Damn why do i find Central Asia so comfy? There's something about the architecture the people their culture, the amazing blend between nomadic and settled peoples, the thousands of years of rich history that just draws me into the place.
I'm considering visiting/doing a backpacking trip through the region some day, and the sheer vastness of the place and it's many different cultures just keeps calling me.
Also general thread for discussing anything Silk Road/ Central Asia related.
It seems really neat to me too.
I wish I could say more, tho. Sorry I cannot contribute, but hey enjoy teh free bump :)
Backpacking through Western Europe alone gave me anxiety attacks because I'm a pathetic autist I can't even imagine doing Central Asia good luck OP.
places forgotten by god
never ever prosperity has been achieved there
>inb4 muh samarkand
>inb4 muh silk road trade posts
there were places much more prosperous
>In the middle of the world's richest trading hub
>Some of the richest and most powerful empires in the world ruled over there and competed viciously for its rich trade routes
>Not prosperous
Sure...Sure...
I've backpacked in eastern and western europe many times so i'm kinda used to this, i just want to try central asia for the exotic experience, meeting emote but charming little villages and maybe even travelling and getting to know some nomads as i traverse the silkroad has always been a dream of mine.
Any good books on the safavids and on modern iranic peoples?
> nomads
You're not gonna find any actual remaining nomads in Central Asia.
Collectivisation destroyed traditional nomadic way of life in favour of collective farms and creeping urbanisation put a fork on it.
And honestly -- good riddance. Settling down was long earned goal of Kazakhs, it only took a millions dead but finally it was achieved.
Nomadic life is a romantic meme you imagine it to be: it's not just "go wherever the fuck i want to go".
Traditional nomadic settlements live off livestock, so they're constantly tied to their herds. Each village has two places: winter camp and summer camp, they only move between these loosely defined areas.
I'm not romanticsizing it, i just meant as in, i wanted to experience the place and the culture to the fullest I.E the point of going backpacking in the first place, nomads or no nomads.
Also i'm pretty sure some kazakh and kyrgyz still live the traditional nomadic life, iirc there was even a documentary about a young kazakh eagle huntress and her nomadic family IIRC
I was very disappointed when the olympics committee decided to put the 2022 winter olympics in Beijing instead of Astana, especially considering Beijing has no mountains. I definitely would have gone to Kazakhstan for that.
You just know the Chinese were paying under the table for this shit, like with the world cup.
So what's some good stuff to read about the Silk Road or Central Asia? I have Empires of the Silk Road but it's kinda shit desu
Ferghana Valley: Heart of Central Asia is pretty good desu.
Bumping this thread with central asian qts
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Silk Road pre-1300 is one of the most fascinating places in human history. It has now since been relegated to a shitty backwater due to Islam and the Mongol invasions.
Ancient Khorasan is cool but the various waves of destruction that swept over it have erased almost everything from which any information could've been derived from.
This.
Manichean Steppes are best Steppes.
Peter Frankopan has a new book out titled 'The Silk Roads' that I hear is pretty good.
The lack of a nearby ocean means things should be relatively slow-paced and backwater, but at the same time straddling the crossroads of China, India, and the Middle East means there's thousands of years of human activity based around the coming and going of strange people and customs.
Islamic Khorasan is one of the high points of Central Asian history. Even the Mongol/Timurid period is pretty fascinating with a revival of architecture and flourishing cities. It's the opening of the Indian Ocean to trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific trade that caused its slide into irrelevancy.
I would say it's more about the general loss of importance of the trade routes they were making mad bucks on and later them being completely locked off due to Black Sea - Caspian region falling into irrelevancy. Currently they're in such a terrible position because of Russia having zero interest of opening the region up for the outsiders and Russian agricultural colonialism. As in, they forcibly planted cotton everywhere, thus making countries unable to sustain themselves and completely dependent.
Central Asia was one of the safest places during the 13th century till the 17th century.
Really? I heard there were a lot of conflict between the empires and nomadic tribes back then, post and pre mongol era that is.
>implying the islamic golden age wasnt 40% central asians and 40% Iranics (20% other).
I feel the same way. It's a fascinating place, never met anyone else that's interested in it though.
A strange mix of Marxism-Leninism, Islam and Mongols
It's been barely Marxist by 1970s, it quickly rolled back to the old ways.
We should get a central asia/silk road booklist going because its a pain in the arse to find decent books on the region.
Agreed, would definitely like to have more books to look into.
>I definitely would have gone to Kazakhstan for that.
Yeah - but not as many other people could though.
It's all about profit and money - which place has better access for a global economy and travellers to visit? Which economy could offer the larger bribe?
Bump
>40% central asians
So even more iranics?
Or are we going by Kazakh logic here and disregard the Sogdians, Bactrians, Scythians, etc and the Samanid Empire that was active there during the Golden Age while stating it was always Turkic and the Iranian names of ancient cities just came out of nowhere while painting slanty eyes on scientists from that era on our money?
t. Emomali Rahmon
Atleast they know how to paint eyes.
Pretty turkic qt
Pretty alanic qt
Same OP, my dream is to travel the old Silk Roads from Xi'an across the steppes and deserts all the way to Istanbul.
Some of the most fascinating history there is desu.
For anyone interested in the Silk Road, I highly recommend Susan Whitfield's Life Along the Silk Road. It's not the most in depth or exhaustively historical book or anything, but in terms of comfiness it ranks very highly. Its focus is primarily on the Tarim Basin and the wider Xinjiang area during the heyday of the Tang dynasty but that is exactly what fascinates me so if you're into that, it's a must read.
Also China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia is a pretty great read, though be prepared for a long haul.
Mori pls go
Except for Timur I guess.
The second one is an Uyghur.
Timur's building up of Samarkand is pretty hilarious. It was only done so all the foreign envoys could be impressed as fuck. Timur himself preferred living in a tent in the palace gardens.
Why are Uyghurs so beautiful? Perfect mix of euro-asian features.
Imagine eating halal kebabs with a beautiful Uyghur gf on Urumqi main streets
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more like she would be that halal kebab
T U R A N
U
R
A
N
Time to change that
Bring back Stalinabad
That was in the past, everyone is friends now
Finns are responsible for some of the worst memes.
Such a shame Khotan is owned by the chinese and Kashmir is both split and owned by three nations
they're all annoyingly nationalistic little fucks online I've noticed
almost as bad as Turks
Chicom infantry look slick I wonder if that photo was staged
Tent is a massive understatement to what people like Genghis, Timur, Batu, Kaidu, etc. would live in.
Modern Uyghur are a mix between the original Turkic Uyghurs and the Indo European Tocharians who originally inhabited the place. They are a hybrid people and culture between Indo European and Turkic and beautifully so, Xinjiang being legit one of my favorite historical regions.
I heard Samarkhand has turned to shit is this true anons? Such an important city historically and nobody has heard of it.
The historical parts at least still look beautiful as ever.
>Peter Frankopan
Please kill yourself for even suggesting this to me. The guy's your bog standard liberal academic and reading reviews of the book is basically "Wow, subjugation by the Steppe peoples was really great also Islam is the light".
That manga is seriously one of the most detailed and well drawn i've ever read, seriously, every page is a work of art.
Plus i guess it's on topic since i's about central asia and worth being discussed here.
The original white genocide.
So you haven't actually read it, but can't help shitposting about libruls
That is a picture of a mosque in Iran.
her Chinggis Khan is showing
Literally who?
Sasha Grey?
this
their invasion resulted in the rape and genocide of Indo-European peoples living throughout all of central asia and the middle east. Central Asia is now full of mixed race Elliot Rodgers thanks to them.
>Damn why do i find Central Asia so comfy
Because you have never been there.
Iran is in Central Asia.
And have you? Tell me about it desu
This angers me so much knowing that im missing out on so many non-TURKED qts
I hate those nomadic steppemonkeys so much
>Genocide
The natives weren't genocided, but integrated into the larger tribal confederations, a thing that happened all the time in the steppe, between both indo europeans and turks, they were always a heterogenous people.
The Indo europeans of that region were largely nomadic as well, plus hafu girls are total qts, central asia is the only place you may find stuff like asians with blonde hair and other stunning exotic combinations.
> Elliot Rodgers
Is this how we are calling white + asian hafus now? Lame.
Post more central asian babes
That design is really unnerving me. It's really cool and amazing but it makes me shudder a little. It looks like an alien structure in a sci-fi movie.
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Does that Kazakh volleyball qt count?
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Six feet of the best genes
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Post pure aryan qts from central asia
Can someone explain to me the Tocharian / Sogdian difference?
Ole hyvä
I don't see the beauty.
the irish must reconquest central asia
hapa girlz are 20 tiers below Tocharian goddesses
>tfw Nasarbayev is her sugar daddy
Sucks not to be a Central Asian dictator.
You need to get your eyes checked.
She's the queen of /sino/ in /int/ because of her beauty.
Sogdians were an iranic speaking people related to the bactrians
Tocharians were a completely different branch of indo european speakers, now extinct as a language, but their descendents mixed with the Uyghurs to the point that some Uyghurs are 60% indo europeans and often sport blonde or red hair and light eyes.
Does the alcove trigger your tyrophobia? It's a nice place, they have horse carriage you can pay to get around the place and the bazaar sells lots of nice stuff. I got two persian rugs here.
Sogdians were also the original builders of Samarkand.
thats the beauty of it, unlike most old buildings Persian architecture can look very new since no rustication happen to polished tiles as to what happen to stone and marble
the facade glows when you see it irl, its amazing
nice
Never realised the size of this building. Thanks for the scale.
Why do you post an Iranian mosque in a Central Asian thread?
Not true. There are still literal nomads, although it's true their numbers are greatly diminished compared to even 100 years ago.
You really could have picked a better example, m8. That girl is a dog.
You realize Iran is in Central Asia right?
Are you daft or something?
You don't even have the guts to approach her IRL tough guy
I'm married, so moot point. She is really not that pretty. Plain Jane at best. Her ears are ridiculous.
>her ears are ridiculous
>elbows too pointy
>scratches neckbeard
Bump