Bishkek cityscape

Bishkek (population in 2005 approx. 900,000), founded in 1878 and from 1926-1991 known as Frunze, after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze, is the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan). In Kyrgyz, a Bishkek is a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis), the Kyrgyz national drink. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Photo by Hunne from the German Wikipedia. ... Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Photo by Hunne from the German Wikipedia. ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Mikhail Vassilyvich Frunze (1885- 31 October 1925) was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution. ... In politics a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has an alternative meaning based on an alternative meaning of capital) is the principal city or town associated with its government. ... Categories: Language stubs | Languages of China | Languages of Kyrgyzstan | Turkic languages ... Kumis (called airag by the Mongolians), is a traditional drink of the people of Central Asia. ...

Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble public buildings combined with Soviet-style apartment blocks and other buildings. It is laid out on a checkerboard pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees providing shade in the hot summers and a generally beautifying effect to the city's otherwise rather drab appearance. Soviet Union - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

Bishkek is situated at about 800 m altitude on the northern fringe of the Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tien Shan, which rises up to 4,800 m and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui river drains most of the area. The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山; Pinyin: Tiān Shān; celestial mountains) mountain range is located in Central Asia, in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of western China. ... The Chui river drains the northern Kyrgyz ranges of the western Tien Chan, crossing the Chui valley before leaving Kazakhstan. ...

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 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, Lenin's close associate who was born in Bishkek and played key roles during 1905 and 1917 revolutions and during the Russian civil war of the early 1920s. Articles related to The Great Silk Road. ... Kokand (or Khokand or Kokhand or Quqon) is a city in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... Chernozem, or Black Earth (from Russian: ), is a kind of soil. ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) (April 22 (April 10 (O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a country-wide spasm of both anti-government and undirected violence. ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a political movement in Russia that climaxed in 1917 with the overthrow of the provisional government that had replaced the Russian Tsar system, and led to the establishment of the Soviet Union, which lasted until its collapse in 1991. ... The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1920. ...

Following the 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. The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964– 1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ... Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak (Arabic : محمد حسنى سيد مبارك ) commonly known as Hosni Mubarak, has been the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt since October 14, 1981. ...

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.

Sights

• The Ala-Too range, only 40 km away, provides a spectacular backdrop to the city, and Ala Archa National Park is a sight worth visiting.
• Several statues of Vladimir Lenin remain, the largest being opposite the parliament building in a leafy park -- having been moved there in 2003 from its original more conspicuous location on the main square of the city. An equestrian statue of Mikhail Frunze still stands in a large park across from the train station.
• The main government building, the White House, is a huge seven-story marble block and the former headquarters of the Communist Party of the Kirghiz SSR.