What is "-stan"

The suffix -stan ( -) is Persian for "place of" or "country". It appears in the names of many regions, especially in Central and South Asia, but also in the Caucasus and Russia; areas where significant amounts of Persian culture were spread or adopted. The suffix is also used more generally, as in Persian, and Urdu rigestân "place of sand, desert", Pakistan "land of the pure", Hindustan "land of the Indus river", golestan "place of flowers, garden", and in Bengali koborstan "graveyard/cemetery" etc.