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Abiderya village 294
Achaemenian empire 113
Adylov, Akhmadzhan 215
Afghan people 278, 355
Afghanistan 266, 297
and Russia 354-5
Afrasiab, king of Turan 155
Ahmad Yassawi, Sheikh 317
Ak Metchet village 122-4
Alai mountains 266
Alatau mountains 341, 352, 355
Alexander the Great 28, 51, 59, 155
Ali, Mahomet’s cousin 243,244-5, 247
Almaty (Alma-Ata), capital of Kazakhstan 320, 322-36
theatre 324-6
war monument 326-7
origins as Verny 327-8
circus in 332-3
Alp Arslan, sultan 38
Amanullah, king of Afghanistan 293
Amu Dariya, river (Oxus) 23, 53-4, 109, 113, 121, 122, 125, 128, 266, 297.
see also Oxus
Andijan people 235
town 259
Angren town 225-8
Ankara, battle 1402 161
Anti-Semitism 100-1
Arabs, conquerors of Samarkand 155
Aral Sea 52, 109, 113, 138
Armenia 121
Ashkhabad, capital of Turkmenistan 4-7
author’s meeting with mother of two girls 5-6
Askiya (badinage) 233, 234
Astronomy, in Samarkand 180
Attila, death 159
Auezov, Mukhtar 328-9
Avars 159
Avicenna 72
Babur, emperor 179, 236, 259
Bachtiar, Uzbek boxer and dealer 212-1 6
Bairam (son of Korvus) 15-16, 21, 25
Balasagun city 356-7 Balbali (stone effigies) 356-7
Balikchi town 358 Basmachi movement 230, 244, 293
see also Enver Pasha
Bazaars Bukhara 64
Samarkand 149
Bekovich, prince 113, 115
Beyazid, sultan 161
al-Biruni, polymath 72
Bishkek, capital of Kirghizstan 342-55
history museum 346-7
Korean Christians 347-50
Black market 144, 213-15
Brezhnev, Leonid 58, 145, 215
Bukhara 56-107
journey to 51-6
history 63, 71-2, 81-5, 96-8
Samanid tomb in 71
the Ark 81-4
gold mine 82-3
Sufi sanctuary 92-6
summer palace 96
synagogue 98-9
necropolis 103-4
Abdul Aziz Khan medreseh 62
Kalan mosque 60, 77-80
Mir-i-Arab medreseh 77
Bukhariot Sufis 62
Bukhariots 39, 63
Caspian Sea 4, 52, 239
Chak village 268 Chalas se a 103
Chardzhou town 53 Chilik (essence) 10
China and Fergana valley 260
peoples in 239
and Tamerlane 163
trade in Tashkent 202
Chirchik river 228
Christians see Korean Christians;
Orthodox Church
Chu river 1, 357, 358, 360
Cimmerian hordes 2
Clavijo, Ruy Gonzalez de 162
Cleitus, death 155
Commonwealth of Independent States, and Turkmenistan 27
Communism camp in Ak Metchet 124
and Islam 91, 98
and Turcomans 11, 13
see also Russia
Conolly, Captain 83-4
Cotton 144-5
Crassus, defeat of 37
Daniel, prophet, tomb 156
Darvat Kurgan village 267-8
Denau town 295
Dervishes 91, 92, 232
Dev Kesken fortress-city 130, 133, 134-5
Dilia, girl in Almaty 333-6
Dungan people 78, 313, 361
Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan 274-92
mosque 283
Dutah (lute) 48-50, 102, 139
Dzerzhinsky, Felix 301, 343
Earthquake 1966 199, 261, 279
Enver Pasha 293-7
Erk (political party) 118
Fandariya river 304, 306
Fedchenko, explorer 267-8
Fergana town 237-9
valley 236, 238
Firdausi, poet 166
Frunze, General Mikhail 97,350-1
Fundamentalism, Islamic Bukhara 70-1, 75, 106
Namangan 251-2
Turcoman 10, 41-2
Genghiz Khan 38, 159–60, 165
sacks Bukhara 60, 77
sacks Urgench 127
sacks Maracanda (Samarkand) 155
Geok-Tepe town 20-1, 22-3, 26, 29-32
German colony in Angren 226-8
Gerasimov, Soviet scientist 166
Gorbachev, Mikhail 67, 215, 365 “The Great Game’ 83, 84
Gypsies, in Bukhara 92
Hakim (in Namangan) 249-57
cousin Fatima 249, 250
Haroun er Rashid 247
Hindu Kush 51, 161
Horses Argamak 33
Fergana 260
Huns 3, 159
libare, sultan of Khorezm 135
India, and Tamerlane 161
Inflation 298
Iranians 239, 252, 284
and Tajikistan 270
Islam see Moslems Ismail Samani 72
Issyk-kul lake 52, 355, 357-60, 362
meeting with old lady 364-5
Istanbul 118
Jassur, apparatchik in Tashkent 202-5
Jaxartes river 1 see also Syr Dariya
Jehangir, mausoleum of 188
Jenkinson, Anthony 127-8, 135
Jews 87, 98-103
synagogue in Bukhara 98-9
anti-Semitism 100-1
Jura, actor 233-6, 248
Kadyr, writer in Bishkek 345–6
Kagan (Bukhara station) 55
Kakajan 130-41
family 136-41
Kalinin, Mikhail I. 11
Karaganda city 336-7, 338-40
Karakalpak people 140, 239
Karakhanid rulers 263-4, 356
Karakol town 360-2
Karakum canal 4, 33
Karakum desert 2, 51, 109
Kaufmann, General 51, 113, 199
Kazakh people 4, 239, 312, 313-14, 315-16, 318-19, 327, 329-32
and Bukhara 82
music 328
woman guide 318-20
dancer 324-6
concierge 331-2
Kazakhstan 3, 311-14
journey to 311
ethnic groups 312
Kazyade, astronomer 179
Kelims, Turcoman 15
KGB and successors 26, 86, 250
Khamza Niyazi, poet 239-40, 242-3, 246-7
Khiva city 82, 113, 114-17
Khodja Nasreddin, statue 57-8
Khomeini, Ayatollah 284
Khorezm, kingdom 113, 127
Khorezmian oasis 109, 112, 238
Khrushchev, Nikita 317, 337
Khudayar Khan 231
Kirghiz people 342, 343, 346-7
riots with Uzbeks 260-1
student 77-80
builder 352-3
Kirghizstan 3, 78, 79, 238, 239, 341-55
Kizilkum (Red Sands) 109, 229
Kizylsu (Red River) 266
Kokand town 82, 229-31
mausoleum 232-3
royal palace 231-2
Kopet Dagh (Dry Mountains) 3-4, 7, 23, 27, 33, 51
Koran, ancient 210-12
Korean Christians 347-50
Korvus, poet and administrator 13-17
Koysary village 363
Krist, Gustav 294, 295
Kulyab people 296
town 275
Kunaev, Kazakh administrator 324
Kunia Urgench 113, 129, 135
mullah in 129-30 Kurgan (burial place) 33, 366-7
Kurgan Tube 294
Kussam ibn-Abbas 177
Lenin, V.l.
books by 277
and Enver Pasha 293
and Kokand 229
monuments to Almaty 323
Ashkhabad 11-12
Bishkek 342, 344
Bukhara 101
Namangan 257
Samarkand 146
Tashkent 201
Ludmilla (in Tashkent) 206-9
Mafia see Black market
Magyars 159
Mahomet Alim, emir 96-8
Makataeb, playwright 329
Malik (young man on a train) 320-2
‘Manet’, driver 125-7, 129, 131-5
Manzikert battle 1071 38
Maracanda 155, 175
see mainly Samarkand
Margilan 55, 248
people 235
Mari town 34-5, 45
picnic near 45-50
Maruya, metal-worker 315
Marx, Karl, bust 200
Mavarannahr 160, 263
Mennonite community near Khiva 121- 2
Merv city 34, 37-44
sack of 38-9
mausoleum of Sanjar 44
sacred site 39–43
Merv desert 33-50
Mervi people 36
Meskhetian Turks 238
Moghuls 160, 179
Momack, artist 17-20
Mongolia 119-20
Mongols 3, 159-61
sack of Merv 38-9
sack of Bukhara 82
and Khorezm 128
tombs in Samarkand 175-9
overrun Uzgen 263
and Khazakhstan 311
Moore, Thomas, Lalla Rookh 190
Moslems author’s discussions with 73-80, 110
and Communists 91
Khazakhstan 311-12
Khiva 116
in Kirghizia 354, 362
reverence for old tombs 156
and 19th century Russia 85
Samarkand 175-9
Shia and Sunni 10, 244, 284
and Turkmenistan 18
the Umma 279-80
Mosques and medresehs, Bukhara 59-60
Mozaffir, emir 82
Muqanna, the Veiled Prophet 37, 190-1
search for his castle 192-5
Murad, lorry-driver 44-9
Murat, Kurban 21, 23, 30
Muraviev, Russian envoy 115
Museum of atheism, former mausoleum 92
Najibullah, Muhammad, deposed 34
Namangan town 249
people 235, 251
holy man’s tomb 257
Naqshbandi Sufis 23, 24, 92, 94, 105-6, 246
Nasrullah, emir 82, 83, 84
Navoi, Alisher, poet 167, 200
Navoi town 132, 143
Nebit Dagh, oil wells 52
Nisa town 28-9
Nostradamus 218
Novi Urgench 112, 122, 124, 140
Nukus town 140
Nurkhon (Uzbek heroine), statue 248
Oman (of Tashkent), friend of the author 216-309
wife Gulchera 216, 218, 222
wife Sochibar 242, 306, 308
experience 278-82
irritation with the author 297-9
arrest and release 300-2
Omar Khayyam 132
Ommayad caliphs 244
Oraz, Turcoman writer 8-12, 17
Orthodox Church Samarkand 169-70
Tajikistan, visit to 290-2
Osh town 238, 259-63
Throne of Solomon mountain 261- 2
Othman, caliph, Koran of 210-12
Oxus river (Amu Dariya) 1, 23, 51, 113, 134
see also Amu Dariya
Pamirs (mountains) 2, 55, 237, 239, 265-309
Parthians 28
Pasha, Christian taxi-driver 349-50, 355-6, 358-67
Pechenegs 159
Penzhikent town 302-3 Perestroika 8, 9, 18, 100
Persian language 55, 304
Persians peoples in Iran 239, 252, 284
slaves 87, 113
and Tamerlane 166-7
see also Samanids
Petya (in Samarkand) 182-7
Polo, Marco 2, 266
Przhevalsky, explorer 360-1
The Qazi, Dushanbe 283
Rachmon (student in bus) 109-12
Racoul (in Khorezm) 117-21
Radioactivity in Kazakhstan 312, 337
Rashidov, Sharaf 58, 145, 158, 199, 215, 300
Rich Men Also Weep, soap opera 316, 326
Roman legionaries, enslaved 37
Rudaki, poet 72
Rukh, Shah 165, 179
Russia and Afghanistan 354-5
and Almaty 323
against the basmachi 293-4
and Bukhara 64, 84
and Khazakhstan 311-12, 314, 316
and Khiva 113, 126
and Kokand 229
restoration of historic buildings 148
and Samarkand 151, 168
and Soviet Central Asia 3
and Sufis 261
and Tajikistan 273, 274-5
and Tashkent 199, 229-30
and Turkestan 3, 20-1, 24, 29-31
and Uzbekistan 58
and World War II 181
Russians archaeologists and Tamerlane’s grave 165
in Ashkhabad 5, 6
Bukhara deaths 97
leaving Bukhara 87
and the Dungan Chinese 78
in Samarkand 172-5, 184
slaves 113, 115
and Turcomans 10-11, 16, 20-1, 24, 29-31, 35
leaving Turkmenistan 27
lorry-driver 344
Sadik (an Uzbek) 270-3
Safar, driver 26-32
Salt, in Kunia Urgench soil 138
Samanid dynasty 71-2
Samarkand 55, 145
journey to 143-5
mosque of Bibi Khanum 146, 151-2
medresehs in 146-7, 154, 178
Registan market square 146-8
history 155-6, 159, 179-80
capital for Tamerlane 160, 161-3
and mausoleum of Tamerlane 163-8
ancient Maracanda 155
Shir Dar medreseh 147
Orthodox cathedral 169-70
Shakhi-Zinda 175-9
trade 179-80
culture 180
Sanjar, sultan, mausoleum 44
The Satanic Verses 75
Saxaul (plant) 45, 109, 131, 314
Sayora (girl in Dushanbe) 286-7
Sayyid Mahomet, khan 115
Scythians 2-3, 159
Seljuk Turks, and Merv 34, 38
Semipalatinsk 337
Shachimadan (Khamzabad) 239, 246
Shakhrisabz 187-90, 299
girl at 189-90
Shamanism, Uzbek 62
Shavgat, driver, and family 157-8
Sheibanid dynasty 60
Sherali (a Tajik) 270-3
Shukrat (in Khorezm) 117-21
Siberia 120
Silk Road 55, 56
Bukhara 72
Khazakstan 320
Kirghizstan 356
near Merv 34, 37
Samarkand 179-80
Siyon 192-3
Skobelev, General 20, 51
Sogdians 155-6, 302-6 Sohrab and Rustam 54
Solomon, alleged founder of Osh 260
tomb 261, 262
South Africa 203
Stalin, Josef V. 67, 70, 78, 88, 91, 174, 226, 248
state frontiers under 238
Steppes 311–40
Stoddart, Colonel 83-4
Storks 65, 236
Sufism 62, 91-6, 245-6, 261, 262
Kazakhstan 317, 319-20
see also Naqshbandi
Synagogue, Bukhara 98-9
Syr Dariya (Jaxartes) river 217, 229, 236, 360
Tajik people 56, 87, 88, 167, 238, 239, 274, 277, 302
Tajikistan 3, 218, 269-70
student in 283-5
Talib, lecturer, and family 286-9
Tamerlane (Timur Kurgan), emperor 54, 82, 99-100, 128, 146, 151, 160-3, 179-80, 253
death, and mausoleum 163-8
birthplace 188
White Palace, Shakhrisabz 188-90, 300
and Othman’s Koran 211
water stoup in Turkestan 318
Tania (in Samarkand) 152-5, 170-5, 182-7
Tartar people 221
Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan 198-202, 225
journey to 197-8
Russian waif in 197-8
capital of Russian Turkestan 199
Lenin Square 201, 215
playhouse 205-6
Moslem quarter 209-12
Imam Bukhari medreseh 209-10
residence of Grand Mufti 210-12
government 239
Tekesh, sultan of Khorezm 128
Tekke tribe (Turcoman) 20-1, 30
Tienshan mountains 55, 226, 320, 341, 342, 358, 360
Timur Kurgan see Tamerlane Timurid dynasty 179
Toloi, son of Genghiz Khan, and Merv 38
Transalai mountains 266, 267
Transoxiana 55
Turania (Greater Turkey) 119-20, 293
Turanian peoples 159
Turcoman art 15
Turcoman people 4, 6, 8, 17, 20, 239
and the Russians 10-11, 16
and Bukhara 82
Turkestan 88, 199
shrine of Sheikh Ahmad Yassawi 317-18
Turkestan town 315-16
Turkey feeling for, 117-21, 132, 167
and Armenia 121
Turkic people and Bukhara 72
and Kazakhstan 311
and Kirghizstan 356
and Tamerlane l6l, 167
Turkmenstan 1-32
independence 3
resources 4
Uighur people 119, 361
Ulug Beg 62, 148, 162, 165, 166, 179, 180
Medresehs 60-1, 73-6, 147
Umma (Moslem community) 279-80
Unemployment, Samarkand 149
Urgench, capital of Khorezm 127-8
mausolea 127-9
Uzbek people 4, 54, 55, 62, 85, 87-8, 167-8, 238, 239, 318
and Bukhara 82
riots with Kirghiz 260-1
and Tajikistan 272
Uzbekistan 3, 55
Communists in 117-18
and Russia 58, 91
Uzgen town 263-4
Vambéry, Arminius 115
Veiled Prophet see Muqanna Vezir city 135
Victory Day, Samarkand celebrations 180-7
Vyatkin, Vladimir 180
War memorial, Ashkhabad 11
Water, holy springs in Bukhara 62
Wolff, Revd Joseph 84
Women and Islam 75-6, 284
in Bukhara 97
in old Bukhara 63-4
fire-worshippers 106
at Merv 39-40
Turcoman 17, 34
Wu Ti, emperor of China 260
Xinjiang mountains 239, 355, 360
Xinjiang province 119
Yagnob people 305-6
Yakut people 120
Yeltsin, Boris 365
Yurchi village 295-6
Zelim Khan, Bukhara artist 65, 67, 68, 70, 86, 89, 90-1, 103-4, 107
pictures 89-90
wife Gelia 65-71, 86-91
mother 66-70, 86, 88-9, 103-5, 107, 173
Zerafshan river 1, 62-3, 144, 302
Zoroaster, worship 62, 113, 304