For two millennia, the Great Silk Road was the key trade route linking the pinnaclesof eastern and western civilization. Caravans, laden with people and goods, crossedmountains, deserts, rivers and continents, spreading ideas, technologies, religions,and wealth to peoples and cultures along their path.A primary artery of …

Kyrgyzstan represents a great destination for ethnographic tours. Ancient petroglyphs onthe walls of mountain caves date back to the 8th century BC, and ancient burial groundsnear battlefield sites throughout the country mark the passing of various cultures andpeople through Kyrgyz lands. Roughly 5,000 historical and …

The masterpiece epic Manas is a cornerstone of the cultural heritage and oral traditionsof the nomadic Kyrgyz people, whose written lines have been recorded only in moderntimes. Consisting of more than 500,000 lines — 20 times longer than the Homeric Iliadand Odyssey combined — the …