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Central Asia

WITNESSES TO A CHANGING STEPPE

Reflections on the Travels of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson Nick Fielding

~ 15 min read
Objects

THE HIGH FASHION OF THE GOLDEN HORDE

Silk, Feathers, and Complex Engineering: Why Did Women of the Ulus of Jochi Wear Such Elaborate Headdresses?

~ 11 min read

THE PATH OF ABAI

Why M. Auezov’s Epic Should Be Read Not Only as the Biography of, but Also as the Kazakh Steppe’s Most Important Ethnographic Archive

~ 17 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

WHY WAS THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT AFRAID OF KÜISHIS?

Pain, protest, and political propaganda in Kazakhstan’s quintessential musical genre

~ 18 min read
Kazakhstan

A BORDER FIVE THOUSAND YEARS IN THE MAKING

The Story of How War, Diplomacy, and Trade Shaped the Kazakh–Chinese Border

~ 15 min read
Interviews

THE MONGOLS AND THE KIPCHAKS

Why Did the Mongol Elite of the Golden Horde Adopt Turkic Language?

~ 6 min read
People

ONE HUNDRED YEARS ON THE PITCH

How Kazakhstan Fell in Love with Football and Made It Its Own

~ 9 min read

IS KAZAKHSTAN THE HOMELAND OF THE TURKS?

Professor Ahmet Taşağıl on the origin of the Turks, the Göktürk Khaganate, and Chinese sources

~ 7 min read
Kazakhstan

FROM WESTERN UNION TO ABAI

How the First American Travelers Discovered the Kazakh Steppe

~ 11 min read
Hieronymus Bosch. The Temptation of St. Anthony. 1500-1510 / Wikimedia Commons

What is this?

Guess what this thing was used for.

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
USE OF INFORMATION Privacy policy About the project Advertisement in Qalam OUR AUTHORS

© QALAM 2026. All rights reserved


Certificate of Registration of a Periodical Print and Online Publication No. KZ04VPY00140219. Issued on January 26, 2026, by the Information Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

© QALAM 2026. All rights reserved


Certificate of Registration of a Periodical Print and Online Publication No. KZ04VPY00140219. Issued on January 26, 2026, by the Information Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.