ABSTRACT
Central Asia the geographical centre of the huge Eurasian continent has not always been such a faraway place of which Europeans knew next to nothing. The lack of interest towards Central Asia in the Middle Ages, when Central Asia together with the rest of the Muslim world flourished in comparison with the Europe of Dark Ages, was mostly due to the relative ignorance that was widespread in medieval Christian Europe. The study of Central Asian games is of interest not only for the understanding of the current situation in this region but it may also illuminate certain developments in other parts of the world. The Soviet Union had inherited practically the whole Russian Empire with the exception of Finland and for a short period it also lost Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who enjoyed independence between 1918 and 1940, at which point they were reoccupied by the USSR.
