#kirghiz

[songs-of-the-east]

Kyrgyz Girls from Sary-Mogol, Alay Valley, Kyrgyzstan - Jimmy Nelson

[global-musings]

Pamir Winter - Matthieu Paley

"Khaltcha and Abdul Muttalib smoke opium several times a day - like approximately 20% of the Kyrgyz [in the Afghan Pamir Mountains]. "We started smoking when we lost our first child," says Abdul. "Every year, one of our children would die" - often from diseases easily treatable elsewhere. Only one, a son, survived to age five. Then he, too, passed away. "We lost 11 children, we are unlucky."

In the Pamir, it is not unusual for parents to lose six or seven children. Most Kyrgyz are extremely unsentimental about death and dying and accept it as an unavoidable part of life. In 2007, Alex Duncan, a British doctor, collected data in the Afghan Pamir and established that child-under-five mortality there was 520 deaths per 1,000 live births (52% mortality), the world's highest rate. Main reasons to this are the intense isolation, the high altitude environment and no access to doctors or health clinics..."

[chicinsilk]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Christian Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1955-56 Collection. Anne St.Marie wearing the "Kyrghiz" ensemble. PhotoHenry Clarke. Y line.

Christian Dior Collection Haute Couture Automne/Hiver 1955-56. Anne St.Marie portant l'ensemble " Kirghiz". Photo Henry Clarke. Ligne Y.

[ahb-writes]

The Khirghiz (8th-9th Century)

(1) Khirghiz warrior, 8th century

Though isolated, the Kirghiz had advanced weaponry. This warrior's one-piece helmet is particularly fine. Apart from a thickly quilted coat his only other armor is a chest protection of overlapping iron lames. His highly decorated sword is, however, still of the straight double-edged type. (Main sources: helmet from Tomsk area, 7th-10th C., ex-Medvedyev; sword and scabbard from Altai Mts., Kirghiz, 7th-8th C., Hermitage Mus.; Buddhist wall-painting from Koço, 9th C., Staat. Mus., West Berlin; stucco horse from Ming-oi, 8th C., Brit. Mus.; Kirghiz armor, 6th-8th C., ex-Medvedyev.)

(2) Kimak tribal warrior, 9th century

The abundant weaponry found in pagan Kimak graves include types of armor mid-way between lamellar and scale. Some Kimak armor may have been imported from settled civilizations but this warrior's segmented helmet is typical of the medieval steppes and Russia. His bowcase again has tooled decoration portraying a horse-archer while his straight sword has the non-symmetrical quillons more commonly associated with sabers. (Main sources: Kimak sword, 9th-10th C., exKhudyakov; helmet from Legerevskie, 9th—10th C., ex-Mazhitov; Kimak armor, 9th-10th C., exKhudyakov.)

(3) Khirghiz tribesman, 9th century

Later Kirghiz military equipment showed greater Chinese influence. It also had much in common with that of the later Mongols. This heavily armored cavalryman has armor almost entirely of iron lamellae, plus an iron helmet reinforced with iron bands. The beginnings of plate armor can be seen in his shoulder pieces and the disc over his chest which may have covered a lacing system. The laminated vambraces on his lower arms are in a long-established Transoxanian tradition while his shins would be protected by mail strips which appear, though not very clearly, in some Buddhist wall-paintings. The horse's armor is of leather lamellar with a flexible disc over the animal's shoulder to prevent chafing. (Main sources: Kirghiz sword, 9th 10th C., ex-Khudyakov; Kirghiz armor, 9th 12th C., ex-Khudyakov; Buddhist wall-paintings from Bezeklik, 9th-10th C., Berlin, probably lost in WW2; Buddhist wall-painting from Kumtura, 8th C., Staat. Mus., West Berlin; painted paper fragment from Yar, Uighur, 9th C., Staat. Mus., West Berlin.)

(illustration and text from Nicolle & McBride (1990) Attila and the Nomad Hordes; pp. 93-94)

[grandboute]

Kirghiz people

[himalayan-history-blog]

"...[T]he Kirghiz moved in to an area from which they could not be seriously threatened by their Uyghur enemies. They also cemented friendship with neighboring peoples by, not long afterward, coming to an agreement with the Qarluqs, Tibetans, and Arabs regarding international trade and communications. This agreement provided for the safety of those traveling between the and the Arab [Abbasid] caliphate who had to journey through the lands of the Qarluqs, the new rulers of the Western Turks in Jungaria and west of Issyk Kul[lake in the Tian Shan/Modern Eastern Kyrgyzstan ]. In Qarluq territory, travelers were joined by Kirghiz escorts, who protected them from Uyghur banditry on their journey. The Arabs compensated the the Kirghiz with heavy silk brocades of Arab manufacture. The Kirghiz, in turn, purchased fancy clothing for their women from Arabs and other the countries of the Tarim Basin and Jungaria. In other words, at the time to which the Chinese report refers, the Uyghurs were raiding the route that was taken by merchants travailing between Tibetan territory and Arab territory. It is also obvious from the same account that the Tibetan were not in control of the Jungarian Basin either; the Qarluqs were despite Uyghur depredations. There is, however, no mention in the Chinese source of any Tibetan military activity in the Tarim Basin or Jungaria at this time."

The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia

Christopher I. Beckwith

Pg.147-148

[thejackmeister-mongolhistory]

Boroqul's  march through the deer trails of the Siberian forests succeeded in keeping his forces hidden from the eyes of the Tumed. The Tumed tribe was having a great feast when suddenly Mongol horsemen burst through the trees. As the Secret History of the Mongols says, the cavalry came through as if 'through the smoke holes of their tents.' It was a complete victory, and the Tumed were routed. The Tumed chieftainess Bodoqui Tarkhun was captured, and given as wife to the Oirat chief Quduqa Beki. The hapless Qorchi of the Ba'arin was given his thirty  wives, (which had set off the revolt in the first place!). Chinggis Khan sacrificed 100 Tumed to the spirit of Boroqul, and took his fallen friend's children into his own care. The remainder of the Tumed people were dispersed as slaves, and Doorbei Doqshin and Chinggis' eldest son Jochi took the submission of the other forest tribes who had been in revolt, such as some of the Oirat and Kirghiz. To learn more about these conflicts, check out my video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJTnCCBcsE&feature=youtu.be

[fishstickmonkey]

Turkestan, 1897

Paul Lobbe

(via Sudilovski)