Bamiyan Buddhas (Afghanistan, ca. 500 AD, now destroyed by the Taliban) - Central Asian religion Many different religions Central Asia's wide steppe is very easy to ride horses or camels [...]
Khitan woman, ca. 1000 AD (Musee Guimet, Paris) From prehistory right through the Middle Ages, most Central Asian people's most important attachments were to their family and their clan or [...]
Genghis Khan The oldest book written in Mongolian is a biography of Genghis Khan, who created the Mongol Empire. Nobody knows who wrote the Secret History, but whoever it was, [...]
Uighur princesses (Bezelik Cave) Possibly some time in the Middle Ages, Kyrgyz people began telling the story of Manas, his son Semetei, and his grandson Seitek. In the first part [...]
In this story, Koca Yusuf was a poor man who worked in the horse stables of the powerful Bey of Bolu. One day, Koca Yusuf saw a young filly (a girl horse). [...]
Central Asian stories and languages: People speaking Mongolian Central Asian languages Around 3000 BC, most people in Central Asia spoke one of three different kinds of languages. Some people spoke Indo-European languages [...]
Igor's campaign: a Ukrainian landscape Who wrote this story? Nobody knows who wrote the Tale of Igor's Campaign. More Central Asian stories All our Central Asia articles What's it about? [...]
When the Tibetan people formed their first powerful kingdom, in the Middle Ages, they also began to compose epic poetry for the first time, and this is what they wrote. In the [...]
Nobody knows who composed the Book of Dede Korkut, or exactly when, but it was probably composed in Central Asia and then written down in the Ottoman Empire around 1400 AD. In the [...]
Central Asian horses, like in the Alpamysh story When is the Alpamysh from? Nobody knows who composed the Alpamysh, or exactly when, but they probably first sang the Alpamysh in [...]
