Bishkek: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:34, 27 April 2005

Revision as of 12:38, 27 April 2005

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==History==

Originally a caravan rest stop on one of the branches of the [[Silk Road]] through the Tien Shan range, the ___location was fortified in 1825 by the [[Uzbek]] khan of [[Kokhand]] with a mud fort. In 1862, the fort was conquered and razed when [[Imperial Russia|Tzarist Russia]] occupied and annexed the area. The site became a Russian garrison and was redeveloped and named [[Pishpek]] from 1877 onward by the Russian government, which encouraged the settlement of Russian peasants by giving them fertile [[black soil]] farms to develop. In [[1926]], the city became the capital of the newly established [[Kirghiz [[ASSR]] and was renamed Frunze after [[Mikhail Frunze]], [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s close associate who was born in Bishkek and played key roles during [[Russian Revolution of 1905|1905]] and [[Russian Revolution of 1917|1917 revolutions]] and during the [[Russian civil war]] of the early 1920s.

Following the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)|breakup of the Soviet Union]], Kyrgyzstan achieved independence in 1991, and the city was renamed Bishkek. Today, it is a vibrant, rapidly modernizing city, with many restaurants and cafes and lots of second-hand European cars crowding its streets. During the Soviet era the city was home to a large number of industrial plants, but most have been shut down or operate today on a much reduced scale. Bishkek was also home to a major Soviet military pilot training school, and among its students was the subsequent president of [[Egypt]], [[Hosni Mubarak]].

In 2002, the [[United States]] obtained the right to use the nearby Manas International Airport as an air base for its military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, naming its base [[Ganci U.S. Airbase]]. Russia subsequently established an airbase of its own in nearby [[Kant, Kyrgyzstan|Kant]].

==Sights==