Tag: Nomads
Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians: the Iranian peoples of ancient Eurasia
Journey to discover the ancient Indo-European populations of warrior knights who occupied, during the Iron Age, the vast territory between Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the steppes of Central Asia
Life as a gher: nomadism in Mongolia
Of the three million people currently living in Mongolia, as many as half reside in the capital Ulan Bator. Of the remaining one and a half million inhabitants, about a third live sedentary in the othersβ¦
Travel photo reportage: Northern Mongolia (part II)
(follows from part I)
Β«Land of bare mountains, of plains heated by the sun and frozen by the cold, where the diseases of cattle and men, plague, anthrax and smallpox reign; land of hot springs and mountain passes guarded by demons, of sacred lakes teeming with fish; land of wolves, rare species of deer and mouflons, of millions of marmots, horses, donkeys and wild camels, all animals that have never known the bridle, land of ferocious dogs and birds of prey that devour the corpses that that people abandon in the plains: such is Mongolia.
Homeland of people who are disappearing and watch the calcined bones of their ancestors whiten in the sun, people who conquered China, Siam, northern India and Russia, and whose chests collided with the iron spears of the Polish knights who were defending then Christianity from the invasion of wild and nomadic Asia: such is Mongolia.
A land of great natural wealth that also produces nothing, needs everything, and seems to suffer from all the evils and cataclysms of the world: such is Mongolia. "
(FA Ossendowski, "Beasts, men, gods", chap. XVII, "Mysterious Mongolia")
Travel photo reportage: Northern Mongolia (part I)
Β«In the heart of Asia lies the boundless, mysterious and rich Mongolia. From the snow-capped slopes of the Tian Shan and the scorching sands of western Zungaria to the wooded buttresses of the Saian Mountains and the Great Wall of China, it stretches across a huge portion of Central Asia. Cradle of countless peoples, stories and legends; homeland of bloodthirsty conquerors who have left their capitals covered by the sand of the Gobi, their mysterious rings and the ancient laws of the nomads; land of monks and evil demons, of wandering tribes administered by the Khans, descendants of Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan: such is Mongolia.
Mysterious district of the cults of Rama, Sakiamuni, Djonkapa and Paspa, cults guarded by the living Buddha, Buddha incarnated in the divine person of the third dignitary of the Lamaist religion, Bogdo Gheghen a Ta Kure or Urga; land of mysterious healers, prophets, sorcerers, soothsayers and witches; homeland of the swastika symbol; a country that has not forgotten the thoughts of the great powers who once reigned in Asia and half of Europe: such is Mongolia. "
(FA Ossendowski, "Beasts, men, gods", incipit ch. XVII, "Mysterious Mongolia")
