territory. The Alay range portion
of the Tian Shan system dominates the southwestern crescent of
the country, and, to the east, the main Tian Shan range runs along
the boundary between southern Kyrgyzstan and China before extending
farther east into China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Kyrgyzstan's
average elevation is 2,750 meters, ranging from 7,439 meters at
Pik Pobedy (Mount Victory) to 394 meters in the Fergana Valley
near Osh. Almost 90 percent of the country lies more than 1,500
meters above sea level.
Data as of March 1996
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