On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the NomadsGrand Prize Winner, Banff Mountain Festival Book Competition The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads lead, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn't been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary. From horse-riding novice to spending months in the saddle, he learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the haunting extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. As he travelled he formed a close bond with his horses and especially his dog Tigon, and encountered essential hospitality the linchpin of human survival on the steppe from those he met along the way. Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang in the balance in the post-Soviet world an era that has brought new-found freedom, but also the perils of corruption and alcoholism, and left a world bereft of both the Communist system upon which it once relied, and the traditional knowledge of the nomadic forefathers. A journey of adventure, endurance and eventual triumph, On the Trail of Genghis Khan is at once a celebration of and an elegy for an ancient way of life. |
Contents
List of Maps ix | 1 |
Z The Last Nomad Nation | 22 |
WolfTotem | 36 |
A Fine Line to the West | 49 |
LIST OF MAPS 1 Mongolia xii | 61 |
Z The Mongol Empire 16 | 62 |
The Roaring River Mountain | 69 |
K A Z A K H 5 TA N 6 Stalins Shambala | 88 |
R U S S A 16 Lost Hordes in Europe | 273 |
Cossack Borderlands | 291 |
The Timashevsk Mafia | 309 |
Crimea | 324 |
R l M E A 19 Where Two Worlds Meet | 325 |
The Return of the Crimean Tatars | 341 |
Ukraine | 360 |
U K R A l N | 361 |
Kazakhstan 9091 | 90 |
Zud | 111 |
Tokym Kagu Bastan | 139 |
Balkhash | 156 |
Wife Stealing and Other Legends of Tasaral | 170 |
The Starving Steppe | 181 |
The Place That God Forgot | 193 |
Otamal | 211 |
Ships of the Desert | 229 |
The Oil Road | 251 |
Russia | 272 |
Other editions - View all
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads Tim Cope Limited preview - 2013 |
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads Tim Cope Limited preview - 2013 |
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads Tim Cope Limited preview - 2013 |