Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Origins of the Modern Kyrgyz State

Present day Kyrgyzstan is a direct successor state of the Kyrgyz SSR which started out as the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast after the initial delimitation of the borders of Soviet Central Asia in October 1924. The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was nearly 172,000 square versts and consisted of the Pishkek, Karakol-Naryn, Osh, and Jalal-Abad okrugs. It was further divided among 75 volosts. In total it had six cities, 721 villages, 727 auls, and five khutors. Its population numbered 737,000 people of which 63.5% were Kyrgyz, 16.8% Russian, 15.4% Uzbek, and 4.3% other nationalities. In 1926 the Soviet government upgraded the territory to the Krygyz ASSR. Ten years later they upgraded it again to a full Soviet republic.

Source: Sait Omurzakov, Istoriia Kyrgyzov i Kyrgyzstana (Bishkek: Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz State Juridical Academy, 2012), 151-152.

2 comments:

derRach said...

Could you please tell us about the popular among the common people in the period of modern Kyrgyzstan, not the authorities? Also what products is Kyrgyzstan famous for?

J. Otto Pohl said...

Wrestling and boxing are popular sports. Korean soap operas dubbed in Russian are popular. Hip Hop is popular among young people. Kyrgyzstan's most important products are in the agricultural and mining sectors. Gold mined at Kumtor is a particularly important part of the GDP. As far as uniquely Kyrgyz products there is kumiss (fermented mare's milk) and the famous kalpaks worn by men.