Kyrgyzstan lays on the Silk Road - or one of them - in Central Asia. The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that were for centuries central to cultural interaction originally through regions of Eurasia connecting the East and West and stretching from the Korean peninsula and Japan to the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road concept refers to both the terrestrial and the maritime routes connecting Asia and Europe. The overland Steppe route stretching through the Eurasian steppe is considered the ancestor to the Silk Road(s).

While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk (and horses) carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty (207 BCE – 220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the trade routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy, Zhang Qian.The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.

Find more information in Wikipedia

In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site. Read more here

If you want a little fun try the CIA World Exploration Game here

It is also a source where you can find more information about how Americans - and we in the West - view the World.

Life in Kyrgyzstan, 26 Years After the Collapse of the Soviet Union... a beautiful photo article. Look here