|
|
Post by jakab on Jul 28, 2009 3:33:23 GMT 3
I have had an interest in the history of ancient nomadic steppes peoples since being an aware human being, mainly because my father is Hungarian, who had to go to England (where I am) from Hungary in 56 because of the problems there at that time.
|
|
|
|
Post by aykurt on Jul 30, 2009 0:10:48 GMT 3
When i was little i was always fascinated by indigenous cultures. Always watching documentaries about nature and in extension, the people living in nature. I'd look at maps of Africa and imagine what it would be like to live there, in the jungle, like Tarzan ;D In my early teens i was looking through a world atlas, it had a guide to each of the countries. My dad was talking to me as i went through the pages then he made a reference to their being Turks in Azerbaijan and Iran. I never believed him and being young and full of myself I went to the pages. I found Azerbaijan and i told him they dont speak Turkish they speak Azeri, the guide to Iran only mentioned a funny new word "Turkic". First time i heard it and i wasnt aware then of a language group of Turkic languages. I conceded that they might speak a language kinda like Turkish.. but it wasnt Turkish. I began to look at maps more closely from then on, specifically in central Asia. One of the first things i noticed was the G/K sound shifts. Turkish Gol became Kol in CA. I was proud of myself when i made the connection between Ysyk Kol with Turkish Gol. I remember specifically Aksu in E. Turkistan. Ak Su. I began to think the connection was just to do with water lol. Baku was a early discovery too. Baki, bak, bakmak ahhh i caught on fast. I found out fast that my dad wasnt making things up when he said Turks lived all the way up to China. This coincided with the stage were i was discovering who i am. Both my parents are immigrants and i was born and raised in Scotland. As a child you dont think about your ethnic identity and such, and as there were hardly any Turks around here there wasnt a community to attach to either. So i grew up just like other kids with the only difference being my parents had a foreign accent but nothing much else to distinguish me from other kids. As I grew up i naturally became more aware of my other identity that i didnt know much about. It stayed like that through my mid teen years until i found the greatest discovery ever... the Internet. late teens, internet access, lots and lots to find out about. Steppe history even made porn seem so boring. So my own personal ethnic discovery happened at the same time i discovered Inner Asia. It was a broader identity i discovered than one limited to the Turkish Republic. (Turkish Ottoman history seemed dull and alien compared to Steppe Turkic history and culture  )  |
|
mew
Är
Posts: 11
|
Post by mew on Feb 25, 2010 14:30:35 GMT 3
Once upon a time a Han and a Tai were reading a Chinese romantic novel and were squealing to each other. Han girl:"OMG!! Nomads are sooo hot! They have blue eyesssss!!!!11111" Tai girl:"I know! Look, the author said they're very tall and have red hair and share their women amongst each other! How communist in spirit is that?!!" Han girl:"Yeah! I totally want a Khitan for a husband! Oh, and those hot guys from whatshistribe during the Jin dynasty! Blue eyes+Sexy hairstyle. What more could you ask for?!" Tai girl:"Me too! Except I heard that all of them are extinct, where should we get them then?" Han girl:"Easy! The internet! The internet have everything! Maybe we could even add them on Myspace and even create a nomadic tribe breeding farm!" Tai girl:"Right!" Few months later.  Die Khitan hairstyle. Die. So to cut a long story short, this Tai girl hit her friend head with a pictorial book about Khitan and decide to study more about Nomads history. ;D |
|
|
|
Post by Temüjin on Feb 25, 2010 17:38:04 GMT 3
i like that picture  |
|
|
|
Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Feb 26, 2010 13:19:29 GMT 3
LOL, nice ;D ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by ceonni on Feb 26, 2010 13:57:17 GMT 3
It was the saz of Arif Sag...
It brought me to 14th century Anatolia
|
|
|
|
Post by MagyarTanhu on Mar 5, 2010 20:48:18 GMT 3
At the age of 7-9 remember to have a picturial atlas with some major events of world history and also displaying some battles and movement of nations on the map by arrows. When see Hungarians moving from Ural to Meotis from there saw one arrow showing to Carpathian basin but a smaller to Caucasus. There was written "Szavárd magyarok" When asking the teacher in the school what happened to them no answer or they said dissolved. After the change of Socialist regime, two three years later in gymnasium - middle school again asking what happened them and who were they - no answer again. At the age of 10-11 I was not as much as much interested about - I have read Greek mythology instead but meantime and also before have heared about the myth of "Hadak útja" ? Way, path of the Arms,?Armies - Warriors - which one is actually the "Milky Way". According to the myth, after Attila's death when was civil war between the Huns and terrible killing - the youngest, most loved son of Attila, Csaba with the remnants of Huns went-retreated to the fields of Tsigla. From there they once returned to help the remnants in Carpathian - the Seclers. But than disappear again. Long - long time after when Seclers were in mortal danger from every side sorrounded - in despair they asked ancestors to help thus Csaba - who in the very last moment appear from the sky with the long dead warriors and defeated the enemy. After this they immediately returned into the sky and disappear. This repeated again later ... From this, the Seclers have their heritage. Additionally when we learned in the school about the Journey of Friar Julian who went to find the remaining Hungarians in "Magna Hunagaria" hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julianus_bar%C3%A1t Also when in the school a geography teacher has told anout his trip in former SU - part of Kzakhstan - Alma Ata - where he said on the airport was apple symbol ... All things were fascinating... I wanted to know who the Huns were, where exactly were they coming from and why we had the myth of wonder stagg and Hunor-Magor ... At different stages of my life I was more interested less interested ... but I know it is not the most most important in the world. Before God we are all equal. |
|
|
|
Post by oaken on Apr 8, 2010 6:54:10 GMT 3
I have become a big fan of a podcast called Hardcore History. www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hhThe creator is a historian/former radio host and he makes very interesting shows. He tends to focus on the little things & quirks that have shaped history. He has a show about the Steppes that I enjoyed, which eventually led me to find this site. He also has an episode on the Assyrian empire. His downloads are free, but only for a time. The Steppe and Assyrians shows now must be purchased. Worth it IMO. www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchiveThey can also be found on a site called podcast alley. |
|
|
|
Post by imperialbarbarian on Jun 2, 2010 1:16:32 GMT 3
Back when I was a lad, I read about Chingis Khan and the Mongols (seems to be a common story here!). I live in the United States, so I also became interested in our own horse tribes, particularly the Apaches. More recently, I've become intensely interested in nomadic peoples throughout history--I see nomadic imperial confederations and empires as major driving forces in history. I realize this forum is focused on the Eurasian steppe, but have any of you read about the Comanches? They founded their own empire on military power and an export-import trading economy, grinding down Hispano-Mexican Texas with their raids and extracting tribute. At the same time, they treated Hispano-Mexican New Mexico very differently: they traded stolen horses and mules from Texas to New Mexico, effectively turning New Mexico into a dependent vassal. By the time that Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, New Mexico was politically, economically, and even culturally oriented away from Mexico City and towards Comancheria. And there's more--in the 1830s the Comanches pushed into the Bolson de Mapimi, an area in Coahuila and Chihuahua, using it as a launching pad for raids that pushed deep into Mexico. Basically, they found a way around every advantage that the Spaniards had initially used to conquer Mexico and the Southwest, and effectively reversed the pattern of Ibero-American dominance in the region. Fascinating, no?
|
|
|
|
Post by ancalimon on Jun 2, 2010 4:57:22 GMT 3
It started when I became aware of my name; which is Orhun. Also my heart starts to beat faster when I'm near a horse and I feel great fear (maybe I was killed by an angry horse on one my previous lives  ) I started to research how and why people started to speak, I started to research the spirit of human made sounds and have a dream to discover and use the unknown effects of them in my music. I got curious about the new-age culture and I got interested in what ascension and transcending were. Once again I found my answers in the steppe culture. Then I started to suspect that advanced civilization ( in terms of advanced individuals) is the result of the spiritual thoughts of the steppe people. And shapes, writings, languages are the result of these spiritual thoughts. (in terms of identifying the nature of nature) |
|
|
|
Post by abdulhay on Jun 2, 2010 22:43:00 GMT 3
My interest started as soone as I read djingis khans biograpy by harold lamb also Emir Temur, also by harold lamb, he wrote in a very exciting way, like a saga that is filled with real information and stories, I also started to interest in other histoies in junior high, I was in eight class, teacher said I was good as history and I wanted to become better and also found it interesting to read and know why things and how the modern world was shaped, I also share interest in turkic background since I am of turkic origin,
|
|
|
|
Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Jun 3, 2010 13:14:01 GMT 3
Back when I was a lad, I read about Chingis Khan and the Mongols (seems to be a common story here!). I live in the United States, so I also became interested in our own horse tribes, particularly the Apaches. More recently, I've become intensely interested in nomadic peoples throughout history--I see nomadic imperial confederations and empires as major driving forces in history. I realize this forum is focused on the Eurasian steppe, but have any of you read about the Comanches? They founded their own empire on military power and an export-import trading economy, grinding down Hispano-Mexican Texas with their raids and extracting tribute. At the same time, they treated Hispano-Mexican New Mexico very differently: they traded stolen horses and mules from Texas to New Mexico, effectively turning New Mexico into a dependent vassal. By the time that Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, New Mexico was politically, economically, and even culturally oriented away from Mexico City and towards Comancheria. And there's more--in the 1830s the Comanches pushed into the Bolson de Mapimi, an area in Coahuila and Chihuahua, using it as a launching pad for raids that pushed deep into Mexico. Basically, they found a way around every advantage that the Spaniards had initially used to conquer Mexico and the Southwest, and effectively reversed the pattern of Ibero-American dominance in the region. Fascinating, no? Welcome aboard imperialbarbarian And yes indeed, fascinating story  |
|
|
|
Post by benzin on Jun 3, 2010 22:16:17 GMT 3
My interest started when far right movements in Hungary started to say we are not a Finno-Ugrian tribe some year ago, I wanted to find out what is the true, so I started to analyze languages, historic maps, every little information came up in this topic on the web. As I got into into this theme more and more, it became more and more interesting. And I think now, that this is really a hard topic, with really a few exact answers.
Where did we Hungarians exactly came from, why is our language is mostly Finno-Ugrian and why all other path goes to Turkic tribes. Why does we think we are descendant of the Huns, why Arab authors called us Bashkirs, why did the Avars diseappear from the Pannonian basin, why is that they didnt fight against the incoming Hungarians, or were Avars Hungarians too, why did Byzantine emperor Constantin called us Turks and our older name Subartu Asphalu, wich is more sounds like Sabir than anything else. Many questions and its all interesting for me for now. I guess I will never get an answer for these, but Im not that type to give up easily.
|
|
|
|
Post by schiirschach on Jun 24, 2010 12:32:34 GMT 3
I was always interested in history since school.
What particularly interested me about central Asia was the fact that these people are famous for fighting and winning wars. When I read about the Roman empire I found out how Attila the Hun ('scourge of God') gave them hell for sometime before they crumbled. The story of Genghis Khan is common knowledge. Then I learnt of the Turks and the Mughals and how they conquered India. I learnt how the Byzantines were finally conquered by the Ottoman turks after a lot of trying.
Besides that, there are theories ( highly disputed) about how these aggressive-war-like Aryans descended from the Steppes into the Indian subcontinent and brought with them horses... etc back in antiquity.
The Sakas(scythians ?) and the Parthians also came and settled in various parts of India. There's a vague but interesting story of how the Magar tribe in Nepal is related to the Magyars.
My favourite game of all time - Age of Empires II has campaigns featuring Genghis Khan and Attila.
To many things pointing towards the same region man- hard not be interested.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tobodai on Jul 19, 2011 7:12:33 GMT 3
I have always been interested in world history and pretty much every era and place and people were fair game on an equal footing. If anything my primary interest was early American history, Native American history, and East Asia like China, Japan, and Korea. Then my junior year of high school I read a biography of Chinggis Khaan given to me as a present by another history nerd friend and kind of went on a 3 year long Mongol Empire obsession including making my senior graduation trip after high school a month long nomadic jeep and ger based trek across Mongolia trading spices for food, shelter, and supplies.
For a while Central Asia eventually went back to being just one of many historic interests, though higher than most others, but now its the subject of my doctorate dissertation and has come back full force. But this time, rather than being Mongol-centric, all nomads have been recent targets for my interests. Last semester I presented a paper on the ruling structure of the Golden Horde at a history conference, and in a few months I will be doing the same for an International Relations (my current major-I was a history undergrad though) conference by talking about the foreign relations of the Khitans through the Liao Dynasty and the subsequent Qara-Khitai Khanate. Hopefully soon after that I will also present a paper in Helsinki on the evolution of Sino-Russian relations in Siberia and Manchuria from Cossacks and Manchus through the present day, but that one still has yet to be confirmed.
|
|
) 
)
