Descendants of Thomas Atkinson, famous British explorer, meet Astana Mayor Asset Issekeshev (PHOTOS)

Asset Issekeshev has said that within a short period of time Astana had become the centre of a number of large-scale international events, such as the OSCE Summit in 2010, Congresses of the leaders of world and traditional religions, VII Winter Asian Games and others. He also said that next year the capital of Kazakhstan would host EXPO 2017, the international exhibition, on the theme ‘Future energy’.
The Mayor of Astana wished the guests a successful journey in Kazakhstan and vivid impressions.
In turn, the head of the delegation Paul Dahlquist, on behalf of all the descendants of Thomas Atkinson expressed his gratitude to Mr. Issekeshev for a warm welcome and said they are excited to see the capital of Kazakhstan.
Thomas and Lucy Atkinson were amongst the greatest explorers of the nineteenth century, travelling in parts of Central Asia and Siberia. They are the witnesses of many important historical events in the 19th century Kazakhstan. Their writings, letters and paintings provide a unique record of political system of the Kazakh society of that period and the social state of the Kazakh people in the period.
In November 2015 the book ‘South to the Great Steppe. The Travels of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson, 1847-1852’ by Nick Fielding was published by FIRST with the support of the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the UK in collaboration with ‘Samruk Kazyna’, the National Welfare Fund, at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Source: www.kazembassy.org.uk