Central Asia

Central Asia through the currents of history, the legacy of empires, the crossroads of ideas and trade routes, and the formation of identities.

East

TURKS AT THE HEAD OF IRAN

Historian Giorgio Rota on Who the Safavids Were and Why They Fought the Ottomans

~ 7 min read

Central Asia

FROM THE ARAL TO THE MEDITERRANEAN

How Nomads from Central Asia Changed the Medieval Middle Eas

~ 10 min read

Kazakhstan

DO YOU KNOW WHERE MY CHILDREN ARE?

The Famine in Kazakhstan and the Search for Missing Relatives

~ 7 min read

The Evolution of the ‘Toi’

How the Kazakh Wedding Survived Revolution, Bans, and a Changing World

~ 18 min read

FROM SAUKELE TO VEILS AND BACK

What Kazakh Brides Traditionally Wore on Their Wedding Day

~ 13 min read

CENTRAL ASIA: FROM EMPIRE TO SOVIET RULE

Historian Adeeb Khalid on Colonialism, Nation-Building, and the Enduring Myths That Shape Our Understanding of the Region

~ 11 min read

PASSPORTS, INNS, AND EXPRESS DELIVERY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

What Travel Was Really Like on the Silk Road—and Why It Was Far More than a Caravan Highway

~ 16 min read

THE MAGIC OF METAL

From Ancient Rituals to Modern Technology: How Copper Became an Essential Part of Nomadic Culture

~ 12 min read

Kazakhstan

KAZAKHSTAN AND XINJIANG

Lecture 5. Kazakhs Between Two Empires

~ 14 min read

People

ABLAI KHAN—UNIFIER OF THE KAZAKH LANDS

How a Camel-Herding, ‘Shaggy-Haired’ Youth Rose to Become a Great Khan

~ 23 min read

Interviews

ATATÜRK: FROM JADIDISM TO INDEPENDENCE

Historian Konuralp Ercilasun on the Turkish War of Independence and the influence of Turkic intellectuals

~ 8 min read

People

How Humanity Learned to Fly

The Long Journey from Myth to Reality

~ 1 min read

People

THE FATHER OF NATIONAL ART

Akhmet Jubanov and the Rise of Kazakh Professional Music

~ 18 min read

Central Asia

THE MAKING OF CENTRAL ASIA’S MODERN BORDERS

The Turbulent Story of the National-Territorial Delimitation of 1924

~ 16 min read

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Central Asia

WHY TURKIC RULERS SPOKE PERSIAN?

Historian Richard Foltz on the alliance that built the Silk Road — and was somehow forgotten

~ 6 min read

QOZY KÖRPESH–BAYAN SULU

A Love Story Spanning Fifteen Centuries

~ 12 min read

Central Asia

THE FORGOTTEN NORTHERN SILK ROAD

How the Syr Darya Corridor Once Connected China to the Golden Horde

~ 17 min read