Discovery Central Asia # 29 is coming soon...

Dear friends,

We are happy to present our latest edition of Discovery Central Asia, the first in 2010.

Central Asia is becoming more well-known to the international community as a region of strategic, economic and political importance. The tourism attraction of the region has also improved in recent years as it has become a fabled Silk Road destination. People are starting to ask, who are these people? Who lives there? What are their traditions and cultures? In the current issue we will try to give some more information covering these topics, although as the saying goes you have to see it to believe it!

We’ve been very lucky to get the most interesting authors in this field from all over the world. The Central Asia region has a wide diversity of cultures and people. Over 100 ethnic groups live there. Our authors will cover just a few of them in this issue.

Professor Rafiz Abazov from the Harriman Institute has written a very comprehensive introduction to the culture and traditions of Central Asia. Vitaliy Shuptar brings your attention to several articles on the Kazakhs who are known for their nomadic lifestyle. We even go deeper into original Kazakh culture in an article on the Kazakhs of Western Mongolia by Anna Portisch from SOAS. The Kyrgyz, whose history brings them from Siberia to the mountains of the Tien Shan, which creates a unique culture, are proudly presented by Kuban Mambetaliev from the Kyrgyz Embassy in London and Elena Bosler-Guseva from AUCA. The Tajiks are the only non turkic country in Central Asia with a deep Persian influence but with a very original culture highlighted in articles written by VSO volunteers in Tajikistan. Uzbeks are undoubtedly the most vibrant nation in Central Asia with a long history, rich in folklore and traditions. They are beautifully described in articles by the celebrated writer Hamid Ismailov and Dr. Razia Sultanova from London.

Last, but not least, we have an article about the Russians, who are not originally from Central Asia but with a population of almost 10 million had a significant influence on Central Asian culture.

In conclusion we have included an article on national head wear by one of the best specialists in this field, Irina Bogoslovskaya . This will give you a better understanding of how Central Asian cultures can be both similar and different at the same time.

Of course there is much more to write about, but we have limited space. However I am sure we will return to this subject again to cover the other nations and people of Central Asia, such as the Turkmen, Karakalpak, Dungans, Uyugurs, Koreans and Tatars.

Please do write to us with your comments and ideas on future topics for our publication.


Always yours,

Marat Akhmedjanov
Publisher

Text by Alexandre Petrov

Translate the two Kazakh words 'bay' and 'konir' into English and you get 'rich' and 'brown', with alternatives for 'konir' including 'calm', 'soft' and 'spacious'; the Russian 'kosmodrom' gives you 'space-run' if you take the Greek roots literally. Of course most people understand kosmodrom as cosmodrome, or space centre, but it hardly matters as long as we all know what we're talking about.

The decision to put the Soviet Union's principal missile-testing and space-exploration launch site at Baikonur was taken in 1954, when a commission established to find a suitable location reached its verdict. Other candidates included a site in the Mari ASSR in the basin of the middle Volga, on former forest-land cleared during the war to provide timber; and the Makhachkala region on the shore of the Caspian Sea. But Baikonur was chosen, and in the same year work started on the design of Leninsk, the town, later to become a city, to house the people that would work at the space centre.

The main points in Baikonur's favour were its isolation in the Kazakh semi-desert from places where people lived, its proximity to the Syr-Darya river, and the fact that the local terrain would make the construction of roads and railways fairly straightforward. Possibly the deciding factor was its southerly location in Kizil-Orda oblast, which allowed anything bound for space from there to benefit more than the site's two competitors from the earth's rotation: about four per cent of the velocity achieved by payloads launched from Baikonur results from this rotation.

...more articles from current issue