Turkestan

American  

[tur-kuh-stan, -stahn, tur-kuh-stan, -stahn] / ˈtɜr kəˌstæn, -ˌstɑn, ˌtɜr kəˈstæn, -ˈstɑn /

Or Turkistan

noun

1. a vast region in western and central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea: includes territory in the south central part of Xinjiang province in China Eastern Turkestan or Chinese Turkestan, a strip of northern Afghanistan, and the area Russian Turkestan comprising the republics of Kazakhstan, Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan), Tadzhikistan (Tajikistan), Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

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Turkestan British  

/ ˌtɜːkɪˈstɑːn /

noun

1. an extensive region of central Asia between Siberia in the north and Tibet, India, Afghanistan, and Iran in the south: formerly divided into West ( Russian ) Turkestan (also called Soviet Central Asia), comprising present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan and the S part of Kazakhstan, and East ( Chinese ) Turkestan , approximating to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China

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Other Word Forms

• Turkestanian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Turkestan

First recorded in 1710–20; from Persian Torkestān; literally, “land of the Turks”

Example Sentences

Ethnically Uighur, Mamat left China at age 12 after an uprising in the region of East Turkestan, where most of Mamat’s extended family still lives.

From Scientific American • Sep. 20, 2023

At its height, the Ghaznavid Empire encompassed a vast swath of central Asia and included parts of modern Iran, Afghanistan, and the historical region of Turkestan.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

From a Russian jail in Turkestan to a ghetto in Shanghai, “The World and All That It Holds” runs along the wire of Pinto’s tenuous hope.

From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2023

The head of the NGO group East Turkestan New Generation Movement, Abdusselam Teklimakan, said the report came late, while Uyghurs were year after year worrying about the fate of their loved ones in Xinjiang.

From Reuters • Sep. 1, 2022

Some of them are even more remarkable for their dryness than is Niya, a site in the Tarim Desert of Chinese Turkestan.

From Climatic Changes Their Nature and Causes by Huntington, Ellsworth