Afghanistan, Rugged mountains, ancient Silk Road history, and a land that has resisted every empire that tried to hold it, Kazakhstan, The world's largest landlocked country, vast steppe, and the launchpad the Soviet Union used to send the first human into space, Uzbekistan, The turquoise domes of Samarkand, the ancient Silk Road, and the empire of Tamerlane, Turkmenistan, One of the world's most secretive countries, and home to the Darvaza crater, a gas-fueled hole in the desert that has been burning for decades, Tajikistan, Sky-high mountain passes, glacier valleys, and the ancient Pamir plateau known as the Roof of the World, Kyrgyzstan, Nomadic yurt culture, crystal mountain lakes, and sweeping valleys in the Tian Shan range, Turkey, One foot in Europe, one in Asia, with Istanbul's domes and minarets marking the former heart of two great empires, Iran, Ancient Persia, intricate mosque tilework, the poetry of Rumi, and a proud civilization long predating Islam, Saudi Arabia, The birthplace of Islam, guardian of Mecca and Medina, and the country whose oil reshaped the modern world, UAE, Desert turned into a global showpiece, with Dubai's record-breaking towers and Abu Dhabi's boundless wealth, Iraq, Ancient Mesopotamia, where the world's first cities, first writing, and first laws were born between the Tigris and Euphrates, Syria, Damascus, one of the oldest cities on Earth, and a country defined in recent memory by the devastation of civil war, Jordan, The ancient rose-red city of Petra carved into sandstone cliffs, and the Dead Sea where nothing sinks, Lebanon, Tiny but cosmopolitan, famous for its food, its resilience, its cedar tree, and its beautifully complicated Beirut, Israel, A small country at the center of the world's oldest religious tensions, holy ground to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, Yemen, Ancient frankincense trade routes and mudbrick skyscrapers, now home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, Oman, Dramatic desert landscapes, frankincense markets, fjord-like coastlines, and a reputation for calm in a turbulent region, Kuwait, A small, oil-rich Gulf state that the whole world watched when Iraq invaded it in 1990, Qatar, A tiny peninsula with enormous gas wealth, the home of Al Jazeera, and the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Bahrain, A small island kingdom in the Gulf, the first Arab state to strike oil, and a financial hub between East and West, Cyprus, A Mediterranean island split in two since 1974, divided between Greek and Turkish communities by a UN buffer zone, Armenia, One of the world's first Christian nations, shaped by its ancient church, a devastating 20th-century genocide, and Mount Ararat on the horizon, Azerbaijan, The land of eternal flames and ancient fire worship, now an oil-exporting state with a gleaming futuristic capital in Baku, Georgia, Ancient wine culture going back 8,000 years, a unique alphabet found nowhere else, and mountains that make it one of the Caucasus's most beautiful countries.

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