"Yurt (Home Land )" a Bishkek Travel Page by traveloturc

Kirgızistan(Kyrgyzstan) is situated in Central Asia became independent in the year 1991, formerly called Frunze ,Bishkek is the capital with 1 million inhabitants, the country as a whole has about 5 million inhabitants The ethnic group of the Kyrgyz, traditionally nomads and some of them are still nomads nowadays .

5000-year-old stone inscriptions and the 3000-year-old town of Osh point the first people in the area.The nomadic people of the Kyrgyz is one of the oldest of Central Asia and first came here about 2000 years ago. They went south, coming from the Siberian region Yenisey and formed the Kirgiz Han(Kyrgyz Khanate) at the beginning of the first millennium.
During the 6 th century, the Karakhanid Khanate was built up, composed of Turkic tribes. One of the most important cities was the town of Balasagun , of which today one still can visit the Burana-tower, only 1 hour drive from Bishkek.
In the 13 th century, the empire was defeated by Cengiz han ( Djingis Khan) .Kyrgyzstan was part of the Cagatay han (Chagatai Khanate.) Later in the years 1873 - 1874 the region became part of the Russian Empire, and, after the October Revolution, of the Soviet Union .Now its a independend country since 1991.

The Yurt which means Home land is made from felt and symbolically its the homeland of a nomad.You can also see the importance of the yurt in the flag of the Kirgiz Republic: It is red and in the centre shows symbolically the Tyunduk - the central part of the yurts roof, with ist typical wooden circle and the crossed sticks in ist middle.
Yurts offer soft and warm place for the night, but during daytime they are kept stapled and covered with a beautiful cloth, forming the back part of the place for the most honoured guest.
In the middle, you usually find a little stove, which is used for cooking and warming the room, which is absolutely necessary also in summer, especially if there is bad weather in those high-altitude regions.