When the Russians conquered Central Asia in the 1860s-1880s, they began a process of suppressing Central Asian culture. During the Soviet era, Joseph Stalin accelerated the repression, attempting to erase the pre-Soviet traditions of people across the region. One of the practices that the Soviets disallowed was hunting with trained golden eagles, an ancient tradition in what is now Kazakhstan.
Today, however, Kazakh eagle hunting is regaining popularity. Larger and more powerful than the falcons used in many other cultures, eagles have been trained as hunting companions in the region at least since the days of Genghis Khan.
Photo by David Tipling / Image Bank via Getty Images.
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