126. All the “stans” in the World

Ever wondered exactly how many “-stans” there are in the world? These are the countries or regions whose names end with the suffix -stan. In Persian, stan means “place” or “land.” For example, Uzbekistan means “land of the Uzbeks,” and Afghanistan means “land of the Afghans.” Its equivalent in English is -land, as in England or Scotland.

It is difficult to give a definite number of “-stans” in the world because the names of some regions have changed and are now part of history. Others are historical regions that are no longer in use or relevant. The count also depends on the language you speak. For instance, if you are a Turkish speaker, you might add more than ten additional “-stans” to the list. Most of these are not independent sovereign states but administrative regions within different countries. Almost all of them are located in Asia and in the northern hemisphere. Out of them, eight are independent countries. The list is given below.

	World	Stans	%
Population	7,594,000,000	319,563,745	4.21
Area	148,940,000	5,537,543	3.72

A map of all the stans in the world. 

As we have noted above Pakistan is the most populous of all the countries with the suffix, -stan. It has nine sub -stans, details of which is given below:

The above map shows the location of stans in Pakistan. 

Uzbekistan is the second biggest country in this category and it has one large and one small administrative unit with this suffix and three towns. 

Being the home of the Persian language, no wonder Iran has the largest number of “stans” with many provinces, historical regions, districts, and towns. 

Afghanistan also has regions with the suffix of “stan”. One of them is a province and the second, Zabulistan, is a historic region, roughly encompassing the provinces of Zabul and Ghazni. 

Before 1991, most of the above-mentioned “stans” were part of the USSR. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, these states became independent. However, the successor state, Russia, has three administrative areas that have the suffix “stans.”  

Iraq has a large Kurdish population, inhabiting north-eastern regions of Iraq. After the uprising in 1991 Kurds were able to establish a semi-independent state for the first time in the recent history of Kurds. Since then it has survived in various degrees of authority and borders. Kurds claim many areas outside their control but they still have to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government. 

China’s Xinjiang autonomous region was eastern part of Turkestan, a vast area inhabited by Turks in central Asia. It is often referred to as Chinese Turkestan or East Turkestan. But China does not recognize any such name. 

Now the last four “stans” in the list. Hindustan is the historic name of India and is still widely used in and outside India, especially among Urdu, Persian, and Turkish-speaking peoples. One of its administrative units is also called Rajasthan. The suffix “isthan” does not fully rhyme with “stan” but has the same meaning. And Hindi, being a language of the Indo-Aryan group of languages, as Persian is, leaves little doubt that “isthan” has the same origin and meaning.

Two more “stans” in India were just an idea and were proposed at the time of independence in 1947. One of them was Usmanistan, proposed as an independent state of Hyderabad. Hyderabad actually tried to maintain an independent status but failed. Similarly, some Sikhs thought of creating an independent country for Sikhs, on the lines of Pakistan for the Muslims. But the idea did not gain widespread support. However, in the 1980s, some groups of Sikhs launched a bloody insurgency, which was suppressed with considerable difficulty and bloodshed. By the 1990s, the movement had lost its momentum and support.

South African government under the policy of Apartheid, designated some territories for the black peoples, to keep them segregated from the rest of the country. These territories, called homelands, were also referred to as Bantustan. 

The map given above, shows the homelands of black peoples, referred to as Bantustan. 

(Map from Wikipedia)

In Armenia and Turkey I found  5 more stans:

In this post, I have listed 8 countries and 58 administrative or historic areas and almost a dozen more cities and towns in the map given below at the end. But if you count the names of the countries as pronounced in some languages you can discover a dozen more stans: (I have taken the list from Wikipedia)

So I managed to find almost 90 stans. More imaginary “stans” can still be discovered or contrived, but that will take us to the borders of Absurdistan (yes, that too is a stan). So let us consider this sufficient for our study. Anyway, you are welcome to inform me about a “stan” you can find on a map and not just in your imagination.

Tariq Amir

April 29, 2020.

Doha – Qatar.