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Impressions of Kazakhstan

By far the largest country in Central Asia, the peoples and tribes who have lived in Kazakhstan throughout the ages have undergone a remarkable mixture of cultural and other influences, from the mighty Empire of China and the Mongol conquests of Dzenghis Khan and Timur Lenk, from Abbassid Muslims to the Russians. In the 8th century, Abbassid expansion brought Islam to the steppes of Central Asia. The Turkic nomadic steppe peoples adhered to Islam, firmly organised in Khanates and Emirates, centred in Bukhara and Kokand. The heritage they have passed on to us consists of the magnificent examples of Timurid architecture in mosques and mausoleums, in the pilgrimage city of Turkistan, in Taraz and elsewhere. And then came the Russians in the 1850s, in czarist colonisation campaigns first, in the absorption of Kazakhstan into the Bolshevik USSR later. Those were the times when the area's demography changed dramatically with a massive resettling of Russians and Ukrainians, at some places even outnumbering the autochthonous Turkic tribes. Russian-Orthodox churches from the czarist age are as present as mosques in cities like Almaty in the South and Aktau on the Caspian Sea board. In the North, Astana is the country's new capital, the Dubai of Central Asia, with boldly futuristic architecture, financed with the income from the oil and gas fields around Tengiz and the Caspian Sea. Sure, Dubai, but then with extreme temperatures on the other side of the spectrum. There is some charm, though, in travelling through Kazakhstan in winter, as the snowy landscapes covering the steppe plains and the magnificent Tengri chain of mountains add an extra sensation to travel. The advantage of winter travelling the digital way, right here and right now, is that you don't have to dress up for minus 25 centigrade temperatures...

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