Globalization and Diversity, 5e (Rowntree et al.)
Chapter 10 Central Asia
1) Of the following climates, which one is LEAST common in Central Asia?
A) tropical monsoon
B) midlatitude desert
C) midlatitude steppe
D) highland
E) humid continental
2) Which location is at the highest elevation?
A) Oral
B) Aqtau
C) Kabul
D) Nukus
E) Baku
3) Where in Central Asia are most steppe environments located?
A) west
B) north
C) south
D) east
E) central
4) What Central Asian body of water devolved into a major environmental disaster in the late
20th century?
A) Aral Sea
B) Amu Darya
C) Syr Darya
D) Black Sea
E) Red Sea
5) Where are the desert regions of Central Asia mostly located?
A) eastern edge of the region
B) western edge of the region
C) center of the region
D) northern edge of the region
E) southern edge of the region
6) Which of the following countries of Central Asia lies farthest south?
A) Mongolia
B) Kazakhstan
C) Turkmenistan
D) Afghanistan
E) Uzbekistan
7) What is the primary reason for the shrinking of the Aral Sea?
A) There is climatic change in Central Asia.
B) Large-scale irrigation projects implemented by the Soviets in the 1950s have diverted water
from the two rivers that feed the sea.
C) Tectonic rifting in the region is causing the sea’s water to be removed beneath the ground
surface.
D) Much of the water has been removed directly from the sea surface by the numerous nuclear
desalinization plants along the Aral’s shore.
E) All of the answer choices are correct.
Sea
8) Which Central Asian lake is the largest lake in the world?
A) Aral Sea
B) Lake Baikal
C) Kara Deniz
D) Lake Erie
E) Caspian Sea
9) Why is the environment in Central Asia relatively clean?
A) stringent environmental standards and controls
B) a strong “green” political movement in the region
C) favorable breezes that sweep the heavy industrial pollution that would otherwise permeate the
region
D) low population density coupled with low level of economic development
E) All of the answer choices are correct.
10) Which of the following deserts is NOT found in Central Asia?
A) Kara Kum
B) Kalahari
C) Kyzyl Kum
D) Taklamakan
E) Gobi
11) The Pamir Knot
A) is a complex tangle of east-west and north-south trending mountain ranges on the borders of
Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China.
B) is the term for the border between Mongolia and China.
C) refers to the political isolation experienced by Azerbaijan on the western side of the Caspian
Sea.
D) refers to the mountainous region lying on the border between Nepal and China.
E) is located in Turkmenistan.
12) What do most climate change experts predict will happen to Central Asia as climate change
continues?
A) It will be hit hard by climate change, leading to melting of glaciers and reduced river flows.
B) Because of the region’s low density, the problems will be minimal.
C) This dry region will benefit from higher overall precipitation.
D) The region will move to the forefront of solar energy technology development.
E) This region will not be affected by climate change.
13) In which country of Central Asia is the Gobi Desert found?
A) Turkmenistan
B) Azerbaijan
C) Tibet
D) Mongolia
E) Afghanistan
14) The New Silk Road attempts to do all of the following EXCEPT
A) link China and Central Asia to Europe.
B) get products to consumers faster than if transported by sea.
C) reduce transport to 10 days by rail.
D) lower the $9000 current cost of overland transport.
E) link China and Central Asia to markets in North America.
15) Referring to the graphic below, which of the following dry climates has the greatest amount
of annual precipitation?
A) Semey, Kazakhstan
B) Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
C) Tasahkent, Uzbekistan
D) Almaty, Kazakhstan
E) Ürümqi, China
16) What are some successes in halting the desertification of Inner Mongolia?
A) planting licorice in the Hobq Desert
B) using a mesh of wheat straw to stabilize sand while new vegetation establishes itself
C) growing thick vegetation borders to stop the sand dune sprawl
D) planting drought-adapted shrubs
E) All of these are examples of how desertification has been halted.
17) Beginning with increased diversion of water during the 1950s, what happened to the Aral
Sea?
A) Its shoreline retreated at an unprecedented rate.
B) Villages that had once enjoyed a “seaside” location were stranded 40 miles inland.
C) Salinity levels increased in the Aral Sea, causing fish species to disappear.
D) Eventually, the Aral Sea consisted of two separate lakes.
E) All of the answer choices are correct.
18) What geologic event created Central Asia‘s mountain ranges?
A) the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia
B) extensive and recent volcanic eruptions
C) tectonic plate divergence
D) subsidence along local earthquake faults
19) In the Tarim Basin, where do most of the people reside?
A) in the foothills of the mountains along the basin’s edge
B) near the basin’s center
C) high in the mountains surrounding the basin
D) toward the eastern opening of the basin
E) in an evenly distributed pattern, throughout the region
20) What is the livelihood of pastoralists?
A) growing wheat
B) cultivating rice
C) growing grapes to produce wine
D) growing opium poppies
E) raising livestock
21) Which of the following countries of Central Asia lies farthest north?
A) Tibet
B) Kazakhstan
C) Turkmenistan
D) Afghanistan
E) Uzbekistan
22) Since the 1960s, where has the largest proportion of migrants to Tibet and the western
provinces of China come from?
A) Indians fleeing because of the border conflict with Pakistan
B) Nepalese who are searching for more productive agricultural land
C) Afghans fleeing internal political conflict
D) Han Chinese from eastern China
E) Mongolians
23) Which of the following is one of the most densely populated regions of Central Asia?
A) the Gobi Desert
B) the lowlands of Azerbaijan
C) northern Tibet
D) Xinjiang
E) the Kara Kum
24) Which of the following cities is an UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
A) Samarkand
B) Kashgar
C) Ulaanbaator
D) Baku
E) Astana
25) China has invested $6 billion in Tajikistan. The authors fear what outcome?
A) economic domination of Tajikistan by China
B) an increase in remittances that will destabilize Tajikistan
C) continuing falling oil prices in Tajikistan
D) deportation of Tajik workers from China
E) a decrease in Tajikistan exports to the West
26) People of which of the following countries of Central Asia are noted for their traditional
economy based on transhumance?
A) Afghanistan
B) Kazakhstan
C) Tibet
D) Turkmenistan
E) Kyrgyzstan
27) What livelihood is “the only feasible way of life on the Tibetan plateau,” according to the
authors of your textbook?
A) nomadic pastoralism based on the yak
B) plantation agriculture based on tea
C) subsistence agriculture based on tubers
D) sedentary agriculture based on a variety of crops
E) transhumance based on sheep
28) Kazakhstan’s population in the agricultural lands of the north
A) is highly concentrated near the border of Russia.
B) lives primarily in the cities of the northern region.
C) is relatively evenly spaced throughout the region.
D) has declined to nearly zero over the past three decades.
E) has been migrating to the south in the past decade.
29) Where do the majority of people in Uzbekistan reside?
A) in the cool mountainous uplands
B) near the river valleys and alluvial fans
C) near the coast of the Aral Sea
D) on a plateau area near the border of Afghanistan
E) in the center of the country
30) Which of the following cities of Central Asia is largely a Soviet creation?
A) Tashkent, Uzbekistan
B) Kabul, Afghanistan
C) Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
D) Baku, Azerbaijan
E) Astana, Kazakhstan
31) Using the graphic below, what is the population density for most of Central Asia?
A) fewer than 6 people per square kilometer
B) 6-25 people per square kilometer
C) 26-100 people per square kilometer
D) 101-250 people per square kilometer
E) 251-500 people per square kilometer
32) In Xinjiang’s Tarim Basin, where are the largest communities found?
A) the northeastern fringe near lakes
B) the southwestern fringe of the basin
C) the southeastern fringe near the Altun Mountains
D) the far north away from the desert basin
E) in the central basin at the mouths of streams and rivers
33) Which language of Central Asia is an Indo-European language?
A) Azeri
B) Kirghiz
C) Pashtun
D) Mongolian
E) Tibetan
34) The earliest recorded languages of Central Asia belong to what linguistic family?
A) Sino–Tibetan
B) Tai–Kadai
C) Indo-European
D) Niger-Congo
E) Austronesian
35) What is the most common language group in Central Asia, based on the number of native
speakers?
A) Farsi
B) Indo-European
C) Mongolian
D) Tibetan
E) Turkic
36) Followers of which religion in Central Asia suffered brutal persecution when China invaded
Tibet?
A) Judaism
B) Shiite Islam
C) Sunni Islam
D) Lamaist Buddhism
E) Zoroastrianism
37) Which statement is TRUE about Islam in Central Asia?
A) Radical Islamic fundamentalism has emerged in regions.
B) The Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs are considered to be more relaxed about religious beliefs.
C) Most of the region’s Muslims are Sunnis.
D) Islam has served as a focus of social identity in Xinjiang.
E) All of these answer choices are true.
38) What development led to the emergence of nomadic pastoralism in Central Asia?
A) domestication of the sheep
B) a climate change that made the region dryer
C) domestication of the horse
D) domestication of wheat
39) What was the most common foreign language of the countries of Central Asia in the 1970s?
A) Chinese
B) Turkish
C) English
D) Pashtun
E) Russian
40) To which of the following languages is Tajik most closely related?
A) Turkish
B) Chinese
C) Russian
D) Uygur
E) Persian
41) When Central Asia has been under the communist rule of China, the Soviet Union, and
Mongolia, what has happened to religion?
A) All forms of religion were discouraged.
B) Religion was tolerated.
C) Islam was declared the official religion.
D) Orthodox Christianity was declared the official religion.
E) Buddhism was declared the official religion.
42) What is the current status of Lamaist Buddhism with respect to China?
A) The Chinese have allowed many Buddhist monasteries to open, and their activities are no
longer limited.
B) The Chinese have not allowed Buddhist monasteries to open, and the activities of the monks
are strictly limited.
C) The Chinese have allowed many Buddhist monasteries to open, but their activities remain
limited.
D) The Chinese have not allowed Buddhist monasteries to open, but otherwise, the activities of
the monks are not limited.
E) The Lamaist Buddhists are at a standoff with the Chinese.
43) Who were the eighteenth-century founders of Afghanistan?
A) warriors from China
B) members of the Pashtun ethnic group
C) mostly Jews who have since been expelled from the nation
D) Quisling leaders who were installed by the British government
E) Turkic peoples
44) Why did ethnic Kazakhs from Mongolia migrate back to Mongolia after initially leaving in
1991?
A) discrimination for not speaking Russian
B) not enough subsidies from oil and mineral revenues
C) civil war
D) food shortages
E) there was no more work