History Main / Countrystan

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast ethnically and linguistically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of [[UsefulNotes/UnionOfSovietSocialistRepublics the SovietUnion]], and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast ethnically and linguistically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast culturally and ethnolinguistically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast ethnically and linguistically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

** UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, being the place where the suffix came from in the first place, is rife with this. From the provinces' names alone, there are Kurdistan, Lorestan, Khuzestan, and Sistan and Baluchestan. In fact, the Persian word for "province" is ''ostan'', which is simply "stan" with a prefix added.

When a story is set in a FictionalCountry, you have to come up with a foreign-sounding name. The easy way is to take a MeaningfulName, a random word, or a stereotypically Central Asian-sounding name and slap a "-stan" at the end. Expect to see a primarily Islamic [[DirtyCommunists Dirty Commie]]-style regime with a cool climate, possibly complete with a "WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell" attitude, led by a dictator who is [[PermanentElectedOfficial kept in office]] via a rigged election. If the dictator dies, they may be [[{{Nepotism}} succeeded by a living relative]]. The official language is usually Russian or has a Cyrillic or [[TheBackwardsR faux-Cyrillic]] script. It may be a PuppetState of Russia or a Western country.

* Turzemstan in the Capaldi era of ''Series/DoctorWho''.

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast culturally and ethnically (especially to Mongolia) is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region, with much of the region being part of many Persian empires and dynasties even afterwards. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

For a seemingly insignificant region, Central Asia has had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

Central Asia had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

Central Asia had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for the Silk Road. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

Central Asia had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for the Silk Road. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast culturally and ethnically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population of the region. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

Central Asia had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for the Silk Road. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast culturally and ethnically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, and Central Asia was primarily inhabited by Iranian peoples before the Turkic peoples arrived from East Asia and became the dominant population. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

Central Asia had historical significance, being the homelands of many HordesFromTheEast, yet also a melting pot for the Silk Road. Why we now associate Central Asia with {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}} even though they are more closely related to UsefulNotes/TheFarEast culturally and ethnically is because of the Russian and Iranian influence there; in particular, most of the RealLife Countrystans were formerly part of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion. Thus InterchangeableAsianCultures takes effect and the -stan suffix is also sometimes applied to Middle Eastern and even Eastern European countries in fiction, even though there are few such places in RealLife (UsefulNotes/{{Kurdistan}} being the only Middle Eastern exception, and some republics of Russia for Eastern Europe).

* There are seven countries with this name in RealLife: Afghanistan, UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kyrgyzstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Tajikistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Uzbekistan}}. The latter five are self-explanatory; Afghanistan means "land of the Afghans", Afghan being the historical name for ethnic Pashtuns, who form a plurality of the country's population; while Pakistan is an [[FunWithAcronyms acronym]] of "Punjab, Afghania[[note]]Now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly the North Western Frontier[[/note]], Sindh, Balochistan", the names of the regions making up the country (it also coincides with the Persian word for "land of the pure"). The Central Asian ex-Soviet countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have on occasion been collectively referred to as "The Stans".

The suffix ''-stan'' means "place of" or "country" in Persian, and is analogous to ''[[NamedworldAndNamedland -land]]'' in English and other Germanic languages, so for example "UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}}" literally means "land of the Afghans". It appears in various RealLife place names in Central and South Asia.

* There are seven countries with this name in RealLife: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Central Asian Ex-Soviet countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have on occasion been collectively referred to as "The Stans".
* In the Armenian language, UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} is named "Hayastan".
* Russia has the Republics of Bashkortostan, Dagestan and Tatarstan.

* Kurdistan is a vaguely delineated region that encompasses parts of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. While not an officially recognized entity, the area is primarily populated by people of Kurdish descent; use of Kurdish language and a sense of Kurdish cultural identification is prevalent.
* Hindustan ("land of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River Sindhu]]") is the Persian name for India. The Hindi and Urdu languages are thus collectively known as Hindustani.
* Despite its association with Central Asia and Islamic countries, there are some languages where -stan refers to more non-Islamic or European countries than Islamic or Central Asian ones. For instance, Turkish alone has Yunanistan (Greece), Bulgaristan (Bulgaria), Hirvatistan (Croatia), Macaristan (Hungary), Gurcistan (Georgia), Ermenistan (Armenia), and Hindistan (India).

* Kurdistan is a vaguely delineated region that encompasses parts of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. While not an officially recognized entity, the area is primarily populated by people of Kurdish descent; use of Kurdish language and a sense of Kurdish cultural identification is prevalent.

* In the Armenian language, UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} is named "Hayastan".
* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantustan Bantustans]] were territories in [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid-era]] South Africa (including what is now Namibia) reserved for the Black majority. They were replaced in 1994 by the current provinces.

* Despite its association with Central Asia and Islamic countries, there are some languages where -stan refers to non-Islamic or European countries than Islamic or Central Asian ones. For instance, Turkish alone has Yunanistan (Greece), Bulgaristan (Bulgaria), Hirvatistan (Croatia), Macaristan (Hungary), Gurcistan (Georgia), Ermenistan (Armenia), and Hindistan (India).
* Russia has the Republics of Bashkortostan, Dagestan and Tatarstan.

* Rick Veitch's scabrous War On Terror satire [=Army@Love=] is set in the fictional country of Afbagistan.

* A mean-spirited meme about North American politics does this. The most common version of this joke is pro-liberal, it labels all the USA states that voted Democrat ("blue states") along with Canada the United States of Canada, and the states that voted Republican ("red states") Dumbfuckistan. The more uncommon pro-conservative version labels the red states (and occasionally the more conservative Canadian territories) the United States of America and the blue states and Canada as NAMBLAstan.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' has Aldastan, a union between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzistan. It's located next to Kazakhstan.

* ''Anime/FullMetalPanic''
** Helmajistan is a South Asian country similar to Afghanistan.
** In the [[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic manga]], Mithril is deployed to Manistan to take out Manistani guerrillas holding civilians hostage.