View source for Pontic–Caspian steppe

{{dablink|"Ponto-Caspian" redirects here. See [[Oghuz languages]] for the Ponto-Caspian languages.}}
[[File:Pontic Caspian climate.png|thumb|300px|The steppe extends roughly from the [[Dniepr]] to the [[Ural River|Ural]] or [[30th meridian east|30°]] to [[55th meridian east|55° east]] longitude, and from the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Caucasus]] in the south to the [[Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests|temperate forest]] and [[taiga]] in the north, or [[45th parallel north|45°]] to [[55th parallel north|55° north]] latitude.]]

The '''Pontic–Caspian steppe''', or '''Ukrainian steppe''' is the vast [[steppe]]land stretching from the northern shores of the [[Black Sea]] (called ''Euxeinos Pontos'' [Εὔξεινος Πόντος] in antiquity) as far east as the [[Caspian Sea]], from [[Moldova]] and western [[Ukraine]] across the [[Southern Federal District]] and the [[Volga Federal District]] of [[Russia]] to western [[Kazakhstan]], forming part of the larger [[Eurasian steppe]], adjacent to the [[Kazakh steppe]] to the east. It is a part of the [[Palearctic ecozone|Palearctic]] temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands [[ecoregion]] of the [[temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]] [[biome]].

The area corresponds to [[Cimmerians|Cimmeria]], [[Scythia]], and [[Sarmatia]] of [[classical antiquity]]. Across several millennia the steppe was used by numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen, many of which went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of [[Europe]] and in western and southern Asia.

The term '''Ponto-Caspian region''' is used in [[biogeography]] for plants and animals of these steppes, and animals from the Black, Caspian, and [[Sea of Azov|Azov]] seas. Genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where [[Domestication of the horse|horses were first domesticated]].<ref>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142541.htm</ref>

According to the dominant [[Kurgan hypothesis]] in [[Indo-European studies]], the Pontic–Caspian steppe was the homeland of the speakers of the [[Proto-Indo-European language]], and these same speakers were the original domesticators of the horse.<ref>{{cite book| title=[[The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World]]| author=David W. Anthony| ISBN=9781400831104| publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref>

==Geography and ecology==

The Pontic steppe covers an area of {{convert|994000|km2}}, extending from eastern [[Romania]] across southern [[Moldova]], [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]] and northwestern [[Kazakhstan]] to the [[Ural Mountains]]. The Pontic steppe is bounded by the East European [[Forest steppe|forest-steppe]] to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and [[temperate broadleaf and mixed forests]].

To the south, the Pontic steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the [[Crimean Mountains|Crimean]] and western Caucasus mountains' border with the sea, where the [[Crimean Submediterranean forest complex]] defines the southern edge of the steppes. The steppe extends to the western shore of the Caspian Sea in the [[Dagestan]] region of Russia, but the drier [[Caspian lowland desert]] lies between the Pontic steppe and the northwestern and northern shores of the Caspian. The [[Kazakh Steppe]] bounds the Pontic steppe on the southeast.

The Ponto-Caspian seas are the remains of the [[Turgai Sea]], an extension of the [[Paratethys]] which extended south and east of the Urals and covering much of today's [[West Siberian Plain]] in the [[Mesozoic]] and [[Cenozoic]].

==Prehistoric cultures==
* [[Linear Pottery culture]] 5500–4500 BC
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] 5300–2600 BC
* [[Khvalynsk culture]] 5000-3500 BC
* [[Sredny Stog culture]] 4500–3500 BC
* [[Yamna culture|Yamna]]/[[Kurgan hypothesis#Kurgan culture|Kurgan culture]] 3500–2300 BC
* [[Catacomb culture]] 3000–2200 BC
* [[Srubna culture]] 1600–1200 BC
* [[Novocherkassk culture]] 900–650 BC

==Historical peoples and nations==
* [[Cimmerians]] 12th–7th centuries BC
* [[Scythians]] 8th–4th centuries BC
* [[Sarmatians]] 5th century BC – 5th century AD
* [[Ostrogoths]] 3rd–6th centuries
* [[Huns]] and [[Eurasian Avars|Avars]] 4th–8th centuries
* [[Bulgars]] ([[Onogurs]]) 4th–7th century<ref>http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html</ref>
* [[Alans]] 5th–11th centuries
* [[Pannonian Avars|Eurasian Avars]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Göktürks]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Sabirs]] 6th–8th centuries
* [[Khazars]] 6th–11th centuries
* [[Pechenegs]] 8th–11th centuries
* [[Kipchaks]] and [[Cumans]] 11th–13th centuries
* [[Mongol]] [[Golden Horde]] 13th–15th centuries
* [[Cossacks]], [[Kalmyks]], [[Crimean Khanate]], [[Volga Tatars]], [[Nogais]] and other [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] states and tribes 15th–18th centuries
* [[Pontic Greeks]] and [[Caucasus Greeks]] 15th–19th centuries
* [[Russian Empire]] 18th–20th centuries
* [[Soviet Union]] 20th century
* [[Moldova]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Russian Federation]], [[Ukraine]] 20th–21st centuries

==See also==
* [[Eurasian Steppe]]
* [[Black Sea-Caspian Steppe]]
* [[Kurgan hypothesis]]
* [[Ukrainian stone stela]]
* [[Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
* [[Late Glacial Maximum]]
* [[Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA)]]
* [[Haplogroup R1b1 (Y-DNA)]]
* [[Tarim mummies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Eurasian Steppe|<br>Eurasian Steppe}}
* {{WWF ecoregion|name=Pontic steppe|id=pa0814}}
* [https://maps.google.com/?t=h&om=0&ll=49.382373,41.44043&spn=11.07443,29.311523 Google maps: Pontic-Caspian steppe]

{{Paleartic temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands}}

{{coord missing|Russia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontic-Caspian steppe}}
[[Category:Eurasian Steppe]]
[[Category:Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Asia]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Europe]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Asia]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Europe]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Russia]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Moldova]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Romania]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Russia]]
[[Category:Grasslands of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Central Asia]]
[[Category:Flora of Central Asia|*]]
[[Category:Flora of Eastern Europe|*]]
[[Category:Geography of Southern Russia]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]
[[Category:Scythia]]
[[Category:Palearctic ecoregions]]