Photographer Stephen Graham published a book about his journey through Central Asia in 1916 — in 1914, he left Vladikavkaz for the territories of modern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
He spent a lot of time studying the customs and traditions of both nomadic and sedentary peoples of Central Asia. Graham captured several unique historical photographs of weddings, funerals, and the daily life of Kyrgyz people in the early 20th century.
Clarification: The Sart people depicted in one of Graham's photos are representatives of the sedentary population of Central Asia from approximately the 15th to the early 20th century, who lived in the Tashkent, Fergana, and Khorezm oases and Southern Kazakhstan. According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, this term primarily referred to sedentary Uzbeks and lowland Tajiks. The word "sart" comes from the ancient Turkic language meaning "merchant" and was mentioned in this context by Yusuf Balasaghuni in "Kutadgu Bilig" ("Blessed Knowledge") and Mahmud Kashgari in "Divan Lugat at-Turk" ("Collection of Turkic Dialects") in the 10th-11th centuries.
A kumys seller.
Guests at a Kyrgyz wedding.
Kyrgyz people at a prayer service.
In Altai: the grave of an unknown Kyrgyz near the settlement of Medvedka.
At Kyrgyz funerals.
At the summer pasture: evening by the yurt.
A sedentary Kyrgyz: one of the characters of Pishpek.
A patriarchal Kyrgyz family.
Russians and Kyrgyz live side by side at the foot of the mountains.
Sarts selling bread: a stall with flatbreads.
Shearing sheep near a tent house (yurt).
Four wives of a wealthy Kyrgyz.
A yurt of solitary nomads at a summer pasture in Central Asia.
