Karakalpakstan Cooking (Some of Central Asia's Finest Cusine)

" Shorpa in preparation"

Introduction:

Karakalpak cusine whilst not that dissimilar to other Central Asian fare is more true to tradition than some and is noted for its high quality ingredients (some really tasty produce found in the Amu Darya delta lands).

They have none of the genetically modified vitamin depleted, tasteless produce (gunk) we endure from "agribusiness" who nowadays dominate our food chain.

The main staples in Karakalpakstan are flat unleavened bread or nan, potatoes, rice and pasta and some beef / mutton or fish.

Sausage, chicken and cheese are expensive and are therefore eaten sparingly.

Muslim beliefs do not prevent the consumption of either pork (albeit it's not that common) or for that matter alcohol. Most people (men) like a nice glass of fine Uzbek red wine or a bottle or two of the famous local "Qarataw" Vodka (particularly at celebrations - lots of toasts).

Most bazaars have a good selection of vegetables and seasonal salads. Including yellow carrots, potatoes, beetroot, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers, dill and coriander. Fruits are particularly good: especially the cherries, apricots, honey melons, water melons, grapes, and pomegranates. Other specialities include natural yogurt and honey.

The usual drinks taken during the meal is black or green tea served with sugar. In summer cold green tea also favoured.

Karakalpaks are also big on snacks and you will often find them eating dried fruit, nuts and sunflower seeds. Soft drinks, biscuits, chocolate bars, and other sweets are also common at celebrations.

The most frequently encountered dishes in Karakalpakstan include:

Plov - The common staple food for everyday meals but can be elaborated for special celebrations. It consists of chunks of fried mutton with onions, thinly shredded yellow carrot and rice steamed together in a large iron pot.

Shashlyk (Shaslik) - Also known as kebabs, are skewered chunks of mutton or pork barbecued over charcoal and served with sliced raw onions and nan.

Bes barmaq - Is boiled beef with small square cut pieces of pastry boiled in broth.

Ju'weri gu'rtik - Is a pasta dish made with ju'weri (dzhugary) wheat rather than normal wheat in small round pieces boiled in broth with beef.

Kesbas - Is made of pasta cut into slices and boiled in water with meat, carrot, onion, potato tomato and of course salt.

Samsa - Is a pastry pie stuffed with meat and onion or pumpkin, potato, cabbage, mushrooms or nuts and is baked in a tandyr (tandoor) or oven.

Mantı - after Plov, Manti is the most popular and favourite dish. It consists of large dumplings stuffed with finely chopped meat, seasoned with various spices and a large amount of onion, and then steamed over water. Can also be stuffed with pumpkin. It is usually served topped with sour cream.

Pelmeni - Stuffed pasta parcels filled with meat or vegetables.

Shorpa - Is a meat and vegetable soup cooked in a Kazan (see photo from my son’s birth celebration).

Lagman - Is a thick noodle soup with thinly-sliced fried meat, garlic and vegetables.

Some Recipes:

Samsa – To start a stiff dough is mixed, and then left for 20-30 minutes under an upturned bowl, then unrolled in plaits and cut on pieces of 10-15 grams. It should not be thicker than 2-2,5 mm. Edges more thin than the middle. Forcemeat is put in the centre, formed in dough and being baked in a high temperature. For the dough the following ingredients are required: flour - 25 g, water - 105 g, salt - 6 g; for forcemeat - mutton or beef fillet - 150 g, fat - 35 g, onion- 250 g, caraway seed- 1 g, salt and pepper.

Plov – There are two main steps in making plov. The first is called zirvak. In this step you brown the onion, yellow carrot, and meat in lots of oil in a heavy pot or a Kazan. After browning then you add water and spices and salt. Commonly used spices include caraway seeds, cumin, pepper, and red pepper. You cook the zirvak until the vegetables are cooked well.

The second step is the tricky step. This is this rice step. First you must soak the rice in salted water for 30 minutes. This is very important. After the zirvak is done, place the rice in a flat layer, and pour over hot water. Add salt and bring to boil. Keep the heat on high until all of the water evaporates. Then gather the rice not mixing the rice with the Zirvak, to the middle of the pot. Pierce holes in the rice all the way to the bottom with a spoon and lower the heat. Cover rice with a plate and then put the pot cover on. Then simmer. Cook and cover over low heat until rice is done and all the water has evaporated. Do not allow the plov to burn. When serving, carefully put the rice on the bottom of the plate. Then top with the zirvak.

Quantities used are dependent on how many people you are feeding. I have seen a Kazan which can take over 100 kg of ingredients and feed several hundred people. In general for every kilo of rice used 800gm of carrot and 80-100gm of meat and 50-70gm of onion required.

Mantı - Is prepared from dough and water, which is unrolled in layers by thickness of 4-5 mm and cut in squares of 12x12 sq cm. Meat, vegetables or greens can be used as a stuffing. Manti is cooked on steam during 35-45 minutes in special pot (called a Kas-Kan). It is served topped with sour milk or sour cream.

Pelmeni - tortellini-like pasta parcels filled with meat or vegetables It’s Ingredients are flour, eggs, water and salt. Dough is mixed up and left for 40-50 minutes for swelling. For stuffing use beef or mutton cut on slices and finely cut with onions or pass through the meat grinder, cold water, pepper, salt, thyme should be added and carefully mixed. The dough is unrolled in a layer of 1-1,5 mm thickness and cut on squares of 4x4 sq cm. On a slice of the dough stuffing should be put, corners are pinched and curtailed. When ends are connected, form a half moon with an aperture in the middle. It should be boiled in salt water or bouillon and served with "suzma" (sour milk). It can be seasoned with pepper, sliced onion and tomato, with black pepper or with sour cream.

Lagman - A stiff dough is mixed up from flour, eggs, water and salt; left to swell (enlarge) for 30-40 minutes under a napkin. Then, the dough is unrolled on layers of 1,5-2 mm thickness and diameter not less than 10-15 sm. Layers put in pile, poured with flour and cut in noodles with sharp knife. Slightly stir up noodles and boil in salt water. Before serving, special sauce, which is prepared from meat, potato, carrots, onions and tomatoes is added. These ingredients are all then fried together, adding some water as required and stewed till ready.

Sources: A number of sources including  http:www.karakalpak,com and my wife Dilbar.
 

Khiva - UNESCO listed ancient walled city 21/2 hrs south of Nukus

"Entrance to the Khiva Ark "

 

Khiva (khē'və, khēvä') a city of around 40,000 lies very near the border with Turkmenistan in the rich irrigated lands of Khorezm oasis on the lower reaches of the Amudarya river is believed to be 2500 years old.

The city exudes a different atmosphere to either Bukhara or Samarkand, being closer to the Persian sphere of influence. It lies some 1200 km from Tashkent and is in the heartland of ancient Khorezm once a satrap (province) of ancient Persia that once encompassed today’s northern Turkmenistan, and all of NW Uzbekistan including much of the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan.

The city, in existence by the 6th cent BC, was the capital of the Khwarazm (Khorezm) Kingdom and has been an integral part of the growth of Civilisation in Central Asia. The 712 AD Arab occupation and the introduction of Islam (over Persian Zoroastrian religious influences) changed its nature.

"Khiva - City of Minarets"

Being also at the helm of a fickle, changing Oxus River, Khiva became a critical stop on the physically hostile environment that the northern branch of the Silk Road stretched through on its way to the Caspian Sea and onto Russia.

This oasis town’s golden days were between 995AD and 1040AD when under Seljuk rule, Khiva’s master craftsmen in ceramic, glasswork and metalware had no peers in the region.

Irrigation systems too were constructed at this time (500 vineyards proliferated then). By the early 16th Century AD, as Bukhara waned, Khiva emerged as the capital of Shaybanids’ Khanate (1512).

For the next three centuries Khiva’s cultural and economic importance shimmered in the desert heat, a veritable caravanserai attracting fame from far off Asian, Persian and Arabian lands asa significant trade and handicraft center in the late
18th and early 19th cent.

It passed to Imperial Russia in 1873 and from 1920 to 1923 it served as the capital of the Khorezm Soviet People's Republic and of the Khorezm SSR in 1923 and 1924.

The ancient quarter of the city has been set aside as a living museaum and is UNESCO listed. Its minarets, madrassas and residencies have little changed from 300 years ago.

Khiva is split into two parts. The outer town, called Dichan Kala, was formerly protected by a wall with 11 gates. The inner town, or Itchan Kala, is encircled by a high brick wall, whose foundations were laid in the 10th century. Present-day crenellated walls date back to the late 17th century.

Khiva retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, mostly dating from the 18th or the 19th centuries. Its centerpiece the Djuma Mosque, established in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1788-89, with its celebrated hypostyle hall which still retains some 112 columns taken from ancient structures. It also is the site of the Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali Complex, a mausoleum nominated for World Heritage status in 1996.

"Khiva - Minaret Kaltar Minar"

A magnificent large turqouise tower in the central city square also kown as the Guyok minar ("green minaret") was planned to be largest in the whole Muslim East. But the building of the minaret was halted at a height of 29m. According to Khiva's historian Munis, the construction was not finished because of the Khan's death in 1855. The succeeding Khan it is said did not complete it because he realized that the minaret would overlook his harem and the muezzin would be able to see the Khan's wives.

Whatever the true reason construction was halted and the minaret remains unfinished to this day. The minaret is unique both due to its size and unusual decor. It is the only minaret in the world entirely covered by a set of glazed bricks and majolica.

Khiva is a real gem not to be missed on any trip to Central Asia!

The historical and architectural UNESCO listed monuments of Khiva include the:

• Ichan - Kala, (late 18th century - early 19th century)
• Madrasah of Allahkulikhan, (1834/1835)
• Madrasah of Kutlug-Murad-Inak,(1804/1812)
• Tim and Caravansary of Allahkulikkhan, (19th century)
• Madrasah of Abdullakhan, (1865)
• The Mosque and Chambers of Anush Khan, (1657)
• Tash-Hauli (palace Allahkulikhan), (1830/1836)
• The Okmachit Mosque, (1832/1842)
• Friday Congregation Mosque and the Minaret, (1788/1789)
• Mausoleum of Said Allauddin, (14th century)
• Madrasah of Muhammad Amin Khan, (1851/1852)
• Minaret Kalta Minor, (1855)
• Kunya-Ark, (1868/1888)
• The Minaret of Tura - Murat - Tur, (1888)
• Madrasah of Muhammad Amin Khan, (1871)
• Madrasah of Shergazi Khan, (1718/1720)
• Mosque of Baglandi, (19th century)
• Madrasah of Arabkhan, (1838)

For further information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khiva

Savitsky Art Museum Nukus

"Mumin"

Everyone who comes to Nukus will most likley visit its famous Art Museum, named after its founder and first director Igor Savitskiy. As a student of Moscow Art Institute, Savitskiy was evacuated to Central Asia at the time of World War II.

Here he took great interest in archaeology, ethnography and ancient culture of the region and this passion of his made him stay here forever. He learnt about wonderful world of Karakalpak folk art in which, as he believed, the implicit magic knowledge of the nation was hidden.

In the museum there are exhibited the works of ancient and medieval art of peoples inhabiting this region, as well as the articles testifying to the trade and cultural links of the Khorezmians with The Orient and the Occident. The most ancient exhibits of the Museum are Zoroastrian terracotta statuettes of the goddess of fertility – Anakhita, mausoleum-like ossuarys (the vessels with the mortal remains of the dead ancestors, who were fire-worshippers), decorated with the images of lions, images of male and female heads. The period of late Antiquity (1st - 4th centuries B.C) is represented by a bronze pin in the form of a hand holding an apple, a silver finger-ring with a sard signet depicting a dolphin, a terracotta statuette of a woman holding a grapevine. Bronze lamps and a rich collection of pottery (khums for storing grain, jugs with relief decoration) date back to the 12th - 13th centuries.

The museum also displays works of applied art of Karakalpakistan dating from the second half of the 19th - first half of the 20th centuries. These works are represented by articles made from wood and leather which were widely used by the nomads during their military campaigns – saddles decorated with silver, containers for dishware, mortars for tobacco, carved doors for yurta. Of a special interest are the carpets, which were widely used by the Karakalkaks for decoration of their yurts. These are patterned carpet strips "beldeu" and "ak-bastur", which were manufactured according to the unique techniques of relief pile fabric weaving. There are also exhibited many national costumes, small tea-sacks, wedding headdress "saukkele", all embroidered with silk, pearls and beads by the anonymous craftswomen. And the luxurious collection of ancient Karakalpaki jewellery, made of silver with inlays of turquoise and sard.

Savitskiy also busied himself with preservation of paintings by Russian avant-garde artists who had been repressed and exiled to Uzbekistan during the years of Stalinism. The unique collection of Russian avan-guarde paintings of the 20's – 40's of the 20th century has brought fame to the Nukus Museum. "Many artists, whose works are exhibited in the halls of the museum, are well known in Europe, – says the director of the museum Marinika Babanazarova, – Robert Falk, Clement Redko, Lyubov Popova, sculptors Vera Mukhina and Sara Lebedeva got their artistic education in the art studios of Paris and Munich; their names are included into the catalogues of Paris exhibitions of the early 20th century".

In the exposition of the museum there are displayed real masterpieces of painter Volkov A. and a subtle master of style Usto Mumin (Nickolayev A.), famous impressionists who lived in Uzbekistan, such as Benkov P. and Kovalevskaya Z., early works of Natsykbayev U. and Karakhan N. whose style and perception were very close to avant-guarde trends, splendid canvases of Rozhdestvenckiy V., Korovay E., Kurzina M., Shevchenko N. The works of Russian artists of the early 20th century Kusnetzov P., Kuprin A. and Ulianov N. are other gems of the collection. The Museum also introduces the works of modern painters of Karakalpakistan – Izentayev J., Serikeyev B., Matevosian R., Kuttymuradov J.



Chilpik Dakhmah

A big role in the popularization of the museum collection has been played by the society "Friends of Nukus Museum".

Masterpieces from the museum's collection have been exhibited in Moscow, Tashkent and in Museums in the U.S, Germany, France and Italy.

To see the marvellous collection at the Savitsky Museum come and visit Nukus during your stay in Uzbekistan.

Source: Karakalpak State Art Museum http://www.museum.kr.uz/eng

Karakalpaks

(Picture Source Karakalpak State Art Museum http://www.museum.kr.uz/eng)

The Karakalpaks (who call themselves Qoraqolpoqlar) are one of the many turkic peoples of Central Asia. They lived within the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union until it was dissolved in 1991. Today the Karakalpak Republic is within the newly independent Uzbekistan.

The Karakalpaks' ancestors originally came from the Irtysh River areas in southern Siberia. They settled in their current home-land in the tenth and eleventh centuries AD. The Qipchoq people they encountered referred to the newcomers as "Karakalpaks" (black hats) supposedly because they wore black wool or felt hats.

The Karakalpaks' culture has been influenced by their harsh desert and steppe existence. It has also been affected by invaders such as the Mongols, Timurids, Kalmyks, Khorezmian Uzbeks, and Russians who colonised Uzbekistan during the second half of the nineteenth century.

The Karakalpak homeland, Karakalpakistan (Qoraqolpoqiston), lies in the north-western part of Uzbekistan. It occupies nearly 40 percent of Uzbekistan's total territory. Until recently, the major feature of its landscape was the Aral Sea. Today, however, the sea is drying up at a rapid rate due to irrigation methods.

About 2.3 million people live in the Karakalpakistan region. Of these, approximately 40% are Karakalpaks. Other Karakalpak people live in other parts of Uzbekistan and in the surrounding countries of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan as well as many expatriates living in The Russian Federation.

The Karakalpak language is part of the Turkic language family. It is related to such languages as Turkish, Kazak, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, and Uzbek. There was no written form of the Karakalpak language until the 1920s. Today it is written in a modified Cyrillic alphabet (the same alphabet used by Russians). Newspapers, magazines, and books are printed in the Karakalpak language. Russian still remains an important second language in Karakalpakstan.

Folklore is divided into lyrical tales and epic poems (zhyr and dostan). There are tales about boys, such as Tarzshi and Aldarkose, whom everybody tries to outsmart. But the boys always manage to come out on top. There are also tales about animals, such as the cunning fox who can trick just about anyone and anything. Other tales involve wolves, tigers, and, occasionally, even God himself.

Among the remarkable traits of Karakalpak culture are the epic repertoires: more than one hundred epics have been identified to date, some reaching 18 000 stanzas. The epic genre (Dastan) fed in depth all the vocal and instrumental repertoires of Karakalpaks.

The epics are almost always about historical events and heroic figures. Epic heroes often turn out to be women. In Kyrk Qiz (The Forty Maidens), the heroine Gulaim defends her homeland from invading Kalmyks. Maspatsha is the story of Aiparshir, a woman of great beauty and tremendous courage.

The Karakalpaks are Sunni Muslims. In addition, they have long been influenced by Sufism, the mystical sect of Islam. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, religious practice and teaching played a minor role in the lives of most Karakalpaks. More recently, however as in other parts of Central Asia there has been some strengthening of Islam amongst the population.

Many Karakalpaks hold onto some religious beliefs that are not formally included in the Muslim religion. These often are about the natural world. They relate to saints or patrons (guardians) who watch out for herds, fishermen, farmers, and so forth.

Four major secular (nonreligious) holidays are celebrated by the Karakalpaks, together with their fellow Uzbeks. Novruz (New Day) marks the beginning of spring, on March 20 or 21. The holiday is celebrated with festivals, contests, game playing, and especially feasting. Schoolchildren celebrate with their teachers and put on skits. The favorite food for this holiday is sumalak, made from young wheat plants. It takes about twenty-four hours to prepare this sweet, tasty pudding. Sumalak parties are always part of the Novruz festivities.

Victory Day celebrations, commemorating the end of World War II (1939–45), take place on May 9 when there are military parades that include veterans of World War II and of the Red Army.

Uzbekistan Independence Day, September 1, has been celebrated since 1991. This day is marked by parades, speeches, and festive events throughout Uzbekistan.

Constitution Day, December 8, is another new holiday. It marks the creation of the Uzbekistan constitution in 1992. Businesses and other work-places are closed on that day. Most people simply stay home and relax.

Parents with a newborn baby visit relatives constantly for the first few months to introduce their infant into the family. Boys undergo circumcision at approximately age five. It is marked by a big celebration known as the sunnat toi.

The major rite of passage in adulthood is marriage. The wedding ceremony, called the kelin toi, symbolizes the joining of families and the continuation of family lines. The kelin toi is marked by feasts, dances, music, and speeches that continue for days. The festivities take place at various locations belonging to both of the families.

Death is marked by ritual outpourings of grief at the home of the person who has died. Mourners come to share their sympathy with the bereaved family. A clergyman (mullah) leads a procession of mourners to the cemetery. The closest relatives perform the burial after prayers are said.

When one person approaches another, the one who is approaching offers the first greeting. Usually, the greeting is Assalomu alaikum! ("Peace be with you!" in a dialect of Arabic). The person being greeted responds, Valaikum assalom! (And may peace be with you, too!). Then men shake hands. They use either one or two hands, depending on their degree of closeness. Women typically hug one another. A rapid series of questions about one another's health and family usually follows.

Respect for older people is taken very seriously. This is true even between people who differ in age by only a few years. A younger person usually bows slightly. One may also cover the lower part of one's chest with one's right hand as a sign of respect.

When visiting, Karakalpaks always bring presents or food. Neighbors constantly visit with one another to chat and snack.

Dating is rare among the Karakalpaks. Marriages are often arranged.

The traditional Karakalpak dwelling was a dome-shaped tent known as a yurt. A yurt has a wooden frame; huge pieces of felt cloth are thrown over the frame and then carefully arranged. Today most people live in mud brick houses or moden Soviet style buildings.

Whilst European-style furniture is found in Karakalpak homes. However, most people relax and sleep on thick, dense quilts called kurpas. Kurpas are often placed on raised platforms that are built into the room. The family sits on these platforms for meals and recreation, such as watching television. Kurpas are easily moved and stored. Large wooden cabinets known as sandals are used for storage.

Karakalpak families are usually large. Households of extended families (parents and children plus other relatives) are common. A family of four generations may live in a single home. A group of families descended from a common male ancestor is called a koshe. Several koshe make up an uru, a kind of clan.

Marriages are arranged through consenting sets of parents, most men and women marry early. A woman is given a dowry (gifts and money for her new married life) by her parents. She is also presented with bride gifts by the groom's parents. The new wife moves in with her husband's family.

Women do most of the cooking, cleaning, and child care. Men are usually responsible for buying groceries, preparing certain feast dishes, and doing home repairs, especially electrical work or carpentry.

Karakalpaks often wear a mix of traditional and Western-style clothing. Traditional women wear the kiimeshek, a long capelike dress with a head covering. Older women wear white, and younger women wear red. Tunic-like shirts and baggy trousers are also worn. With a man's typical summer outfit consists of loose trousers and a koilek. This is a long, loose white shirt with an open collar and no buttons.

Some type of hat or head covering is almost always worn because of the extreme temperatures and strong sunlight. Men wear silk or cotton embroidered skullcaps (duppi). They also wear the thick wool hats (qoraqolpoq), from which the Karakalpak got their name. Women wear long cotton or woolen scarves (rumol) that cover their heads, ears, backs, and shoulders.

Grain is a staple food of the Karakalpak diet, especially rice, sorghum, barley, and millet. From these grains, tasty breads, noodles, and dumplings are made.

Fruits and vegetables include onions, carrots, plums, pears, grapes, apricots, and all kinds of melons and squashes. Pumpkin is often used in turnovers known as samsa. Milk products include yogurt, butter, cream, and cheeses.

Boiled beef, mutton, and smoked horse-meat are among the favorite meats. Beef and mutton are ingredients in palov, a Central Asian favorite. Palov recipes use rice, meat, carrots, garlic, steamed quinces (a kind of fruit), and mutton tail fat (dumba).

Despite being muuslims most men are fond of drinking Vodka and (Pivo) beer especially at celebrations.

Almost all children receive a high-school education. Some then go on to technical and university training. Karakalpakistan has only one university, located in Nukus.

In the past, Karakalpak bards (performing poets) roamed from village to village, reciting stories and verses. They were accompanied on instruments such as the two-stringed dutar, and the qobyz and ghypzhek, which were played with bows.

Two Karakalpak poets of the nineteenth century—Azhiniaz Kosybai uly and Berdakh Kargabai uly—are among Central Asia's greatest writers. Modern Karakalpak writers have adopted Western literary forms such as novels, short stories, and plays.

Most of the work in Karakalpakistan is agricultural. Almost 70 percent of the population is rural. Manufacturing jobs are centered around agricultural industries. These jobs include ginning and baling cotton, and pressing cotton seeds for their oil. Silk manufacture is also a significant part of the agricultural economy. Farmers feed silkworms mulberry leaves, bringing the cocoons to regional collection centers. Farm workers work twelve to fifteen hours a day at harvest time.

Volleyball and soccer are popular at school. Boys also engage in a type of wrestling known as Qurash. It involves grabbing one another on the back of the neck and the thigh. The object is to force the opponent to lose his grip, and thus lose his balance. Women and girls are rarely, if ever, encouraged to participate in sports.

Plays in the theatres, on humorous or historical themes, are popular. Pop music is important to Karakalpak young people. Like elsewhere modern entertainment such as movies and television programs especially action movies and soap operas are popular.

Adults entertain themselves by getting together with friends at conversation sessions known as gap, which means "talk." Men and women meet in separate groups. They eat, play games, sing songs, catch up on news, and offer each other advice.

Children enjoy an elaborate game of riddles called askiia. Two children try to out-smart one another with a series of questions about a particular thing. One child starts with a description. The other must ask questions about what is being described.

Karakalpak rugs are narrow and not usually used as floor coverings. They are hung as doorway coverings at the entrance to a yurt (tent). They are also used as wall coverings or saddlebags. Bright blues, yellows, and greens are the main colours.

Traditional Jewellery is mostly silver. Blue stones, such as lapis lazuli, and red stones are often added. Necklaces, earrings, and bracelets are the most common kinds of jewellery. However modern gold Jewellery is today also valued highly.

Other craftsmen specialize as woodworkers (especially carvers). Some of the most skilled craftsmanship goes into carving house doors and support beams for buildings. Central Asian woodcarving has unique floral (flower) and geometric patterns.

Source: http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Tajikistan-to-Zimbabwe/Karakalpaks.html

Karakalpakstan Republic, Uzbekistan

also spelled Kara-Kalpakstan, or Qaraqalpaqstan,
also called Karakalpakiya, and in Uzbek Qoraqalpoghistan.

The Republic of Karakalpakstan is located in the northwest of Uzbekistan in the lower bench of the river Amudarya, along the southwestern shore of the Aral Sea. The central part consists of the valley and delta of the Amu Darya (river), a low-lying area intersected by watercourses and canals.
These plains transforming into the plateau Ustyurt a slightly undulating area characterised byflat summits rising to 300m above sea leve. In the southwest it transforms into the Karakum desert, and in the east – into the Kyzylkums Desert. The Sultan-Uvays mountsind rise in the southeast.   It borders with the Republic of Kazakhstan in the north, northeast and west; with the Republic of Turkmenistan in the south and southeast; and with Navoi and Khorezm Provinces of Uzbekistan in the east and southeast.

The climate in Karakalpakstan is sharply continental with hot and dry summer and cold winter with some negligent precipitation. Average rainfall is only 75 to 100 mm. Average temperature in January varies from –5 to –8ºС. Minimum temperature during winter fall down to –38 С. Average temperature in June varies from +26 to +28ºС, and in July and August - +50ºС. 

The Republic of Karakalpakstan is a sovereign republic in the structure of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and has its own Constitution, emblem, flag and anthem. Karakalpak and Uzbek languages are official languages of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Russian language is also widespread.The Karakalpaks are closely allied to the Kazaks. Like many other Turkic peoples, they are of obscure origin. The first historical reference to them dates from the end of the 16th century.

During the 18th century they settled in the Amu Darya region, came partly under Russian rule in 1873, and by 1920 were totally incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Karakalpakstan was established as an autonomous oblast (province) of the Kazakh ASSR in 1924/25.  Karakalpakstan came under the administration of the Russian S.F.S.R. in 1930 and two years later was constituted as an autonomous republic. In 1936, while retaining its status, it was made a part of the Uzbek S.S.R. and became part of Uzbekistan with that country’s independence in 1991.

The population is composed mainly of Karakalpaks, Uzbeks, and Kazaks, with smaller numbers of Turkmens and Russians. About one-half of the population is urban. Nukus, the capital, Khŭjayli, Beruniy, Takhiatosh, Chimbay, Tŭrtkŭl, and Altykyl are the chief settlements.

The economy is predominantly agricultural. The industrial sector, while limited, includes light manufacturing, refineries that process oil from nearby petroleum fields, several building-materials plants that utilize the limestone, gypsum, asbestos, marble, and quartzite of the area, and a power station in Takhiatosh. Cotton is cultivated along the Amu Darya and in its delta and is processed at Chimbay, Qŭnghirot, Beruniy, Takhtakupyr, Khŭjayli, and Mangit.

A well-developed system of irrigation canals supplies water from the Amu Darya to the crops. Besides cotton, crops include alfalfa, rice, and corn (maize). Cattle and Karakul sheep are raised in the Kyzylkum Desert.

Laying as it does along both the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya delta, Karakalpakstan by the late 20th century had become one of the areas worst affected by the drying up of the Aral Sea. Much of the republic’s farmland had become heavily salinized owing to the effects of over-irrigation and to salt dust from the exposed bed of the receding Aral Sea. The shrinkage of the Aral Sea almost eliminated the republic’s fisheries and resulted in a harsher climate and a shorter growing season.

Transport facilities in the republic include a railway from Qŭnghirot to Chärjew in Turkmenistan, motor roads that link several cities of the republic, and air connections with Moscow, Tashkent and other cities. Area 63,900 square miles (165,600square km). Pop. (2007 est.) 1,678,191.Population density 9.6 persons per 1 thousand sq. km.

Administrative and territorial division of the republic is represented by 14 rayons (districts): Amudarya, Beruniy, Kanlykul, Karauzyak, Kegeili, Kungrad, Muynak, Nukus, Takhtakupir, Turtkul, Khodjeili, Chimbay, Shumanay and Ellikkal’a Rayons. Nukus, modern industrial center with well-developed infrastructure, is the capital city of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, and its population is 264,400 people (2007) followed by Khodjeili, Takhiatash, Beruniy, Turtkul and Kungrad.

Source: Encyclopædia Britannica.

The Karakalpak People

Karakalpak Girl in Traditional Dress

The Karakalpaks (also Qaraqalpaqs) are a Turkic speaking people of Turkic and Mongol origin. Today they mainly live on the lower reaches of the Amu Darya (in antiquity known as Oxus) to the south of the former shore of the Aral Sea. The Karakalpaks probably number about 660,000-700,000 worldwide most of whom reside in the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

The name "Karakalpak" comes from two words: "qara" meaning black, and "qalpaq" meaning hat. Karakalpakstan is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It occupies the whole western end of Uzbekistan. The capital is Nukus.

Karakalpak communities also exist in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and further afield small communities are also found in Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Karakalpaks in Turkey are primarily concentrated in the mountains of eastern Turkey near the headwaters of the Murat River a major source of the Euphrates (called Arsanias in antiquity) near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van.

Those in Iran live mainly on the southern shores of Lake Urmia (Daryâcheh-ye Orumiyeh) a salt lake in north-western Iran near Turkey between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan.

Origins

For a relatively small ethnic group, the Karakalpaks have a very complex tribal structure. The Karakalpaks as a whole are divided into two divisions, known as Arıs, the Khunggirat and the On To'rt Urıw. The term On To'rt Urıw, which means fourteen tribes, is somewhat misleading since the On To'rt Urıw are actually composed of just four tribes: the Khitan (whose name derives from a nomadic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century) the Kipchak, the Keneges and the Mangit. It is possible that the Karakalpaks adopted this term from the On Tort Urugh tribe of the Aral Uzbeks who were already occupying the Aral delta prior to the arrival of the main body of Karakalpaks. The Tort Urugh were already well established in region at the time of Abul Ghazi Khan's tribal reorganisation of the Khorezmian Uzbeks in 1644.

The Khunggirat are divided into two bo'limi or sub-groups: the Shu'llik and the Jawıng'ır, the latter name being remarkably similar to the term Dzungar, meaning left wing. It was traditional for many Turkic and Mongol tribes to be divided into right and left wings. The Shu'llik are composed of eight tribes or u'lken urıw: Mu'yten, Kiyad, Ashamaylı, Qoldawlı, Qostamg'alı, Balg'alı, Qa'ndekli and Qaramoyın.

Each of these is in turn divided into clans or urıw, there being 63 clans in total.

The Jawıng'ır are composed of just seven clans. The four tribes of the On To'rt Urıw are also divided into clans: the Khitan into 12, the Kipchak into 13, the Keneges into 8 and the Mangit into 4.

Homeland

The Karakalpak population is mainly confined to the central part of Karakalpakstan that is irrigated by the Amu Darya. The largest Karakalpak settlement is Nukus which with a population of 260,000 is the sixth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the autonomous Karakalpakstan Republic. Karakalpaks also live in the surrounding large towns, such as Khodzheli, Shimbay, Takhtaitash, and Kungrad.

Rural Karakalpaks mainly live on former collective or state farms, most of which have now been privatised. Many rural Karakalpaks have been seriously affected by the desiccation of the Aral Sea on the eastern side, the barren Ustyurt plateau to the west, and now the growing Aral Kum to the north, once the bed of the former Aral Sea.

Although their homeland bears their name, the Karakalpaks are not the only ethnic group to live in Karakalpakstan. Many Uzbeks live in the rich agricultural region around Turtkul (To‘rtko‘l) and Beruni also found in Karakalpakstan are Kazakhs and a small Turkmen community. Also in the Republic are Russian, Korean and other peoples whom migrated from other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Language

The Karakalpak language is a subgroup of Kipchak-Nogay language group. Its vocal and pronunciation patterns share with the Kipchak-Nogay language group a vocal harmony that is full. The labial attraction is not full. Nevertheless, there are round speech patterns as observed in the Khirghiz language (SÖzgö: Sözge). Their written language is Turkic used commonly by all people living in the Russian province of Turkistan up until the end of the century nineteenth century. Their spoken language is closer to Kazakh-Khirghiz and that of Khoresm than it is to the Uzbek language used in the eastern areas of Uzbekistan.

The written language is rooted in the foundation of Karakalpakistan (1925). The Karakalpak dialect is mainly divided into two accents: the Northeastern and Southwestern accents. Apart from these two accents that are not much different from one another, there are some accents spoken within the boundaries of Karakalpakistan such as Karakalpak-Kazakh, Karakalpak-Turkmen and Karakalpak-Uzbek mixtures.

Karakalpak language is close to the languages of the Nogay and Kazakh. The North-eastern accent is spoken in Kara-Uzek, Tahta Köpür and on the coastal sides of Aral. The mixed Karakalpak accent is included within this group. In the rest of the Republic in the regions of Shimbay, Kokeyli, Kuybishev, Kongrat, Şomanay, Hojaeli, Kipshak, Shahbaz and Törtkül, the Southwestern accent is spoken.

The vocabulary is rooted in the Kipchak language in principle. The Karakalpak language had become a written language in the Soviet period for the first time and an alphabet was developed that was based on the Arabic letters at first and then Latin and then Cyrillic. Today once again officially the script is Latin albeit most people in Karakalpakstan are still using Cyrillic.

Origins

The word Karakalpak is derived from the Russian Cyrillic spelling of their name and has become the accepted name for these people in the West. The Karakalpaks actually refer to themselves as Qaraqalpaqs, whilst the Uzbeks call them Qoraqalpogs.

The word means "black hat" in Turkic and has caused much confusion in the past, since some historians have attempted to link them with other historically earlier groups, who have also borne the appellation "black hat".

Many accounts continue to falsely link the present day Karakalpaks with the Cherniye Klobuki or Chorni Klobuky (were a group of semi-nomadic Turkic tribes that settled on the frontier between the Rus states and the Pechenegs during the 1000s and 1100s CE) of the 11th century, whose name also means "black hat" in Russian.

In fact, the Cherniye Klobuki were a cadre of mercenary border guards who worked for the Kievan Rus. They were of mixed tribal origin; many adopted Christianity and became settled agriculturalists. There is no archaeological or historical evidence to link these two groups, apart from the fact that their names have the same meaning.

Recent archaeological evidence indicates that the Karakalpaks may have formed as a confederation of different tribes at some time in the late 15th or the 16th centuries at some location along the Syr Darya (previously known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name or its southern Zhany Darya outlet, in proximity to the Kazakhs.

The neighbouring Kazakhs from the Lesser Horde (Jüz) who also came from the Syr Darya have a very similar language, customs and material culture to that of the Karakalpaks.

Source:http://www.instapedia.com/m/Karakal_Unit
 

Nukus City

Nukus is the capital of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic (Qoraqalpoghiston) located in Western Uzbekistan near the head of the Amu Darya (river) delta, west of the Kyzyl Kum desert, in the Khorezm oasis some 1,255 km west of the nation’s capital, Tashkent. It is a beautiful modern city, the centre of economical and cultural life of the republic. Flying into Nukus it is striking how the huge expanse of endless desert plains suddenly changes into irrigated fields, growing quickly into an ever denser carpet of green contrasting the grey and barren surroundings. The population is approx. 271,400 (2010 estimate).

Many centuries ago the ancient city Shurcha was located in what is now the north-western part of Nukus (not far from our house). According to historians, the town was one of the defensive fortresses, protecting the border of the ancient state of Khorezm and allow the control of the Amu Darya waterway. At the end of the 19th century, when Russia incorporated the Khiva Khanate, Petro-Aleksandrovsk (Turtkul) became the centre of the Amu Darya division. The first records about the modern city are dated from the second half of the 19th century. At that period of time it was a little (aul) village made up by rows of yurts surrounded by high clay wall.

It had been decided to build a large military fort on the site of village, which was completed in 1874. (Note: Armin Vamberi the great orientalist an historian  from Hungary, who travelled through the country in 1883, in his accounts of the trip mentioned the fort of Nukus located on the banks of the Amudarya). Soon the population of the fortress, mostly consisted of Kazakhs, began to grow and hospitals, schools and administrative buildings were built around the fortress.

When the Soviet authority came to power, Turtkul stayed the administrative centre of the Karakalpak autonomous region. But in the 20ies the threat that the Amu Darya would erode Turtkul town area caused the move of the capital to Nukus. The once tiny Nukus settlement by 1932 had achieved the status of a city, while in 1939 it replaced Turtkul as the capital of the Kara-Kalpak A.S.S.R. (now Qoragalpoghiston). Today, in spite of the fact that the sands of Kyzylkum desert approach closely the city walls, the streets and avenues of Nukus are buried in verdure, the squares are decorated with flowerbeds. Today it is the economic, administrative, political and cultural centre of Karakalpakstan. The city is decorated with modern buildings, boulevards, public gardens and parks.  The present city has a number of food-processing and other light industries, the Qoragalpoghiston branch of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Nukus State University, two museums, and a theatre.

The famous Art Museum of Karakalpakstan named after Savitsky is located in the city. Its unique collection of Avante Guarde paintings by Russian and Uzbek artists attracts and amazes visitors from around the world. Besides the museum Nukus and the surrounding area has many unique archaeological, historical and cultural monuments. Near Nukus, on the outskirts of Khodjeyli town there lies the ancient necropolis Mizdahkan. Locals believe that it contains  the tomb of Adam or Gayomarda (Gayamaretana) the first man according to Zoroastrian mythology.

Source:
http://www.sairamtourism.com/en/uzbekistan/city/nukus

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/422217/Nukus
http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/nukus.htm