Place:Pontic–Caspian steppe

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Short description: One of the Eurasian steppes

Pontic–Caspian steppe
The steppe in Azov-Syvash National Nature Park, Ukraine, with reintroduced horses.
The steppe extends roughly from the Danube to the Ural River. This map shows the region known as the Pontic Steppe, which is the biggest portion of the whole Pontic–Caspian Steppe.
Ecology
RealmPalearctic
BiomeTemperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Borders
Geography
Area994,000 km2 (384,000 sq mi)
Countries
Streltsovskaya Steppe, a preserved area in Milove Raion in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. The steppe is often dominated by plumes of Stipa in early summer.
Tulipa suaveolens, one of the most typical spring flowers of the Pontic–Caspian steppe

The Pontic–Caspian Steppe is a steppe extending across Eastern Europe to Central Asia, formed by the Caspian and Pontic steppes. It stretches from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea, where it ends at the Ural-Caspian narrowing, which joins it with the Kazakh Steppe in Central Asia, making it a part of the larger Eurasian Steppe. Geopolitically, the Pontic–Caspian Steppe extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania through Moldova, southern and eastern Ukraine, through the North Caucasus of southern Russia, and into the Lower Volga region where it straddles the border of southern Russia and western Kazakhstan. Biogeographically, it is a part of the Palearctic realm, and of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome.

The area corresponds to Cimmeria, Scythia, and Sarmatia of classical antiquity. Across several millennia, numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen used the steppe; many of them went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of Central and Eastern Europe, West Asia, and South Asia.

In biogeography, the term Ponto-Caspian region refers to the distinctive plant and animal life of these steppes, covering species that are native to the surrounding waters of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Azov Sea. Genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where horses were first domesticated.[1] The Kurgan hypothesis, the most prevalent theory in Indo-European studies, posits that the Pontic–Caspian steppe was the homeland of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language.[2][3][4][5]

Geography and ecology

The Pontic–Caspian steppe covers an area of 994,000 km2 (384,000 sq mi) of Central and Eastern Europe, that extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania, through Moldova, and southern and eastern Ukraine, through the Northern Caucasus of southern Russia, and into the Lower Volga region of western Kazakhstan, to the east of the Ural Mountains. The steppe is bounded by the East European forest steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests.

To the south, the steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the 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 steppe and the northwestern and northern shores of the Caspian. The Kazakh Steppe bounds the steppe to the east. According to the historian Alex M. Feldman, the Pontic-Caspian steppe, together with the forest-steppe and forest lands to the north, forms a historical biogeographical and political region which can be termed Pontic-Caspian Eurasia.[6]

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.

Protected areas

A significant number of protected areas of the Pontic–Caspian steppe has been under illegal Russian military occupation since the War in Donbas (2014–2022) and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. There has been much negative environmental impact of the war in eastern Ukraine (uk), and later environmental impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For instance, the Dzharylhach National Nature Park was reportedly thoroughly devastated by uncontrolled fires in November 2023 due to "Russian armed aggression" during the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast.[7]

Name Country Year[8] km²[9] IUCN Notes
Askania-Nova  Ukraine 1898 333 Ib One of the Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine.
Balta Mică a Brăilei Natural Park  Romania 2000 18 V Designated in 1978.
Black Sea Biosphere Reserve  Ukraine 1984 891 Ia
Danube Delta/Fluxes  Romania
 Ukraine 		1938
1973 		45
? 		Ia Extensions in 1998.
Dnieper–Oril Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1990 38 Ia
Luhansk Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1968 80 Ia
Provallia Steppe Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1975 6 Ia Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve.
Stanytsia-Luhanska Reserve  Ukraine 1968 5 Ia Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve.
Striltsivskyi Steppe Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1948 10 Ia Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve.
Triokhizbenskyi Steppe Reserve (uk)  Ukraine 2008 33 Ia Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve.
Opuk Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1998 16 Ia In Eastern Crimea.
Ukrainian Steppe Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1961 28 Ia Includes the Chalk Flora Nature Reserve (11.34 km²).
Yelanets Steppe Nature Reserve  Ukraine 1996 17 Ia
Azov–Syvash National Nature Park  Ukraine 1993 526 II
Bug Gard National Nature Park  Ukraine 2009 61 II On the western edge of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Charming Harbor National Nature Park  Ukraine 2009 109 II In Western Crimea.
Dzharylhach National Nature Park  Ukraine 2009 100 II
Grand Meadow National Nature Park  Ukraine 2006 168 II In the Great Meadow of Ukraine.
Holy Mountains National Nature Park  Ukraine 1997 406 II
Homilsha Woods National Nature Park  Ukraine 2004 143 II Transition zone between the East European forest steppe
ecoregion (on the north) and the Pontic–Caspian steppe
ecoregion (on the south).
Ivory Coast of Sviatoslav National Nature Park  Ukraine 2009 352 II
Kamianka Sich National Nature Park  Ukraine 2019 60 II
Kislovodsk National Park  Russia 2016 10 II Southern edge of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Lower Dniester National Nature Park  Ukraine 2008 213 II
Lower Sula National Nature Park  Ukraine 2010 186 II
Măcin Mountains National Park (ro)  Romania 2000 11 II In the Măcin Mountains.
Meotyda National Nature Park  Ukraine 2009 2072 II
Oleshky Sands National Nature Park  Ukraine 2010 80 II
Pryazovia National Nature Park  Ukraine 781 2010 II
Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park  Ukraine 2010 279 II

Prehistoric cultures

Bronze Age spread of Yamnaya steppe pastoralist ancestry into two subcontinents—Europe and South Asia—from c. 3000 to 1500 BC[10]

Innumerable tribes, cultures, nations, kingdoms, empires, etc. had origins in Pontic Caspian Steppes including:

  • Linear Pottery culture 5500–4500 BCE
  • Cucuteni-Trypillian culture 5300–2600 BCE
  • Khvalynsk culture 5000–3500 BCE
  • Sredny Stog culture 4500–3500 BCE
  • Maykop culture 3700–3000 BCE
  • Mykhailivka culture 3600—3000 BCE
  • Yamnaya/Kurgan cultures 3500–2300 BCE
  • Kura-Araxes culture 3000–2000 BCE
  • Catacomb culture 3000–2200 BCE
  • Srubna culture 1600–1200 BCE
  • Koban culture 1100–400 BCE
  • Novocherkassk culture 900–650 BCE

Historical peoples and nations

The Pontic–Caspian steppe in c. 650
Zaporozhian Cossacks fighting Tatars from the Crimean Khanate – late 19th-century painting by Józef Brandt

Innumerable tribes, cultures, nations, kingdoms, empires, etc. had origins in the Pontic Caspian Steppes including:

  • Indo-Europeans 4th millennium BCE – now
    • Cimmerians 12th–7th centuries BCE
    • Dacians and Thracians (Getae) 11th century BCE – 3rd century CE
    • Scythians 8th–4th centuries BCE
    • Sarmatians 5th century BCE – 5th century CE
    • Ostrogoths 3rd–6th centuries
    • Bulgarians 4th–21st centuries:
    • Alans 5th–11th centuries
    • Kievan Rus' 8th–13th centuries
    • Russian Empire 16th–20th centuries
    • Soviet Union 20th century
    • Ukraine, Moldova, Southern Russia, Kazakhstan 21st century
  • Turkic peoples 4th century – now
    • Göktürks 6th–8th centuries
    • Sabirs 6th–8th centuries
    • Khazars 6th–11th centuries
    • Huns and Avars 4th–8th centuries
    • Pechenegs 8th–11th centuries
    • Kipchaks and Cumans 11th–13th centuries
    • Golden Horde 13th–15th centuries
    • Eurasian Avars 6th–8th centuries
  • Bulgars, Onogurs, and Bulgarians 4th–21st centuries:[11]
  • Magyar tribes (Hungarians) 7th–9th centuries attested but probably from earlier
  • Cossacks, Kalmyks, Crimean Khanate, Volga Tatars, Nogais, and other Turkic states and tribes 15th–18th centuries
  • Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus 19th–20th centuries

References

  1. ↑ "Mystery Of Horse Domestication Solved?". https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142541.htm. 
  2. ↑ Anthony, David W. (2010). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3110-4. 
  3. ↑ Haak, Wolfgang et al. (2015). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature 522 (7555): 207–211. doi:10.1038/NATURE14317. PMID 25731166. Bibcode: 2015Natur.522..207H. 
  4. ↑ Allentoft, Morten E. et al. (2015). "Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia". Nature 522 (7555): 167–172. doi:10.1038/nature14507. PMID 26062507. Bibcode: 2015Natur.522..167A. https://open.icm.edu.pl/bitstreams/89f0c6c1-8544-40f1-a23b-db9234337e5a/download. 
  5. ↑ Mathieson, Iain; et al. (14 March 2015). "Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe". bioRxiv 10.1101/016477.
  6. ↑ Feldman, Alex M. (2022-10-31), "Case Studies of Monotheisation in Eighth- to Thirteenth-Century Pontic-Caspian Eurasia", The Monotheisation of Pontic-Caspian Eurasia, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 97–150, ISBN 978-1-4744-7810-6, https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474478106.003.0004, retrieved 2026-02-23 
  7. ↑ "The occupiers completely destroyed the Dzharylhach National Park and two wetlands" (in Ukrainian). Ekonomichna Pravda. 6 November 2023. https://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2023/11/6/706273/. 
  8. ↑ The year given her, marks the earliest establishment. Several protections has been expanded later on.
  9. ↑ Forest might not cover all of the protected area.
  10. ↑ "Steppe migrant thugs pacified by Stone Age farming women". ScienceDaily (Faculty of Science – University of Copenhagen). 4 April 2017. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170404084429.htm. 
  11. ↑ "The Proto-Turkic Urheimat and the Early Migrations of Turkic Peoples". http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html. 



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