The Atkinsons’ Journey — Descendants of British Pioneers Visit Kazakhstan, 2016
Thomas and Lucy Atkinson were among the most renowned explorers of the 19th century, travelling across Central Asia and Siberia before other Europeans reached the region. Their accounts provide a unique record of life among the steppe nomads in the period before these lands came under full Tsarist Russian control. Their notes describe the warmth with which they were received on the steppe — including instances when local people saved them from near-certain death, starvation, and exhaustion.
Nick Fielding’s Book and the 2016 Presentation
In 2015, British journalist Nick Fielding, with the support of the Kazakh Geographic Society, wrote the book “South to the Great Steppe: The Travels of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson in Eastern Kazakhstan, 1847–1852.” The book draws on the Atkinsons’ previously unpublished notes, diaries, and letters. During their travels, Thomas and Lucy met with many prominent sultans and biys of the Senior and Junior Zhuzes, stayed in their auls, spoke with their families, and recorded their way of life in remarkable detail — no other writer documented the life of the steppe nomads as thoroughly as Atkinson did.
In the summer of 2016, the Kazakh Geographic Society, together with the British Council in Kazakhstan, organized the presentation of this book. The event was attended not only by author Nick Fielding but also by the living descendants of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson, who travelled to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the Kazakh Geographic Society, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom, and the Almaty region akimat.
Meeting with the Akim of the Almaty Region
Akim of the Almaty region Amandyk Batalov held a separate meeting with the Atkinsons’ descendants, briefing them on the region’s socio-economic development, culture, and future plans. “I am delighted that you have come to our bountiful land to once again walk the path of your ancestors. You will be able to see the beauty of Kazakhstan with your own eyes and feel the hospitality of our people,” Batalov told his guests. Nick Fielding, in turn, thanked the Kazakhstani side for its warm reception.
A 160-Year Journey
The Atkinsons’ descendants, now scattered across the globe, were able to see for themselves the places their legendary ancestors had visited more than 160 years earlier — including Kapal, where their son was born during the journey and named Alatau Tamshybulak, after a life-giving spring. That spring still flows among the rocks of Kapal to this day.