Central Asia is the core region of the
Asian continent and stretches from the
Caspian Sea in the west to
China in the east and from
Afghanistan in the south to
Russia in the north. It is also sometimes referred to as
Middle Asia, and, colloquially, "the
'stans" (as the six countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the
Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of") and is within the scope of the wider
Eurasian continent.