On the Road to Kashgar

Abstract Three aspects linked to the circumstances of Adolph Schlagintweit’s travel to Kashgar are contextualised with the Great Game and Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia. First, Chokan Valikhanov’s friendship with the eminent explorer Pyotr Semenov sheds light on the linkage between Russian and German geographers. Second, the acquaintance between explorers in Russian services and the Schlagintweit brothers in their quest for reaching the Tien Shan Mountains. Third, the news of Adolph Schlagintweit’s execution on August 26, 1857, their reception in St. Petersburg and thirty years between his murder and the consecration and inauguration of the memorial dedicated to him.