Soviet Central Asia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Soviet Central Asia refers to the section of Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

formerly controlled by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, as well as the time period of Soviet administration (1918–1991). In terms of area, it is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan

Russian Turkestan

Russian Turkestan was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire , comprising the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh steppes, but not the protectorates of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva.-History:-Establishment:Although Russia had been pushing south into the...

, the name for the region during the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate

Kazakh Khanate

Kazakh Khanate was a Kazakh state that existed in 1456-1847, located roughly on the territory of present-day Republic of Kazakhstan.-History:...

. During this period the Little jüz participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territories. Under the leadership of Abul Khair Khan

Abul Khair Khan

Abul Khair Khan was leader of the Kazakh Little jüz in present-day western Kazakhstan. During this period, the Little jüz participated in the 1723-1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territories...

the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River (1726) and at the Battle of Anrakay in 1729.In the 19th century, the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

began to expand, and spread into Central Asia.

The Anglo-Russian colonialist "Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 a second less intensive phase followed. The tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

s effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

. Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

anexed Lake Issyk Kul in north east Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

of off China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

in the 1860s.

Emerging from the Russian Empire following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War of 1918–1921, the USSR was a union of several Soviet republics, but the synecdoche Russia — after its largest and dominant constituent state — continued to be commonly used throughout the state's existence. Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (initially Turkestan Socialist Federative Republic) (April 30, 1918 – October 27, 1924) was created from the Turkestan Krai of Imperial Russia. Its capital was Tashkent

Tashkent

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

, population about 5,000,000.

British and Persian forces briefly tried to reach Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

and the Turkmen port of Krasnovodsk. Bukhara

Bukhara

Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...

, Khiva

Khiva

Khiva is a city of approximately 50,000 people located in Xorazm Province, Uzbekistan. It is the former capital of Khwarezmia and the Khanate of Khiva...

, Samarkand

Samarkand

Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...

, Kokand

Kokand

Kokand is a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. It has a population of 192,500 . Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent, 115 km west of Andijan, and 88 km west of Fergana...

, Dushanbe

Dushanbe

-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...

and the former Trans-Caspian province would see various anti-Bolshevik risings over the next few years.

In 1924, it was split into Tajik ASSR

Tajik ASSR

The Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic within the Uzbek SSR in the Soviet Union. It was created in October 1924 by a series of legal acts that partitioned the three existing regional entities in Central Asia – Turkestan ASSR, Bukharan People's Soviet Republic,...

(now Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

), Turkmen SSR

Turkmen SSR

The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Turkmen SSR for short, was one of republics of the Soviet Union in Central Asia. It was initially established on 7 August 1921 as the Turkmen Oblast of the Turkestan ASSR. On 13 May 1925 it was transformed into Turkmen SSR and became a...

(now Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

), Uzbek SSR

Uzbek SSR

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

(now Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

), Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast (now Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

), and Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast

Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast

Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast was created on February 19, 1925 by separating lands of the ethnic Karakalpaks from the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Khorezm People's Soviet Republic....

(now Karakalpakstan).

Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

In March 1918, activists of the Young Bukharan Movement informed the Bolsheviks that the Bukhara

Bukhara

ns were ready for the revolution and that the people were awaiting liberation. The Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

marched to the gates of Bukhara and demanded that the emir

Emir

Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...

surrender the city to the Young Bukharans. As Russian sources report, the emir responded by murdering the Bolshevik delegation, along with several hundred Russian inhabitants of Bukhara and the surrounding territories. The majority of Bukharans did not support an invasion and the ill-equipped and ill-disciplined Bolshevik army fled back to the Soviet stronghold at Tashkent.

However, the emir had won only a temporary respite. As the civil war in Russia wound down, Moscow sent reinforcements to Central Asia. On 2 September 1920, an army of well-disciplined and well equipped Red Army troops under the command of Bolshevik general Mikhail Frunze

Mikhail Frunze

Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.-Life and Political Activity:Frunze was born in Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan, to a Moldovan medical practitioner and his Russian wife...

attacked the city. After four days of fighting, the emir's citadel (Arc) was destroyed, the Red flag

Red flag

In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...

was raised from the top of Kalyan Minaret

Po-i-Kalyan

The title Po-i-Kalyan , which means "The foot of the Great", belongs to the architectural complex located at the foot of the great Kalyan minaret in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.-History:...

, and the Emir Alim Khan

Mohammed Alim Khan

Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan was the last emir of the Manghit dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia...

was forced to flee to his base at Dushanbe

Dushanbe

in Eastern Bukharan, and finally to Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

.

A nearby anti-Bolshevik stronghold in the Tadjik/Moslem village of Khangir (qingir) declared its independence shortly afterwards, but soon surrendered after a 14 day siege by Russian and Bokhkori Bolsheviks. It was then quickly re-integrated back into Communist Bokhorah.

The Bukharan People's Republic was proclaimed on 8 October 1920 under Faizullah Khojaev

Faizullah Khojaev

Fayzulla Ubaydullayevich Khodzhayev was an Uzbek politician.Khodzhayev was born in to a family of wealthy traders. He was sent to Moscow by his father in 1907...

. The overthrow of the Emir was the impetus for the Basmachi Revolt

Basmachi Revolt

The Basmachi movement or Basmachi Revolt was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim, largely Turkic peoples of Central Asia....

, a conservative anti-communist rebellion. In 1922, most of the territory of the republic was controlled by Basmachi, surrounding the city of Bukhara. Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

would later purge

Purge

In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...

and exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

many of the local Bukhori people as well as most of the local Jewish community from the former Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was a short-lived Soviet state which governed the former Emirate of Bukhara during the period immediately following the Russian Revolution from 1920-1925. In 1924 its name was changed to the Bukharan Soviet Socialist Republic...

.

Prior to the establishment of the state of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, the Bukharian Jews were one of the most isolated Jewish communities in the world.

With the establishment of Soviet rule on the territory in 1917, Jewish life seriously deteriorated. Throughout 1920s and 1930s, thousands of Jews, fleeing religious oppression, confiscation of property, summary arrests, and repressions

Political repression

Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....

, fled to Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and SSR

The Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was created as the successor to the Khanate of Khiva

Khanate of Khiva

The Khanate of Khiva was the name of a Uzbek state that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Persian occupation by Nadir Shah between 1740–1746. It was the patrilineal descendants of Shayban , the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...

in February 1920 and officially declared on 26 April 1920. On 20 October 1923, it was transformed into the Khorezm Socialist Soviet Republic. The Khorezm SSR

Khorezm SSR

Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was created as the successor to the Khanate of Khiva in February 1920, when the khan abdicated in response to popular pressure, and officially declared by the First Khorezm Kurultay on 26 April 1920...

only survived until 17 February 1925, when it was divided between the Uzbek SSR

Uzbek SSR

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

, Turkmen SSR

Turkmen SSR

, and Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast

Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast

as part of the reorganization of Central Asia by Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

according to nationalities.

Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast

The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast (Кара-Киргизская АО) was created on 14 October 1924 within the Russian SFSR from the predominantly Kazakh and Kyrgyz parts of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created from the Turkestan Krai of Imperial Russia...

. On 15 May 1925 it was renamed into the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast. On 11 February 1926 it was reorganized into the Kyrgyz ASSR. On 5 December 1936 it became the Kyrgyz SSR, one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union.

Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast

The Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast was created on February 19, 1925 by separating lands of the ethnic Karakalpaks

Karakalpaks

The Karakalpaks are a Turkic speaking people. They mainly live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and in the delta of Amu Darya on the southern shore of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The name "Karakalpak" comes from two words: "qara" meaning black, and "qalpaq" meaning hat...

from the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created from the Turkestan Krai of Imperial Russia...

and Khoresm People's Soviet Republic.

Initially located within the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Karakalpak A.O. was transferred to the RSFSR from July 20, 1930 to March 20, 1932, at which time it was elevated to the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

The Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union. Until 1932 July 20 it was the Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast. On 1936 December 5 it was joined to the Uzbek SSR...

. The Karakalpak ASSR was joined to the Uzbek SSR

Uzbek SSR

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

on December 5, 1936.

Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kazakh ASSR was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. It became the Kazakh SSR on December 5, 1936.

Its original name was the Kirgiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This ASSR was established on 26 August 1920, and was a part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

(RSFSR)

In 1925 it was renamed the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1929 the city of Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

(Alma-Ata) was designated as the capital of the ASSR.

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kazakh SSR

Kazakh SSR

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...

Established on December 5, 1936. It was initially called Kyrgyz ASSR (Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and was a part of the Russian SFSR. On April 15–19, 1925, it was renamed Kazakh ASSR and on December 5, 1936 it became a Union Republic of the USSR called Kazakh SSR in the culminating act of the national delimitation

National delimitation

National delimitation in the Soviet Union refers to the process of creating well-defined national territorial units from the ethnic diversity of the Soviet Union and its subregions...

in the Soviet Union. During the 1950s and 1960s Soviet citizens were urged to settle in the "Virgin Lands" of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The influx of immigrants (mostly Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

and Ukrainians

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

, but also some forcibly resettled ethnic minorities, such as the Volga Germans and the Chechens) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

to outnumber natives.

In 1924, the borders of political units in Central Asia were changed along ethnic lines determined by Lenin's Commissar

Commissar

Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...

for Nationalities, Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

. The Turkestan ASSR, the Bukharan People's Republic, and the Khorezm People's Republic

Khorezm SSR

were abolished and their territories were divided into eventually five separate Soviet Socialist Republics

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...

, one of which was the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. The next year the Uzbek SSR became one of the republics of the Soviet Union.

Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

is the largest city in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, with a population of 1,226,000 (as of 1 August 2005). The Ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

s in a 2003 census were: Kazakh 43.6%, Russian 40.2%, Uyghur 5.7%, Tatar 2.1%, Korean 1.8%, Ukrainian 1.7%, German 0.7%.

Kyzil Orda / Kyzylorda was founded in 1820 as a Kokand fortress of Ak-Mechet (also spelt Aq Masjid, Aq Mechet, 'white mosque'). The name comes from the Kazakh for 'Red center'.

Uralsk / Oral

Oral, Kazakhstan

Oral , Uralsk in Russian, formerly known as Yaitsk , is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 350,000...

was founded in 1613 by Cossacks, was originally named Yaitsk, after the Yaik River. The city was put under siege during the Russian Civil War. It has a population of 210,600. It is the capital of the West Kazakhstan Province. Ethnic composition is dominated by Russians (54%), Kazakhs (34%), along with a few Ukrainians and Germans.

Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kyrgyz SSR, formally known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (sometimes spelled Kirghiz), also known as Kirgizia, was one of fifteen constituent republics

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...

of the Soviet Union. Established on 14 October 1924 as the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast

Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast

The Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast , in the former region of Soviet Central Asia, was created on 14 October 1924 within the Russian SFSR from the predominantly Kazakh and Kyrgyz parts of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On 15 May 1925 it was renamed into the Kirghiz Autonomous...

of the Russian SFSR, it was transformed into the Kyrgyz ASSR (Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) on 1 February 1926, still being a part of the Russian SFSR. Today it is the independent state of Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

in Central Asia. Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz ASSR) was the both the name of two different national entities within Russian SFSR, in the territories of modern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

On 5 December 1936, it became a separate constituent republic of the USSR as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic during the final stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union.

Bishkek

Bishkek

Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...

was both the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan and the Kirghiz ASSR, with a population of approximately 900,000 in 2005. In 1862 Tsarist Russia destroyed the local fort and began to settle the area with Russian migrants. Over the years many fertile black soil farms were developed by the Tzarists and, later, the process carried on by the USSR. In 1926, the city became the capital of the newly established Kirghiz ASSR and was renamed Frunze after the Bolshevik hero, Mikhail Frunze

Mikhail Frunze

, who was one of Lenin's close associates, who was born in Bishkek until Kirghiz independence in 1991.

Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

The Tajik SSR

Tajik SSR

The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Tajik SSR for short, was one of the 15 republics that made up the Soviet Union. Located in Central Asia, the Tajik SSR was created on 5 December 1929 as a national entity for the Tajik people within the Soviet Union...

was one of the new states created in Central Asia in 1924 was Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

, which had the status of a Soviet socialist republic

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...

. In 1929 Tajikistan

Tajikistan

was detached from Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

and given full status as a Soviet socialist republic. The city of Dushanbe would become an important regional hub on the border with Afghanistan.

Tajikistan has 3 exclaves, all of them located in the Fergana Valley region where Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan meet. The largest is Vorukh

Vorukh

Vorukh is a jamoat in northern Tajikistan. It is located in Isfara District in Sughd province. The jamoat has a total population of 23,121.Vorukh forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan. There are several such enclaves, and they all come from Stalin's drawing of borders in the...

(with an area between 95 – 130 km²/37 – 50 sq mi, population estimated between 23,000 and 29,000, 95% Tajiks and 5% Kyrgyz, distributed among 17 villages), located 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Isfara

Isfara

Isfara is a city in Sughd Province in northern Tajikistan, situated on the border with Kyrgyzstan. It has a population of 40,600 . The city is capital of Isfara district.-History:...

on the right bank of the Karafshin river, in Kyrgyz territory. Another exclave in Kyrgyzstan is a small settlement near the Kyrgyz railway station of Kairagach. The last is the village of Sarvan

Sarvan

Sarvan is a Spanish comics series featuring an eponymous character, written by Antonio Segura and drawn by Jordi Bernet. The series was launched in the comics magazine Cimoc in 1983, had a relatively short serial run before the artist and writer moved on to their next collaboration,...

, which includes a narrow, long strip of land (about 15 km (9.3 mi) long by 1 km (over ½ mi) wide) alongside the road from Angren

Angren, Uzbekistan

Angren is a city in eastern Uzbekistan east of Tashkent. It was founded in 1946 as a center for the Uzbek SSR's coal industry. It is located on the Angren River....

to Kokand

Kokand

; it is surrounded by Uzbek territory. There are no foreign enclaves within Tajikistan.

In 1929, Dushanbe

Dushanbe

was renamed "Stalinabad", after Joseph Stalin; as part of Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

's de-Stalinization

De-Stalinization

De-Stalinization refers to the process of eliminating the cult of personality, Stalinist political system and the Gulag labour-camp system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in March 1953...

initiative, the city was renamed "Dushanbe" in 1961. The Soviets transformed the area into a centre for cotton and silk production, and relocated tens of thousands of people to the city from around the Soviet Union. The population also increased with thousands of ethnic Tajiks migrating to Tajikistan

Tajikistan

following the transfer of Bukhara and Samarkand to the Uzbek SSR

Uzbek SSR

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

. Dushanbe

Dushanbe

later became the home to a university and the Tajik Academy of Sciences

Tajik Academy of Sciences

Tajik Academy of Sciences incorporates 20 research institutes and three territorial groupings: the Pamir Branch in the eastern part of the country , the Khujand Scientific Center in the north, and the Khatlon Scientific Center in the south-west...

. Severe Tadjik nationalist rioting occurred in 1990, rumor said that Moscow

Moscow

had planned to relocate tens of thousands of Armenian refugees to Tajikistan. Dushanbe also had a relatively high military population during the war with Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic

The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was one of fifteen constituent republics

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...

of the Soviet Union. It was initially established on August 7, 1921 as Turkmen Oblast of the Turkestan ASSR. On May 13, 1925 it was transformed into Turkmen SSR and became a separate republic of the Soviet Union. Today it is the independent state of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

in Central Asia.

The Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR

Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR

The Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR was the ruling communist party of the Turkmen SSR, and a part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From 1985 it was led by Saparmurat Niyazov, who in 1991 renamed the party to the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, which is no longer a communist party...

was the ruling communist party of the Turkmen SSR, and a part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

. From 1985 it was led by Mr

MR, Mr, mr, or mR may refer to:*Mr. an honorific title of menPlaces:* Morocco country code * Martinique country code...

Saparmurat Niyazov

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; , was a Turkmen politician who served as President of Turkmenistan from 2 November 1990 until his death in 2006...

, who in 1991 renamed the party to the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan

Democratic Party of Turkmenistan

The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan is the only political party in Turkmenistan. The DPT was led by former Soviet provincial Party leader Saparmurat Niyazov from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s until his death in 2006...

, which is no longer a communist party . The current Communist Party

Communist party

A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...

of Turkmenistan is illegal.

Ashgabat has a population of 695,300 (2001 census estimate) and has a primarily Turkmen

Turkmen people

The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...

population, with minorities of ethnic Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, Armenians

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

, and Azeris

Azerbaijani people

The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...

. It is 920 km from the second largest city in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Mashhad

Mashhad

Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...

. The principal industries are cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

textiles and metal working.

Merv

Merv

Merv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of...

/ Mary

Mary, Turkmenistan

Mary is the capital city of Mary Province in Turkmenistan. Former names include Merv, Meru and Margiana. It is located at . The city is an oasis in the Karakum Desert, located on the Murghab river. In 2009, Mary had a population of 123,000 , up from 92,000 in the 1989 census.-History:The ancient...

is an ancient city with a Its population was 123,000 in 1999. It has interesting Regional Museum and lies near the remains of the ancient city of Merv, which in corrupted form gives its name to the modern town. Carpets from the region of Merv are sometimes considered superior to the Persian ones.

Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

In 1924, the new national boundaries separating the Uzbek and Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republics cut off the eastern end of the Fergana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR

Tajik ASSR

became a fully-fledged republic, the Tajik SSR

Tajik SSR

, and the area around Khodjend

Khujand

Khujand , also transliterated as Khudzhand, , formerly Khodjend or Khodzhent until 1936 and Leninabad until 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan. It is situated on the Syr Darya River at the mouth of the Fergana Valley...

was made a part of it. This blocked the valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet rule lasted.

The Uzbek SSR included the Tajik ASSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to an equal status. In 1930, the Uzbek SSR capital was relocated from Samarkand

Samarkand

to Tashkent

Tashkent

. In 1936, the Uzbek SSR was enlarged with the addition of the Karakalpak ASSR taken from the Kazakh SSR

Kazakh SSR

in the last stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. Further bits and pieces of territory were transferred several times between the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR after World War II. During the Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

s of Joseph Stalin, many thousands of Chechens, Koreans and Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

were exiled to the Uzbek SSR.

The State Anthem of the Uzbek SSR was the national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

when it was a republic of the Soviet Union and known as the Uzbek SSR

Uzbek SSR

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

.

The city of Tashkent

Tashkent

began to industrialize in the 1920s and 1930s, but industry increased tremendously during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, with the relocation of factories from western Russia to preserve the Soviet industrial capacity from the hostile invading Nazis. The Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n population increased dramatically as well, with evacuees from the war zones increasing the population to well over a million. (The Russian community would eventually comprise more than half of the total residents of Tashkent by the 1980s.) On April 26, 1966, Tashkent was destroyed by a huge earthquake (7.5 on the Richter scale) and over 300,000 were left homeless. At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tashkent was the fourth largest Soviet city and a major center of learning in the fields of science and engineering.

As the nation's capital, Tashkent is still a fairly prosperous city and the capital of Uzbekistan and has a population of the city in 2006 was 2.1 million. The city has been the target of several terrorist acts since gaining independence

Independence

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....

. These have been attributed by the Uzbek the government to Islamic insugents aided by the Afghan Taliban.

Samarkand

Samarkand

is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, prospering from its location on the trade route between China

China

and Europe (Silk Road

Silk Road

The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...

). In 1370, Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, decided to make Samarkand

Samarkand

the capital of his empire, which extended from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

to Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Despite its status as the second city of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

, the majority of the city's inhabitants are Persian-speaking Tajiks. The city a became rich trading center as a major capital of the Silk Road

Silk Road

between China and the West

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

. The Timurid dynasty

Timurid Dynasty

The Timurids , self-designated Gurkānī , were a Persianate, Central Asian Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turko-Mongol descent whose empire included the whole of Iran, modern Afghanistan, and modern Uzbekistan, as well as large parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the...

's extensive building in Samarkand produced monuments that rank amongst some of the most striking in the Islamic world.

Kokand Autonomy

Kokand is a city in Fergana Province

Fergana Province

Fergana Province is a viloyat of Uzbekistan, located in the southern part of the Fergana Valley in the far east of the country. It borders the Namangan and Andijan Provinces of Uzbekistan, as well as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It covers an area of 6,800 km2...

in eastern Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley

Fergana Valley

The Fergana Valley or Farghana Valley is a region in Central Asia spreading across eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Divided across three subdivisions of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse, and in the early 21st century was the scene of ethnic conflict...

. It has a population of 192,500 bu 1999. Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent

Tashkent

, 115 km west of Andijan

Andijan

Andijan or Andizhan is the fourth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the Andijan Province. It is located in the east of the country, at , in the Fergana Valley, near the border with Kyrgyzstan on the Andijan-Say River...

, and 88 km west of Fergana

Fergana

Fergana is a city , the capital of Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southern edge of the Fergana Valley in southern Central Asia, cutting across the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan...

. It is nicknamed “City of Winds”, or sometimes “Town of the Boar". It is at an altitude of 409 meters.

Kokand is on the crossroads of the ancient trade routes, at the junction of two main routes into the Fergana Valley, one leading northwest over the mountains to Tashkent, and the other west through Khujand

Khujand

. As a result, Kokand

Kokand

is the main transportation junction in the Fergana Valley.

Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n imperial forces under Mikhail Skobelev

Mikhail Skobelev

Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was a Russian general famous for his conquest of Central Asia and heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Dressed in white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White...

captured the city in 1876 which then became part of Russian Turkistan. With the fall of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, a provisional government

Provisional government

A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...

attempted to maintain control in Tashkent. It was quickly overthrown and local Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

opposition crushed. In April 1918, Tashkent became the capital of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkestan ASSR). It was the capital of the short-lived (1917 – 18) Anti-Bolshevik Provisional Government of Autonomous Turkistan

Russian Provisional Government

The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...

(also known as Kokand Autonomy).

The Alash Autonomy

The Alash Autonomy was a state

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

that existed between December 13, 1917 and August 26, 1920, located roughly on the territory of present day Republic of Kazakhstan. The capital city was Semey

Semey

Semey , formerly known as Semipalatinsk and Alash-kala , is a city in Kazakhstan, in the northeastern province of East Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia, around north of Almaty, and southeast of the Russian city of Omsk, along the Irtysh River.-History:The first settlement was in 1718,...

(referred to at the time as Alash-qala).

The Alash Orda was the name of the provisional Kazakh

Kazakhstan

government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

between 13 December 1917 and 26 August 1920. It was led by Akhmet Baytursinuli, Alikhan Bokeikhanov

Alikhan Bokeikhanov

Alikhan Nurmukhameduli Bokeikhanov was a Kazakh writer, political activist and environmental scientist. He is famous for advocating the idea that Kazakhs should learn Russian culture and simultaneously preserve Kazakh customs and law.Bokeikhanov's early education took place in a Russian-Kazakh...

and Mirjaqip Dulatuli

Mirjaqip Dulatuli

Mirjaqip Dulatuli Mirjaqip Dulatuli Mirjaqip Dulatuli (Kazakh: Міржақып Дулатұлы, Russian: Миржакып Дулатов (1885–1935) was a Kazakh poet, writer and one of leaders of Kazakh nationalist Alash Orda government. He also is known to have used the pen names Madiyar and Arghyn...

amongst others.

The Alash Party

Alash (party)

Alash was a constitutional democratic party in the Alash Autonomy.Chairman - Alikhan Bokeikhanov....

proclaimed the autonomy of the Kazakh people in December 1917. Membership consists from 25 members (10 positions reserved for non-Kazakhs) and 15 member candidates. They formed special educational commission and established militia regimentsas their armed forces.

Basmachi revolt

In 1897, the railway reached Tashkent

Tashkent

, and finally in 1906 a direct rail link with European Russia was opened across the steppe

Steppe

In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

from Orenburg

Orenburg

Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...

to Tashkent

Tashkent

. This led to much larger numbers of Slavic

Slavic peoples

The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

settlers flowing into Turkestan

Turkestan

Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...

than had hitherto been the case, and their settlement was overseen by a specially created Migration

Emigration

Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...

Department in St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

(Переселенческое Управление). This caused considerable discontent amongst the local population, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

and Sart

Sart

Sart is a name for the settled inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries. Sarts, known sometimes as Ak-Sart in ancient times, did not have any particular ethnic identification, and were usually town-dwellers.-Origin:There are several theories about the origin...

s, as these settlers took scarce land and water resources away from them. In 1916 discontent boiled over in the Basmachi Revolt

Basmachi Revolt

The Basmachi movement or Basmachi Revolt was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim, largely Turkic peoples of Central Asia....

, sparked by a decree conscripting the natives into Labour battalion

Labour battalion

Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service...

s (they had previously been exempt from military service). Thousands of settlers were killed, and this was matched by Russian reprisals, particularly against the nomadic population. The competition for land and water which ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of Tsarist Russia, with the most serious uprising, the Central Asian Revolt, occurring in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

villages, killing indiscriminately. The Russians' revenge

Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...

was merciless. A military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

force drove 300,000 Kazakhs to flee into the mountains or to China

China

. When approximately 80,000 of them returned the next year, many of them were slaughtered by Tsarist forces. Order had not really been restored by the time the February Revolution

February Revolution

The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...

took place in 1917. This would usher in a still bloodier chapter in Turkestan's history, as the Bolsheviks of the Tashkent Soviet

Tashkent Soviet

The Tashkent Soviet was a public organisation set up in Tashkent during the Russian Revolution.The Tashkent Soviet was established on 2 March 1917 at an inaugural meeting which consisted of thirty five workers from the Central Asian Railway. It was headed by a technician by the name of I. I. Bel'kov...

(made up entirely of Russian soldiers and railway workers, with no Muslim members) launched an attack on the autonomous Jadid

Jadid

The Jadids were Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms Taraqqiparvarlar , Ziyalilar , or simply Yäşlär/Yoshlar...

government in Kokand

Kokand

early in 1918, which sadly left 14,000 dead. Resistance to the Bolsheviks by the local population (dismissed as 'Basmachi

Basmachi Revolt

The Basmachi movement or Basmachi Revolt was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim, largely Turkic peoples of Central Asia....

' or 'Banditry

Banditry

Banditry refers to the life and practice of bandits which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "one who is proscribed or outlawed; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand: usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest the mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain,...

' by Soviet historians) continued well into the 1920s.

During the 1921-22 famine, another million Kazakhs died from starvation. Today, the estimates suggest that the population of Kazakhstan would be closer to 20 million if there had been no starvation or massacre of Kazakhs.

Kengir Uprising

During the rule of Joseph Stalin, a prison labour camp of the Steplag division of the Gulag

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

was set up adjacent to the village of Kengir

Kengir

Kengir is a village in central Kazakhstan. During the Soviet era, a prison labor camp of Steplag division of Gulag in Kazakhstan was set up adjacent to it...

, near the River Kengir in central Kazakhstan. It was mentioned in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...

's book, The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago is a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn based on the Soviet forced labor and concentration camp system. The three-volume book is a narrative relying on eyewitness testimony and primary research material, as well as the author's own experiences as a prisoner in a gulag labor camp...

. The location of the camp was near the city of Dzhezkazgan. Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was a Soviet/Russian actor who has excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals...

is the most famous of the city's natives. There was a prison revolt in 1954, by political prisoner

Political prisoner

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....

s, criminals, and other inmates.

Oil and gas

After World War II

World War II

the Soviet Union rapidly industrialized Kazakhstan, and started prospecting for oil in the whole of Soviet Central Asia. Oil was found in Uzbekistan and both oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

and gas

Gas

Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...

were found in Turkmenistan. These fuel supplies would prove invaluable to the region over the coming years.

The central part of the Ferghana Valley's geological depression that forms the valley is characterized by block subsidence, originally to depths estimated at 6–7 km, largely filled with sediments that range in age as far as the Permian-Triassic boundary. Some of the sediments are marine carbonates and clays. The faults are upthrusts and over thrusts. Anticline

Anticline

In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...

s associated with these faults form traps for petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

and natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

, which has been discovered in 52 small fields.

Kazakhstan's Mangystau Province has an area of 165,600 square kilometers and a population of 316,847. It is a major oil

Oil

and gas-producing region. The city of Aktau

Aktau

Aktau , formerly known as Shevchenko , is a city in Kazakhstan's Mangyshlak Peninsula and country's only seaport on the Caspian Sea. It is the capital of Mangystau Province in western Kazakhstan...

was built in Kazakhstan's Mangyshlak Peninsula

Mangyshlak Peninsula

Mangyshlak or Mangghyshlaq Peninsula is located in westernKazakhstan. It borders on the Caspian Sea in the north and west.Administratively, the peninsula is in Kazakhstan's Mangystau Province. The largest city,and the capital of the province,...

a small village to house the region's oil workers in 1961. Over the years an inevitably large influx of Russian and Ukrainian oil and chemical workers flowed. Engineers discovered after large amounts of crude oil and petroleum

Petroleum

in the area in the days of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

and when drilling commenced, much of the area was built up around the industry is country's only seaport on the Caspian Sea.

From 1964 to 1991, the by then city was named Shevchenko to honour the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...

, who was once sadly sent away to this remote location because of his political beliefs. The average temperature on January is -3°C, on July +26°C. Average annual rainfall - 150 mm. Aktau had a population of 154,500 in 2004.

Metallurgy

Kazakhstan had started to produce and refine sizable amounts of tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

and uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

by the early 1970s. Vanadium

Vanadium

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...

and cobalt

Cobalt

Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....

were, and still are also mined in the south of the country. Uranium was also first produced in Uzbekistan in the 1970s.

The city of Zhezkazgan was created in 1938 in connection with the exploitation of the rich local copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

deposits. In 1973 a large mining and metallurgical complex was constructed to the southeast to smelt the copper that until then had been sent elsewhere for processing. Other metal ores mined and processed locally are manganese

Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...

, iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

and gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

.It is on a reservoir of the Kara-Kengir River and has a population of 90,000 (1999 census).

Its urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

includes the neighbouring mining town of Satpayev

Satpaev

Satpayev , until 1990 Nikolsk is a city in Kazakhstan's Karagandy Province. The city is named after Kanysh Satpayev, one of the founders of Soviet metallogeny, principal advocate and the first president of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences....

, total population 148,700. 55% of the population are Kazakhs

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

, 30% Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, with smaller minorities of Ukrainians

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

, Germans

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

, Chechens and Koreans. Dzhezkazgan has an extreme continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

. The average temperature ranges from +24°C (75°F) in July to -16°C (3°F) in January.

Today the city is the headquarters of the copper conglomerate Kazakhmys

Kazakhmys

Kazakhmys Plc is a UK-registered copper mining company whose main assets are located in Kazakhstan. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. The headquarters of its main subsidiary, Kazakhmys Corporation, are located in the city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan...

, the city's main employer. The company has subsidiaries in China

China

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and is listed on the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

Cement

Cement was a major product in both the citys of Shymkent

Shymkent

Shymkent , formerly known as Chimkent , is the capital city of South Kazakhstan Province, the most populated region in Kazakhstan. It is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan behind Almaty and Astana with a population of 629,600 . A major railroad junction on the Turkestan-Siberia Railway, the...

and Dushanbe

Dushanbe

in the south of the region.

Hydro-electricity

By the early 1970s, the Soviets had started to build some of their hydroelectric power stations in Easter Kazakhstan, Kirgystan and Tadjikistan as part of an overall development strategy. The waters of the Ili River

Ili River

thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...

and of Lake Balkhash are considered to be of a vital economic importance to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

. The Ili river is dammed for hydroelectric power at Kaptchagayskoye, and the river waters are heavily diverted for agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

and for industrial

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

purposes.

Cotton

The Soviets began to grow cotton in Uzbekistan after the Virgin Lands project and the mass use of the isolated and now shrinking Aral Sea

Aral Sea

The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...

for desert irrigation in the early 1950s. A massive expansion of irrigation canals during the Soviet period, to irrigate cotton

Cotton

fields, wrought ecological carnage to the area, with the river drying up long before reaching the Aral Sea which, as a result, has shrunk to a small remnant of its former size. With millions of people now settled in these cotton areas (and politically repressive post-Soviet regimes in power in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

and Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

), it is not clear how the situation can be rectified..

The Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...

was founded in Kazakhstan on June 2, 1955, during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, as one of many long-range nuclear missile bases in the region, but diverged into space travel.

On June 8, 2005 the Russian Federation Council ratified an agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan extending Russia's rent term of the spaceport until 2050.

Culture, religion and ethnicity

Most of the inhabitants were either nomadic Turkic

Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

speakers like the Kazakhs or settled Turkic speakers like the Uzbeks. There were also some settled farming and urban Iranic

Iranian peoples

The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

communities like the Tadjiks and Bukhara in the south, and nomadic Mongolic Kyrgiz on the order with China

China

. The Slavic community was would grow very rapidly under communism and Russians would eventually become a major ethnic group in the region. The Slavic

Slavic peoples

population followed Orthodox Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, while the rest were mostly Sunni Muslims. Various nationality, such as the Meskhetian Turks

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

and Volga Germans would get banished to the region.
The Bolsheviks would quickly set about closing mosques and churches throughout the former USSR. This became particularly prevalent in the 1930s, but had been fully abandoned by the 1980s. Neither Christianity or Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

would give in to the intolerant Communist ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

Multi-media

External links

The Strange State of Soviet Central Asia Alicia Patterson Foundation Reporter
Keller, Bill (1989). " Afghan Cadets Reportedly Riot in a Capital in Soviet Central Asia", The New York Times.
Kazakh SSR Anthem YouTube
Uzbek SSR Anthem YouTube

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