Mongolia
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The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and are where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The name "Altai" means in Mongolian "Gold Mountain".
Alti Mountains, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomountainslakereflectionskyAlti mountainsAlti
Hunting with eagles is a traditional form of falconry found throughout the Eurasian steppe, practiced by Kazakh and Kyrgyz people in contemporary Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as diasporas in Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia, and Xinjiang, China. Though these Turkic people are most famous for hunting with golden eagles, they have been known to train northern goshawks, peregrine falcons, saker falcons, and more.
Bayan Ulgii, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomountainshorseeagleeagle hunterbayan ulgiihuntingkazakhs
Mongolian older lady in traditional dress.
Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitotraditional dresspeople.
Kazakh herding families in Mongolia today are considered semi-nomadic. For most herding households, this means that the household will move their herds, largely comprised of sheep and goats, although also containing variously camels, horses and yaks, to different pastures for each of the four seasons. Some households will move only two times, once in the spring to the summer pastures and again in the fall back to the winter pastures. Others will move up to four times, depending on the quality of the pasture in a given year. Most families return to specific pastures year after year with use of that pasture being passed down through families.
Kazakh family,Western Mongolia, 2015.kazakhfamilyphotito travelspenceryurtgerskygoatfoodtraditionsculturereportage photographyphotographydocumentary photographymongoliawestern mongoliaalti mountains.
August marks the imminent arrival of another harsh winter in Western Mongolia. During this month the nomadic kazakhs in the area dismantle there yurts and head for more temperate locations. As seen in the picture above Bactrian Camels follow there masters for many kilometers, sometimes a long distance behind.
Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitokazakhsmigrationnomadswestern mongoliabactrian camelsmountainsdocumentary photographyanimals
This is Kulgen, a thirty nine year old Kazakh woman from the town of Olgii in Western Mongolia. Kulgen is married and lives with her husband and children in a Yurt. Her extended family lives in a brick house beside the Yurt. they share the toilet and a water well from were they extract water with the use of an electric pump.
Olgii, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitokazakhswestern mongoliadocumentary photographytraditional clothingyurtculture
Yack grazing on the Mongolian Steppe, 2015.
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Golden Eagle, Alti Mountains, Mongolia, 2015.
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Mosque in Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.
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Boy jumping a wall leading to a mosque in the Muslim town of Olgii.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.Bayan Ölgiimongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomosqueboyblack and white photography
A seventeen year old Mongolian man from Ulaanbaatar.
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Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery.
Karakorum, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoGenghis KhanKarakorumsunsetculturearchitecture
The regional climate of the Alti mountains is severely continental: because of the influence of the great Asiatic anticyclone, or high-pressure area, the winter is long and bitterly cold. January temperatures range from 7 °F (−14 °C) in the foothills to −26 °F (−32 °C) in the sheltered hollows of the east, while in the Chu steppes temperatures can plunge to a bitter −76 °F (−60 °C). There are occasional tracts of the permafrost (ground that has a temperature below freezing for two or more years) that coats great stretches of northern Siberia. July temperatures are warm and even hot—daytime highs often reach 75 °F (24 °C), sometimes up to 104 °F (40 °C) on the lower slopes—but summers are short and cool in most higher elevations. In the west, particularly at elevations between 5,000 and 6,500 feet (1,500 and 2,000 metres), precipitation is high: 20 to 40 inches (about 500 to 1,000 mm) and as much as 80 inches (2,000 mm) may fall throughout the year. The total decreases to one-third that amount farther east, and some areas have no snow at all. Glaciers coat the flanks of the highest peaks; some 1,500 in number, they cover an area of roughly 250 square miles (650 square km).
Alti Mountains, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoaltialti mountainsmountainsnaturelandscape
Chinggis Square, formally Grand Chinggis Khaan Square, and previously known as Sükhbaatar Square is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The official name was changed in 2013 in honor of the founding father of the Mongolian nation. A large colonnade monument to Genghis Khan, as well as to Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan dominates the square's north side directly in front of the Saaral Ordon (Government Palace). The center of the square features an equestrian statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, one of the leaders of Mongolia's 1921 revolution.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoulaanbaatarChinggis SquareChinggis Khaan
During the communist period in Kazakhstan, many Kazakhs fled for Mongolia, settling down in Bayan Ulgii, an area that has been designated for the Kazakhs of Mongolia today. Kazakhs living in Bayan-Ölgii Province of Mongolia continue to hunt with eagles today. There are an estimated 250 eagle hunters in the Western Mongolian province.Their falconry custom, so-called 'horse-riding eagle falconry', is unique in practice only with trained Golden Eagle on horseback. Their hunting target is almost limited to Red Fox or Corsac Fox. In the first week of October, 70 eagle hunters gather for the annual Golden Eagle Festival of Mongolia. They use eagles to hunt foxes and hare during the cold winter months when it is easier to see the gold colored foxes against the snow. Many Kazakh traditions have been preserved by the Kazakhs in Mongolia, eagle hunting being amongst them. Although the Kazakh government has made efforts to lure the practitioners of these Kazakh traditions back to Kazakhstan, most Kazakhs have remained in Mongolia.
Bayan Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitohorseanimalseagleeagle huntertraditionslandscapemountainsriverskytraditional dressdocumentary photography.
Kazakh boys playing on there bicycles.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoolgiichildren playingbicyclekazakhkidsboysplayculturedocumentary photography.
Among traditional herders, each married couple occupied its own tent, and sons usually received their share of the family herd at the time of their marriage. The usual pattern was for one son, often, but not necessarily, the youngest, to inherit the headship of the parental herd and tent, while other sons formed new families with equivalent shares of the family herd; daughters married out to other families. Adult sons and brothers often continued their close association as members of the same herding camp, but they could leave to join other herding camps whenever they wished. In the 1980s, herders were likely to continue to work closely with patrilineal kins, and many of the basic level suuri, a subdivision of the negdel herding camps, consisted of fathers and sons or groups of adult brothers and their families. Herders no longer inherited livestock from parents, but they did inherit membership in the herding cooperative. If cooperative officials granted custody of collectively owned animals and permission to hold privately owned stock on a family basis, which was how private plots were allotted in Soviet collective farms in the 1980s, then it would be to the advantage of newly married sons to declare themselves new families.
Arkhangai Province, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitocowyakcountrysidereportage photographymilkingtraditional dresstraditionculturemongolianwomendocumentary photography.
Wolf kept in captivity.
Olgii, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitowolfolgii
Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia. It’s in the Tuul River valley, bordering the Bogd Khan Uul National Park. Originally a nomadic Buddhist center, it became a permanent site in the 18th century. Soviet control in the 20th century led to a religious purge. Soviet-era buildings, museums within surviving monasteries and a vibrant conjunction of traditional and 21st-century lifestyles typify the modern city.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoUlaanbaatarcitypeopletraffic
Valley in the Alti Mountains, Western Mongolia, 2015.
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Like other post-communist cities, much of the industry in Olgii closed down in the 1990s, though a large wool factory and many smaller animal related factories continue to process products from the 2 million animals in the Aimag.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoolgiiarquitecturepeopletraditional dress
There are few paved roads in Bayan-Ölgii outside of Ölgii. Half the distance between Tsaagannuur village (30 km from the border crossing) and Ölgii is paved. The government of Mongolia plans to pave the Tsaagannuur to Ulaanbaatar route through Ölgii, Hovd, Altai-Govi, and Ovorkgangai by 2015. Currently only Ovorkangai to Ulaanbaatar is paved, or 600 km of the 1600 km distance.
Regularly scheduled buses connect Ölgii to Ulaanbaatar, with trips leaving 3 days a week. The non-stop trip is 48 hours under ideal conditions, though often lasting 3 to 5 days. Stops are made along the ways for meals and restroom breaks.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoolgii
Eagle hunter and his son pose for a picture inside there Yurt together with there cherished Golden Eagle.
Mongolia,2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitofamilyeagle hunteryurtculturereportage photographydocumentary photographytraditional dresstraditions
Fermented mare's milk, salty goat-milk tea and marmot meat dominate local fare in Mongolia. After the marmots — think big squirrels — are killed and gutted, they're roasted from the outside, while at the same time slow-cooked from the inside using fiery-hot stones.
Arkhangai Province, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoArkhangaigerfamilymongolian familypeoplecooking
The Kazakhs have a rich culture, close extended families, and many traditions that are still practiced today that are centuries old. The Kazakhs are the second largest ethnic group in Mongolia after the Khalkhs, with 101,000 people comprising 5% of the population. Most live in Bayan-Olgii Aimag, where they make up 90% of the inhabitants. The aimag or province was created in 1939 as a semi-autonomous homeland for Kazakhs living in Mongolia. Today, Bayan-Olgii has a distinctly Kazakh culture. Kazakh is the language of everyday communication, with Mongolian used for inter-ethnic interactions and official communication. Islam is the primary religion of the Kazakhs.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoolgiifamilykazakhpeopleculturedocumentary photography
This is Bat Erdene a thirty year old mongol who lives in the Arkhangai province in central Mongolia. He shares his Ger with his wife, his six months old baby named Hulan and his widowed father. His extended family live in Gers next door. The family owns a substantial amount of cows, yaks, sheep, goats and horses.
Mongolians, unlike the settled agriculturalists to the south, have never valued complex extended families, and in the 1980s most lived in nuclear families composed of a married couple, their children, and perhaps a widowed parent. The high birthrate, however, meant that large families were common; the 1979 census showed 16 percent of families with 7 to 8 members and 11.8 percent with 9 or more. Urban families were larger than rural families, perhaps because rural people tended to marry and to set up new households at younger ages. The average size of rural families also may have reflected the high rates of migration to the cities
Mongolian family, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomongolian familygerfatherbabytraditionsdocumentary photography
Abtai Sain Khan, ruler of the Khalkha Mongols and grandfather of Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, ordered construction of the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 after his meeting with the 3rd Dalai Lama and the declaration of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of Mongolia. Stones from the nearby ruins of the ancient Mongol capital of Karakorum were used in its construction. Planners attempted to create a surrounding wall that resembled a Tibetan Buddhist rosary featuring 108 stupas (108 being a sacred number in Buddhism), but this objective was probably never achieved. The monastery's temple walls were painted, and the Chinese-style roof covered with green tiles.
The monastery was damaged in 1688 during one of the many wars between Dzungars and Khalkha Mongols. Locals dismantled the wooden fortifications of the abandoned monastery. It was rebuilt in the 18th century and by 1872 had a full 62 temples and housed up to 1000 monks.
Erdene Zuu Monastery, Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoKarakorumErdene Zuu Monastery
Mr Shamurat is a fifty two year old Kazakh eagle hunter who lives in the Alti mountains with his family and Golden Eagle.
Western Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitolandscapemountainsrivereagleeagle hunterbirdanimalalti mountainstraditional clotheskazahk
Ancient traditions
In ancient times Kazakh men would marry several times. Even if a man lost a wife early after a marriage, he would likely marry again quickly. Were he to marry a virgin in subsequent ceremonies, he would have to pay almost a double "kalyn mal." Women of the aul would condemn this practice and gossip, demanding him to give "ui sinigi," which is kind of penalty. Only poor parents would view such a liaison as desirable, for they may have been living from hand to mouth. Poorer families might not even be able to move with their neighbors and kin to another pasture because they hadn't a camel or a horse to transport their yurt. So, the "selling" of a daughter may have been their best way to improve family prospects.
Kasakh family, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoyurtwestern mongoliafamilykasakh familytraditional foodpeopleculturedocumentary photography
Arkhangai Province, Mongolia, 2015.
Arkhangai Provincemongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomongolian steppelandscapemountainsrivernaturetrees
This is Altein Beigeina a three year old Monolian boy who lives with his semi nomadic family in a Ger in the Arkhangai Province of central Mongolia.
For a child, the first big celebration is the first haircut, usually at an age between three and five. Birthdays were not celebrated in the old times, but these days, birthday parties are popular. Wedding ceremonies traditionally include the hand-over of a new Ger to the marrying couple. Deceased relatives were usually put to rest in the open, where the corpses were eaten by animals and birds. Nowadays, corpses are usually buried.
Mongolian boy 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitolittle boyculturereportage photographytraditionsdocumentary photography
The Kazakh people are the largest ethnic minority in Mongolia. Numbering over 100,000, they comprise the largest ethnic minority in Mongolia, although only 4% of the total population. The Kazakh population is concentrated in the western province of Bayan-Ulgii, a region physically separated from Kazakhstan by a 47-60 km mountainous stretch of Chinese and Russian territory. Documented Kazakh migration to Mongolia begins in 1840 with many migrants arriving from areas now Western China. Records suggest that in 1905, there were 1370 Kazakh households, increasing to 1,870 households by 1924 (the year Mongolia adopted socialism). By 1989, the Kazakh population grew to approximately 120,000 individuals.
Before the fall of the USSR, few Mongolian Kazakhs had ever visited the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, but in the post-Soviet context the creation of new nation states and national borders, relaxation of restrictions on movement and opening of borders between east and west, new population movements have emerged.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitogertea potfoodtea.
Mongolian dress has changed little since the days of the empire, because it is supremely well-adapted to the conditions of life on the steppe and the daily activities of pastoral nomads. However, there have been some changes in styles which distinguish modern Mongolian dress from historic costume. The deel, or kaftan, is the Monglian traditional garment worn on workdays and special days. It is a long, loose gown cut in one piece with the sleeves; it has a high collar and widely overlaps at the front. The deel is girdled with a sash. Mongolian deels always close on the wearer's right and traditionally have five fastenings. Modern deels often have decoratively cut overflaps, small round necklines, and sometimes contain a Mandarin collar.
Depictions of Mongols during the time of the empire, however, show deels with more open necklines, no collars, and very simply cut overflaps, similar to the deels still worn by lamas in modern Mongolia. In addition to the deel, men and women might wear loose trousers beneath, and women might wear underskirts. Skirts of the same style are still worn in part of Mongolia and China today; they have plain front and back panels with closely pleated side panels. Paintings of Mongols from Persian and Chinese sources depict men, and often women, wearing their hair in braids. The hair would be divided into two pigtails, each of which would be divided into three braids. The ends of the braids would then be looped up and bound to the top of the braid behind the ears. Men shaved the tops and sides of their heads, usually leaving only a short "forelock" in front and the long hair behind. The famous bogtag headdress worn by women seems to have been restricted to married women of very high rank.
Each ethnic group living in Mongolia has its own deel design distinguished by cut, color, and trimming. Before the revolution, all social strata in Mongolia had their own manner of dressing. Livestock breeders, for example, wore plain deels, which served them both summer and winter. The priests wore yellow deels with a cape or khimj thrown over it. Secular feudal lords put on smart hats and silk waistcoats.
Mongolian man wearing traditional dress and holding a headless Marmot..
Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitomarmottraditional dressdeelgerdocumentary photographyculture
Kazakh man prepares a goat for dinner outside the family Yurt.
Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitogoatkilling goat.
The Kazakh dombra has frets and is played by strumming with the hand or plucking each string individually, with an occasional tap on the main surface of the instrument. While the strings are traditionally made of sinew, modern dombras are usually produced using nylon strings.
Kazakh man playing his dombra inside the Yurt.
Mongolia 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitokazakhdombrayurtmusicculturepeoletraditionsreportage photographydocumentary photographytraditional dress.
Few people have running water at home in the rural town of Olgii. These boys carry buckets of water from a nearby well to there homes. Its also customary to pay for a shower in one of the public showers around town.
Olgii, Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitowaterboyswellolgiiculturetraditionsreportage photographydocumentary photography
Kazakh eagle hunter outside his yurt.
Western Mongolia, 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoyurteagle huntertraditional clothingculturepeoletraditionsreportage photographydocumentary photographytraditional dress.
Olgii (Өлгий)has been a predominately Kazakh settlement since before the creation of an independent Mongolia in 1911. It was the center of the local Kazakh community with the largest mosque in the region. However, this mosque was destroyed during religious purges in the 1930s. In 1939, Olgii was made the seat of government of the newly created Bayan-Olgii Aimag (Баян-Өлгий, “Fertile Cradle” in Mongolian). Since this time, From WikiCommons From WikiCommons schools, apartments, factories, a hospital, and a theatre have been built in Olgii. Despite all this construction, Olgii was much less developed than the rest of the country when Communism fell in 1991, with no paved roads or railroads connecting to neighboring cities or to neighboring China and Russia. This was mainly due to the lack of mining and difficult terrain in Bayan-Olgii. After the fall of communism and the break-up of the USSR, about 25% of the population moved to the newly created Kazakhstan, though many later came back allowing the population to largely recover. A small building boom in recent years has resulted in significant increase in apartments, shops, restaurants, and hotels (about half of the town center has been built since 2005). SAM_1672 The city of 30,000 people is the center of trade and industry for Bayan-Olgii. There is a large wool factory and many smaller animal related factories to process products from the 2 million animals in the Aimag. Tourism and local handicrafts have become increasingly important in the past few years. The unique Kazakh embroideries made by several local companies and cooperatives are now sold in at least 6 countries and employ over 100 local women.
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A one hundred year old Kazakh nomad lying in his Yurt in the Alti Mountains.
Western Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitowestern mongoliakazakhyurtalti mountainsculturedocumentary photographyreportage photography.
Men playing chess in a mosque in the city of Olgii.
Olgii, Mongolia, 2015mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitoolgiimosquechessculturepeoletraditionsreportage photographydocumentary photographytraditional dress.
In the twentieth century, most marriages have been initiated by the couple themselves rather than by parental arrangement. The image of courtship presented in contemporary Mongolian stories and pictures is of a young couple riding across the grassland on their horses while singing in harmony. In form the traditional Mongolian wedding was an agreement between two families, with elaborate transfers of bridewealth in livestock from the groom's family and a dowry of jewelry, clothing, and domestic furnishings from the bride's. The wedding, which was a contractual agreement between families rather than a religious ceremony, was marked by celebratory feasting that brought together as many of the relatives of the bride and the groom as the families could afford to feed. Some version of this custom survived in the countryside in the 1980s, as did the practice of the bride's moving to reside in the camp of her husband's family, which traditionally provided a new ger for the bridal couple. Brides usually had their own household and family rather than joining the household of their husband's parents as subordinate daughters-in-law, and they made fairly frequent return visits to their natal families. Among herders, a traditional place to seek a spouse was from the adjacent herding camp that exchanged daytime custody of lambs (to prevent the ewes from nursing the lambs in the pasture). In-laws frequently cooperated in herding or joined the same herding camp.
Mongolia 2015.mongoliaasiatravel photographytravelspencerphotito travelphotitohorsesanimalstraditional dressmongolian steppefarmerscouplefamilyculturedocumentary photography
