The most recent changes in the boundaries of the Central Asian region appeared during the early 1990's, when the Soviet Union was falling apart and many countries became independent.
In Central Asia, it was five countries that managed to gain independence, the so called ''Stans'', Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Kazakhstan being the country with the biggest territory of them, but also with the territory that brings it huge advantage, because all of the other countries have to pass through it in order to be able to trade with Russia, which is still a major player in the region, and the countries here are heavily dependent on the trade with it.
There has been some territorial disputes in this region, mainly between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and it is alarming the Uzbekistan is heavily militarizing itself in the past decades, but hopefully a military conflict will not arose.
