Coins of Turkmenistan

The region's history started with the conquest by Achaemenid Empire of ancient Persia.   During the early phase of history, the people in that region were either Zoroastrianism or Buddhism and that area was largely dominated by the Iranian tribes.  When the Arabs and the Oghuz Turks conquered this land, many were converted to Sunni Islam while the Oghuz brought the Turkist Turkmen language.  The invasion by the Russian Empire in the 19th. century, drastically transformed the political landscape of the country.  The Russian Revolution in 1917, ultimately changed Turkmenistan from an Islamic tribal  society to that of a totallitarian Leninist.   Independence came in sight in 1991 with the downfall of the Soviet Regime.