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Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practices of Ethnic Kyrgyz of the Eastern Pamir in Ethnotoponyms



Author(s)

Jyldyz Doolbekova

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2017.12.004

The author analyzes ethnotoponyms, the local place names of Kyrgyz people living in the Murgab region of Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous region. The author conducted field research in the region in 2010-2015. The article also builds on data from the works of pre-Soviet Russian and western travelers, who studied the region at middle19th early 20th centuries. The author concludes that local place names given by Kyrgyz people to the mountains, rivers, lakes, and valleys reflect the unique features of natural landscapes of Eastern Pamir as well as Kyrgyz nomads’ empirical observations of natural phenomena and processes, livelihoods and nomadic values. 

ethnotoponyms, local place names, traditional ecological knowledge, natural and cultural heritage, Kyrgyz people in Murgab, Eastern Pamir