ASIA, Central, a designation loosely ap plied to that enormous region of Asiatic ter ritory lying between the Altai Mountains and the Persian Gulf, and includes part of Siberia, all Turkestan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and part of Persia. Humboldt's definition of cen tral Asia gave that name to the khanates of Bokhara and Tartary. In Russian official lan guage, central Asia is an administrative por tion of the empire lying to the southwest of Siberia and comprises with part of what used to be called Siberia the recent Russian annex ations in Turkestan. The total area is given at 1,366,000 square miles and the population at 11,135,500. The eastern portion belongs to China; the western or Russian portion is di vided into the governments of Akmolinsk, Semipalatinsk, Turgai, Uralsk, Semirechinsk, Ferghana, Samarkand Syr-Daria and the Trans-Caspian territory. For the geography, ethnography, etc., of the region see ASIA;
also TURKESTAN, KHIVA, KHOKAND, SIBERIA, RUSSIA, etc. Consult Cobbold, R. P.,