From the stunning ancient cities of the Old Silk Road, to the ornate metro system of Almaty, social media allows people who live in or pass through the ‘Stans’ to share glimpses of their cities with the world

Insta-stans: the cities of post-Soviet Central Asia captured on Instagram

Insta-stans: the cities of post-Soviet Central Asia captured on Instagram

The internet came to Central Asia in the late 1990s. Decades on, some countries have the lowest levels of internet penetration in the world due to factors including geographical isolation, barriers to infrastructure and political restrictions.



According to the World Bank’s 2015 statistics (the most recent available), Kazakhstan is the most-connected of any country in the region, with nearly three-quarters (73%) of the population online – compared to 43% in Uzbekistan, 30% in Kyrgyzstan, and 20% in Tajikistan. In Turkmenistan, just 15% of the 5.6 million population use the internet.

But across Central Asia the number of internet users has grown as smartphones and data have become cheaper and more accessible. Social media use is also on the rise, particularly since Facebook introduced capacity for local languages.

To those outside the Stans, social media offers a glimpse into these once secret cities, while those who live in them have a means of sharing their homes with the world.

Q&A Secret Stans: where are the Stans? Show Hide Guardian Cities is exploring in depth the oft-ignored – and exceedingly difficult to report from – cities of the five Central Asian “Stans”: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, a quarter of a century after they became independent from the former Soviet Union. From the bizarre architecture of the “trophy cities” to the joys and struggles of everyday urban life in some very unequal societies, our goal is to engage with the people who actually live in the Stans cities by publishing some of our reporting in the languages spoken there: not just Russian, often considered the language of the elite, but Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik. You can read the rest of the Secret Stans series here.



Last year photographer Hassan Kurbanbaev documented Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan where he was born and still lives, in a project that was widely featured by arts and culture magazines on Instagram.

“It seems to me, for different reasons, Tashkent is not displayed well in the broadest sense of contemporary documentary, and lately I have depressing feeling about that,” he says of the motivation for his tashkent.DOC series. “I decided just to go out and start to document my city.”

Kurbanbaev told Guardian Cities that social media use was becoming increasingly widespread in Tashkent. (A spokeswoman for Instagram said it was available in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajkistan, though there were sometimes “temporary disruptions”, and unavailable in Turkmenistan.)

“Some politics websites that cover our region are blocked here – but they can’t block social media and Instagram,” he says. “Though the mobile internet is quite expensive, in my opinion, Instagram has a huge influence on young people, and the popularity is rising very fast.”

Guardian Cities brings together the best in urban photography on Instagram at @guardiancities. This week we are focusing on the cities of the Stans. Share your shots with us on Instagram with the hashtag #SecretStans

Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, rebuilt since the 1966 earthquake

#bozori #mirobod #tashkent #travel A post shared by Anton Dogoev (@ghostinshell07) on Oct 9, 2017 at 7:51am PDT

Mary, an oasis city in Turkmenistan and once an ancient metropolis

#maryturkmenistan A post shared by Mary Turkmenistan (@mary.official.tm) on Apr 1, 2017 at 5:38pm PDT

#marushahujahan A post shared by Mary Turkmenistan (@mary.official.tm) on Apr 24, 2017 at 6:49pm PDT

Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital and largest city

Ashgabat, the showpiece capital of Turkmenistan

A post shared by ASHGABAT (@ashgabat_citi) on Jan 15, 2015 at 5:36pm PST

This year I visited Turkmenistan 3 times, each an eye opener. This is the 'Wedding Palace' in Ashgabat. The city feels like the love child of Las Vegas & Bagdad. A post shared by Tuck (@elliottlc) on Sep 29, 2017 at 4:40am PDT

Oskemen, Kazakhstan – the site of the UN’s newest uranium bank

Samarkand in Uzbekistan, one of the oldest cities in Central Asia

Samarqand A post shared by Maja Zov (@maya___plisetskaya) on Oct 7, 2017 at 10:11am PDT

A post shared by Андрей Неволин (@andrey_nevo) on Oct 5, 2017 at 9:28am PDT

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan and a planned city





Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a former trading hub on the Great Silk Road

Getting close now. September 5th 2017: Farewell To All. https://thelongestway.com/2017/09/05/farewell-to-all/ #thelongestway A post shared by Christoph Rehage (@christophrehage) on Sep 7, 2017 at 10:45pm PDT

Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, named for its old Monday market

Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and its largest city



Khiva, Uzbekistan, known for the Islamic architecture of its historic centre

Osh, the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, and its cultural capital

Do you live in one of the Stans cities, or have you spent time there? We’re eager to hear your thoughts and experiences. Follow us on Facebook and share stories and pictures using #SecretStans on Twitter and Instagram