To err is human, says an ancient Latin proverb. But it is human to err in the process of cognition. And knowledge is the very cause of consciousness. Regardless of what is said about humanity, the thirst for knowledge is one of the most human traits. Chronologically, it is also true. Thus, as long as humanity has existed, so have travels. The thirst for "journeys into the unknown" is truly a passion. It is no coincidence that curiosity has been humorously termed "the lust of the mind." When this passion exists, a person is no longer in control of themselves. Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Afanasy Nikitin, Amundsen, Miklouho-Maclay — who today does not know these names? And if this passion coincides with a social demand, then everything is simply magnificent. Here, both God and the devil lend a hand.
It was best in ancient times. Everything in the world was clear, everything was explainable, everything was simple, everything was human. The Greeks believed that they were aware of the underworld; they not only knew about the life of Adam but felt a direct connection to the events occurring there, to their own affairs. The seasons, the life cycles of plants, the entire palette of colors and sounds of nature echoed understandable familial relationships — son-in-law, mother, daughter. If, for example, it is late spring, then Pluto is keeping his wife Persephone at home. Her mother, Gaia, is in sorrow, which manifests as dampness. As we see, everything is very human. Although naive for us wise ones, it is quite charming.
Having stepped onto the first rung of knowledge, a person felt emptiness, cold, anxiety. And the ancient, myth-making line in the cognition of the world does not break. Even if a legend lacks a real basis, it does not leave the imagination indifferent. A legend is always a means of understanding the world, even if it is amusing.
But alongside legends and myths, a completely objective picture of the world is constructed — from step to step, from twist to twist.
The first mentions of the lands of Central Asia, including Pamir and Tian Shan, are found in the sacred book of Zoroastrians, the "Avesta" — the very one that, according to legend, Alexander the Great burned. Trade and political ties between the countries of the East and the Mediterranean were established — and the geographical horizon of the ancient world expanded. Already with Herodotus, Strabo, Ptolemy, and the Chinese Zhang Qian and Ban Gu, there are references to the mountainous character of Kyrgyzstan, to the waters of Oxus and Jaxartes — as the ancients called the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, respectively, to the Filled Lake — now Issyk-Kul, and to the population of those places. It can be considered that the beginning of the description was laid in the first millennium BC and at the beginning of our era.
In the Middle Ages, the description of the Central Asian lands became more detailed and reliable. Central Asia, becoming the arena of political events, attracted ambassadors, merchants, and travelers from various countries to the capitals of ancient Turkic states — Suya, Balasagun, Uzgen. Descriptions of ancient cities, distances, and roads between cities were no longer so rare.
A new twist in history for a long time interrupted the more detailed description of the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Fierce internecine wars among Mongolian, Dzungarian, and Mongolian rulers made the situation unstable. And in war, as in war. Here, rather, a heroic tale will be born than a geographical description. Thus, from the 13th to the 17th century, only the Lao monk Chan Chun provided a description of the mountains and changing landscapes in Northern Tian Shan, and the Central Asian historian Babur described Fergana, while Haidar described Semirechye and Lake Issyk-Kul.
In the 18th century, the situation began to change. Interest in Central Asia grew from Russia. Among the researchers of this time were Russian captain I.S. Unkovsky and Swedish prisoner officer I.G. Repat, who left behind maps of the region. French Jesuit-astronomer A. Hallerstein determined the coordinates of the mouth of the Ak-Terek River at Issyk-Kul and the city of Osh.
The first half of the 19th century is marked by the expeditions of A.L. Bubenov in 1818 and 1827, F.K. Zibberstein in 1825, and others.
From the darkness of ignorance, the outlines of new worlds and the faces of unfamiliar peoples became clearer, although in aggregate, all this was fragmented, sporadic information that did not provide a complete picture of the nature, culture, economy, population, and history of the region.
Separate attempts at systematization were made by European scholars, particularly Alexander Humboldt in 1843. In his monumental work, Humboldt, who had never been to Tian Shan and had only researched Central Asia, expressed a version about the volcanic origin of the mountains of Central Asia. This moment from the entire activity of the scholar is most often mentioned: Humboldt was mistaken. But he had not been there. Hence, he was mistaken. Moreover, in his version. Yet they say that respect for the history of one's own country begins with respect for the history of others. It may not have been worth discussing one of the scholars in such detail, especially one who simply expressed a hypothesis about the origin of the Tian Shan mountains, if it were not mentioned in almost every textbook, manual, and encyclopedia: later researchers of Central Asia disproved A. Humboldt's theory. Let us not forget: the later ones saw clearly because they stood on the shoulders of giants. Even if they were mistaken.
The picture changed completely in the second half of the nineteenth century when Kyrgyzstan was annexed to Russia. But this period deserves special discussion.
