Ella Christie (1861-1949) was a Scottish heiress who travelled through Central Asia on two occasions, in 1910 and 1912, publishing her accounts of the journey thirteen years later. An heiress to the industrial fortune of her grandfather, Alexander … [Continue reading] about Through Khiva to Golden Samarkand: The Remarkable Story of a Woman’s Adventurous Journey Alone through the Deserts of Central Asia to the Heart of Turkestan
Mission to Turkestan, Being the Memoirs of Count K.K. Pahlen 1908-1909
Count Konstantin Konstantinovich Pahlen (1861-1923) was a Russian Imperial official who travelled through Central Asia in 1908-1909 for an investigation of the local administration. Born into an protestant aristocratic family from present-day Latvia, … [Continue reading] about Mission to Turkestan, Being the Memoirs of Count K.K. Pahlen 1908-1909
Across Asia from West to East in 1906-1908
Carl Mannerheim is that strange anomaly, a future head of state who happened to also mention the tradition of Kyrgyz eagle hunting in his memoirs. Mannerheim is now considered the father of modern Finland, but he was born into the Russian empire and … [Continue reading] about Across Asia from West to East in 1906-1908
Seven Journeys Eastward
Seven Journeys Eastward, 1898-1912, Among the Cheremis, Kalmyks, Mongols and in Turkestan and to Afghanistan Gustav John Ramstedt was a Finnish linguist and ethnographer described as “one of the great linguistic investigators of Altaic … [Continue reading] about Seven Journeys Eastward