[combat_boots]

You mean the Tatars (Tamerlane), Azerbaijan, the various ‘stans’ on the outskits of Russian borders, etc? Uzbek, Kazakh, Turkmen...

http://www.euroheritage.net/tatarcrimeahistory.shtml

http://www.azerb.com/az-hist.html

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/merv.htm

[muawiyah]

Kazan ~ one of the more prosperous parts of Russia these days was just another Islamic backwater a mere 350 years ago.

Then it was cleared of its people.

Unlike the Chechnyans, they didn't come back!