Under the tsarist regime, peasants entered the steppes, ploughed up the grasslands and blocked off the routes used by the nomads. After the Bolshevik revolution, Moscow likewise saw Central Asia as an area rich in resources. The communists forced the nomads to adopt permanent settlement with millions of people and animals being killed. The livestock kept by the Central Asian nomads consists of millions of sheep and a smaller number of horses. The horse is their favourite animal.
Horses are essential for rounding up the large flocks of sheep.
Without horses it would also be impossible to cover the long distances characte- ristic of the endless steppes and the mountain areas. The nomads owe their livelihood to their sheep, but horses are their true passion. The round, domed nomad tent found in Central Asia is called a yurt. There is a fine example in the centre of the exhibition. The yurt is the ideal dwelling in the extreme continental climate of the nomad environment.