Kyrgyzstan 2019
In the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE), the area that today constitutes Kyrgyzstan was populated by tribes that fed on cattle farming and agriculture. From the 1st century BCE to the 4th century, Kyrgyzstan was part of the state of Kushán, which disappeared with the invasion of Euphalite nomads. at the end of the 4th century lay the territory of the Turkish Kaganat (kingdom) ruled by the Tumín and Istemí brothers.
In the 7th century, Kyrgyzstan was occupied by the Turgues (adalid Moje-Dajan), in the 8-10. century it was subject to the karluks who in it 10-12. century was replaced by karajanids. In the 12-14 century, the Turkish peoples of the country were part of the Mongol Empire, within the Khan of Chagatais ulús (province).
During the same period, the Kipchak Kyrgyz tribes who lived in the area between the Irtuish and Yenisei rivers emigrated to Tian-Shan, where they mingled with the Mongols and the local Turkish tribes. In the 15-16. century the Kyrgyz people formed and in Tian-Shan the khan Ajmet founded the Kyrgyz khanate.
The Kyrgyz social organization was characterized by not having princes or nobles as a leading class. The power was instead unfolded by manaps (the elders) whose leadership arose from their personal reputation. At the same time, the tribes maintained a strong cohesion as they were in constant war with neighboring people.
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In the 16-18. century, the Kyrgyz were dominated by the Oirat Yungars, but in the middle of the 18th century this state was conquered by Chinese forces. Kyrgyzstan thus became a protectorate within the Tsin Empire.
In the first years of the 19th century, Russia began to take an interest in the region that had been conquered by the Khan of Madalí from Kokand.
In 1862, Russian troops supported a rebellion among the Kyrgyz against the Khanate of Kokand and captured Bishkek. In 1863, Kyrgyz representatives from Tian-Shan submitted to Russia in the city of Verni (today Alma-Ata). In 1864, Northern Kyrgyzstan was admitted into the Russian Empire under the Semirechensk region.
In 1867, Tsar Alexander II created the local government of Turkestan. The Russian settlers began arriving in the thousands, and the Kyrgyz had to find that their best lands were seized and handed over to the immigrants engaged in farming.
In 1875, a popular uprising took place against Khan Jodoyar in Kokand. The Russian Empire was quick to take advantage of the situation, annexed the Khanate of Kokand and South Kyrgyzstan. The Ferganá region was created. It had a Uzbek majority and was incorporated into the province of Turkestan.
By this time, Kyrgyzstan was divided into three regions: Semirechensk, Sir-Dariá and Ferganá – all incorporated in Turkestan with the center in Tashkent.
Tensions between the ethnic groups were traditionally linked to land ownership and compulsory military service. In 1916, the tensions sparked an open revolt among the Kyrgyz who was bloodied by the Tsar’s government.
Following the October Revolution, the Soviet power was established in December 1917 in the Bishkek district. The new regime faced fierce resistance from guerrilla groups in the rest of the country. In 1921-22, an agricultural and water reform was implemented.
In 1924, the Kara-Kuirguiz Autonomous Region was established as part of the Russian Federation. In 1925 it was transformed into the Autonomous Region of Kyrgyzstan and the following year it became an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic. In 1936, Stalin made it an actual federal republic within the Soviet Union.
Until the turn of the century, the Kyrgyz had been nomads, and they were now forced to radically transform their lives in a socialist direction, joining the new agricultural cooperatives and the industries created by the state: textiles, leather, tobacco, wood, metal and electricity generation.
In addition to changing the name of Bishkek to Frunze – a famous Bolshevik and general of the Red Army – the Soviet Union continued to recruit a good portion of its soldiers among the Kyrgyz.
During the first five-year plans before World War II, the Soviet Union built large plants in Kyrgyzstan to extract Antimony, industrialized agricultural production and built the first metal processing plants and blast furnaces.
Population 2019
According to CountryAAH, the population of Kyrgyzstan in 2019 was 6,415,739, ranking number 112 in the world. The population growth rate was 1.770% yearly, and the population density was 33.4507 people per km2.
The population is mainly settled in the valleys, especially in that of Syr Darya and in the one that hosts the Issyk-Kul (“hot lake”), made up of fertile volcanic soils. The capital, which has summarized the ancient name of Bishkek (from 1926 to 1991 it was called Frunze in honor of a Soviet general), is instead located on the outskirts, on the northern edge of the hills, near the border with Kazakhstan. It has nearly 600. 000 residents (half of them of Russian ethnicity), while the second city of the country is Oš, in southern Kyrgyzstan, an ancient holy place of the Sunni Kyrgyz, but located near the Uzbek border and populated largely by Uzbeks.
