Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Khyber and Choora with Bukharan (?) twists

ariel · 5th February 2012, 08:49 AM

AJ1356:
"Plus Bukhara and Samarqand are actually Tajik cities not Uzbek(which by twist of faith are located in todays Uzbekistan)."

At the time these two weapons were made, there were neither Tajikistan, nor Uzbekistan: just a medley of khanates. Tajiks are Persian-speaking, and Uzbeks speak Turkic dialect. Tajiks originally were land-settled, while Uzbeks trace themselves to the nomadic descendants of Gengiz Khan. Tajiks usually view themselves as belonging to a "civilized" race, and despise "barbaric" Uzbek intruders ( even though those lived there since 6th or 7th century and many likely belonged to the same ethic group originally). Their food is virtually identical, but with some twists: Uzbeks, for example, have dishes from horse meat and use milk, while Tajiks don't ( both staples likely reflecting nomadic past of the Uzbeks). In both places, Sunni Islam is predominant, however.

In the former Soviet Union one was taking his life in his own hands by mistakenly referring to a Tajik as Uzbek.

A somewhat similar animosity was encountered in former Yugoslavia, between, say, Serbs and Croats or Bosnians. The apparent silliness of that approach finally culminated in tragic outcomes of wars and mass murders during WWII and quite recently.

5th February 2012, 08:49 AM	#5
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	AJ1356: "Plus Bukhara and Samarqand are actually Tajik cities not Uzbek(which by twist of faith are located in todays Uzbekistan)." At the time these two weapons were made, there were neither Tajikistan, nor Uzbekistan: just a medley of khanates. Tajiks are Persian-speaking, and Uzbeks speak Turkic dialect. Tajiks originally were land-settled, while Uzbeks trace themselves to the nomadic descendants of Gengiz Khan. Tajiks usually view themselves as belonging to a "civilized" race, and despise "barbaric" Uzbek intruders ( even though those lived there since 6th or 7th century and many likely belonged to the same ethic group originally). Their food is virtually identical, but with some twists: Uzbeks, for example, have dishes from horse meat and use milk, while Tajiks don't ( both staples likely reflecting nomadic past of the Uzbeks). In both places, Sunni Islam is predominant, however. In the former Soviet Union one was taking his life in his own hands by mistakenly referring to a Tajik as Uzbek. A somewhat similar animosity was encountered in former Yugoslavia, between, say, Serbs and Croats or Bosnians. The apparent silliness of that approach finally culminated in tragic outcomes of wars and mass murders during WWII and quite recently.