{{Short description|One of the Eurasian steppes}} {{coord missing|Russia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox ecoregion |name = Pontic–Caspian steppe |map = Ecoregion PA0814.svg |map_caption = 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. |image = Обитатели Азово-Сивашского заповедника на Бирючем острове.jpg |image_caption = The steppe in Azov-Syvash National Nature Park, Ukraine, with reintroduced horses. |biogeographic_realm = Palearctic |biome = Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands |border1 = Caspian lowland desert |border2 = Caucasus mixed forests |border3 = Central European mixed forests |border4 = Crimean Submediterranean forest complex |border5 = East European forest steppe |border6 = Kazakh semi-desert |border7 = Kazakh steppe |country1 = Bulgaria |country2 = Kazakhstan |country3 = Moldova |country4 = Romania |country5 = Russia |country6 = Ukraine |area = 994000 }} [[File:Філія ЛПЗ НАНУ "Стрільцівський степ" Stipa tirsa (ЧКУ).jpg|thumb|Streltsovskaya Steppe, a preserved area in Milove Raion in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. The steppe is often dominated by plumes of ''Stipa'' in early summer.]] [[File:Цветение тюльпанов.jpg|thumb|''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.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142541.htm|title= Mystery Of Horse Domestication Solved?|website= sciencedaily.com|access-date= 3 April 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book| title= The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World| first= David W. |last=Anthony| isbn= 978-1-4008-3110-4| publisher= Princeton University Press| title-link= The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World| date= 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |display-authors=1 |last1= Haak |first1= Wolfgang |last2= Lazaridis |first2= Iosif |last3= Patterson |first3= Nick |last4= Rohland |first4= Nadin |last5= Mallick |first5= Swapan |last6= Llamas |first6= Bastien |last7= Brandt |first7= Guido |last8= Nordenfelt |first8= Susanne |last9= Harney |first9= Eadaoin |last10= Stewardson |first10= Kristin |last11= Fu |first11= Qiaomei |last12= Mittnik |first12= Alissa |last13= Bánffy |first13= Eszter |last14= Economou |first14= Christos |last15= Francken |first15= Michael |last16= Friederich |first16= Susanne |last17= Pena |first17= Rafael Garrido |last18= Hallgren |first18= Fredrik |last19= Khartanovich |first19= Valery |last20= Khokhlov |first20= Aleksandr |last21= Kunst |first21= Michael |last22= Kuznetsov |first22= Pavel |last23= Meller |first23= Harald |last24= Mochalov |first24= Oleg |last25= Moiseyev |first25= Vayacheslav |last26= Nicklisch |first26= Nicole |last27= Pichler |first27= Sandra L. |last28= Risch |first28= Roberto |last29= Rojo Guerra |first29= Manuel A. |last30= Roth |first30= Christina |title= Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal= Nature |date= 2015 |volume= 522 |issue= 7555 |pages= 207–211 |biorxiv= 10.1101/013433 |arxiv= 1502.02783 |doi= 10.1038/NATURE14317|pmid= 25731166|pmc= 5048219|bibcode= 2015Natur.522..207H}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi= 10.1038/nature14507| pmid= 26062507| title= Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia| journal= Nature| volume= 522| issue= 7555| pages= 167–172| year= 2015 |display-authors=1 | last1= Allentoft| first1= Morten E.| last2= Sikora| first2= Martin| last3= Sjögren| first3= Karl-Göran| last4= Rasmussen| first4= Simon| last5= Rasmussen| first5= Morten| last6= Stenderup| first6= Jesper| last7= Damgaard| first7= Peter B.| last8= Schroeder| first8= Hannes| last9= Ahlström| first9= Torbjörn| last10= Vinner| first10= Lasse| last11= Malaspinas| first11= Anna-Sapfo| last12= Margaryan| first12= Ashot| last13= Higham| first13= Tom| last14= Chivall| first14= David| last15= Lynnerup| first15= Niels| last16= Harvig| first16= Lise| last17= Baron| first17= Justyna| last18= Casa| first18= Philippe Della| last19= Dąbrowski| first19= Paweł| last20= Duffy| first20= Paul R.| last21= Ebel| first21= Alexander V.| last22= Epimakhov| first22= Andrey| last23= Frei| first23= Karin| last24= Furmanek| first24= Mirosław| last25= Gralak| first25= Tomasz| last26= Gromov| first26= Andrey| last27= Gronkiewicz| first27= Stanisław| last28= Grupe| first28= Gisela| last29= Hajdu| first29= Tamás| last30= Jarysz| first30= Radosław| bibcode= 2015Natur.522..167A| s2cid= 4399103| url= https://open.icm.edu.pl/bitstreams/89f0c6c1-8544-40f1-a23b-db9234337e5a/download| hdl= 11104/0248164| hdl-access= free}}</ref><ref>{{cite bioRxiv | title= Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe |display-authors=1 | first1= Iain| last1= Mathieson| first2= Iosif| last2= Lazaridis| first3= Nadin| last3= Rohland| first4= Swapan| last4= Mallick| first5= Bastien| last5= Llamas| first6= Joseph| last6= Pickrell| first7= Harald| last7= Meller| first8= Manuel A. Rojo| last8= Guerra| first9= Johannes| last9= Krause| first10= David| last10= Anthony| first11= Dorcas| last11= Brown| first12= Carles Lalueza| last12= Fox| first13= Alan| last13= Cooper| first14= Kurt W.| last14= Alt| first15= Wolfgang| last15= Haak| first16= Nick| last16= Patterson| first17= David| last17= Reich| date= 14 March 2015 |biorxiv = 10.1101/016477}}</ref>
==Geography and ecology== {{refimprove section|date=April 2026}} The Pontic–Caspian steppe covers an area of {{convert|994,000|sqkm|abbr=on}} 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.<ref>{{Citation |last=Feldman |first=Alex M. |chapter=Case Studies of Monotheisation in Eighth- to Thirteenth-Century Pontic-Caspian Eurasia |date=2022-10-31 |title=The Monotheisation of Pontic-Caspian Eurasia |pages=97–150 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474478106.003.0004 |access-date=2026-02-23 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-7810-6}}</ref>
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 {{ill|environmental impact of the war in eastern Ukraine|uk|Екологічні наслідки війни на сході України}}, 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.<ref name="706273Dzharylhach">{{cite web |url=https://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2023/11/6/706273/|title=The occupiers completely destroyed the Dzharylhach National Park and two wetlands|date=6 November 2023|access-date=6 November 2023|publisher=Ekonomichna Pravda|language=Ukrainian}}</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Name ! Country ! Year<ref>The year given her, marks the earliest establishment. Several protections has been expanded later on.</ref> ! km²<ref>Forest might not cover all of the protected area.</ref> ! IUCN ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | Askania-Nova | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1898 | 333 | Ib | One of the Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine. |- | Balta Mică a Brăilei Natural Park | {{flag|Romania}} | 2000 | 18 | V | Designated in 1978. |- | Black Sea Biosphere Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1984 | 891 | Ia | |- | Danube Delta/Fluxes | {{flag|Romania}}<br />{{flag|Ukraine}} | 1938<br />1973 | 45<br/>? | Ia | Extensions in 1998. |- | Dnieper–Oril Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1990 | 38 | Ia | |- | Luhansk Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1968 | 80 | Ia | |- | Provallia Steppe Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1975 | 6 | Ia | Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve. |- | Stanytsia-Luhanska Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1968 | 5 | Ia | Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve. |- | Striltsivskyi Steppe Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1948 | 10 | Ia | Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve. |- | {{ill|Triokhizbenskyi Steppe Reserve|uk|Трьохізбенський степ}} | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2008 | 33 | Ia | Part of Luhansk Nature Reserve. |- | Opuk Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1998 | 16 | Ia | In Eastern Crimea. |- | Ukrainian Steppe Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1961 | 28 | Ia | Includes the Chalk Flora Nature Reserve (11.34 km²). |- | Yelanets Steppe Nature Reserve | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1996 | 17 | Ia | |- | Azov–Syvash National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1993 | 526 | II | |- | Bug Gard National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2009 | 61 | II | On the western edge of the Pontic–Caspian steppe. |- | Charming Harbor National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2009 | 109 | II | In Western Crimea. |- | Dzharylhach National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2009 | 100 | II | |- | Grand Meadow National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2006 | 168 | II | In the Great Meadow of Ukraine. |- | Holy Mountains National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 1997 | 406 | II | |- | Homilsha Woods National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2004 | 143 | II | Transition zone between the East European forest steppe<br/>ecoregion (on the north) and the Pontic–Caspian steppe<br/>ecoregion (on the south). |- | Ivory Coast of Sviatoslav National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2009 | 352 | II | |- | Kamianka Sich National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2019 | 60 | II | |- | Kislovodsk National Park | {{flag|Russia}} | 2016 | 10 | II | Southern edge of the Pontic–Caspian steppe. |- | Lower Dniester National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2008 | 213 | II | |- | Lower Sula National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2010 | 186 | II | |- | {{ill|Măcin Mountains National Park|ro|Parcul Național Munții Măcinului}} | {{flag|Romania}} | 2000 | 11 | II | In the Măcin Mountains. |- | Meotyda National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2009 | 2072 | II | |- | Oleshky Sands National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2010 | 80 | II | |- | Pryazovia National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 781 | 2010 | II | |- | Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park | {{flag|Ukraine}} | 2010 | 279 | II | |- |}
==Prehistoric cultures== [[File:Yamnaya Steppe Pastoralists.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bronze Age spread of Yamnaya steppe pastoralist ancestry into two subcontinents—Europe and South Asia—from c. 3000 to 1500 BC<ref>{{cite news |title=Steppe migrant thugs pacified by Stone Age farming women |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170404084429.htm |work=ScienceDaily |publisher=Faculty of Science – University of Copenhagen |date=4 April 2017}}</ref>]] 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== {{refimprove section|date=May 2026}} thumb|upright=1.2|The Pontic–Caspian steppe in {{Circa|650}} [[File:Józef Brandt - Potyczka Kozaków z Tatarami.jpg|thumb|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:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html |title=The Proto-Turkic Urheimat and the Early Migrations of Turkic Peoples |access-date=2013-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224111409/http://turkic-languages.scienceontheweb.net/Proto_Turkic_Urheimat.html |archive-date=2013-12-24 }}</ref> ** Great Bulgaria 7th century ** First Bulgarian Empire 7th–11th centuries ** Second Bulgarian Empire 12th–15th centuries *** Principality of Karvuna * 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== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Pontic 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]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontic-Caspian steppe}} Category:North Caucasus Category:Central Asia Category:Ecoregions of Asia Category:Ecoregions of Bulgaria Category:Ecoregions of Europe Category:Ecoregions of Kazakhstan Category:Ecoregions of Moldova Category:Ecoregions of Romania Category:Ecoregions of Russia Category:Ecoregions of Ukraine Category:Eurasian Steppe * * Category:Geography of Southern Russia Category:Grasslands of Asia Category:Grasslands of Europe Category:Grasslands of Moldova Category:Grasslands of Romania Category:Grasslands of Russia Category:Grasslands of Ukraine Category:Iranian nomads Category:Natural history of Central Asia Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia Category:Palearctic ecoregions Category:Scythia Category:Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands