Central Asia. The Sons Of Tamburlaine, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Xinjiang

Central Asia, the lands crossed by the fabled Silk Road for over 16 centuries, a world of myth and legend, a world long hidden but a world still vibrantly alive today for the curious and the intrepid. The Empire of the Steppes, the Roof of the World, the Four Deserts... names from the past yet very much from the present. The grandiose sweep of the vast Kazakhstan steppes, the majestic deserts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang, the lofty peaks of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Peerless horsemen, the last nomads in their felt yurts, ancient ruins emerging from the sands, cities of renown from the medieval Orient, gigantic mausoleums ; of the caravanserais, where artists and craftsmen continue traditions handed down from generation to generation for over a thousand years. The fierce nomads of yesteryear may be gone but their sons still gallop proudly across the steppes, still follow the slow rhythm of their camels along the secret desert trails and the high mountain passes. The curtains of History draw back to reveal those warriors who created the world's greatest nomad empire, and Tamburlaine the Great, the most fearsome conqueror of all time yet also an incessant builder and a distinguished patron of the arts. An immense swathe of some 5,700,000 square kilometers, Central Asia covers five Muslim republics (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and Xinjiang Uygur, the huge autonomous region of western China. For many thousands of years, the great corridor of the steppes, flankes by towering mountain ranges, was the only communication link between the Occident and the mysterious Chinese empire. Haunting vestiges of the Silk Road still line the many trails the caravans followed. Genghis Khan and Tamburlaine the Great swept triumphantly across these steppes, sowing terror yet also leaving some of the most sumptuous monuments known to humanity. Even the name of Central Asia is a recent appellation for a region long known as Turkestan divided into Western or Russian Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan. It was not until the 19th century that the area was seen as one great human and geographical entity with its own rich tapestry of history and its mosaic of Turkic-speaking peoples.