Bishkek
(1999 pop. 780,000). Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, was named Pishpek until 1926 and Frunze throughout most of the Soviet period. In April 1991, Bishkek acquired its present Kyrgyz name. The city is situated in the valley of the Chu River, north of the Kyrgyz Ala Tau range, at an elevation of 750 meters. Bishkek is on a railway branch connecting the Kyrgyz Republic with Kazakhstan; highway connections with other cities of the republic are complicated by the mountainous topography. There is also an international airport. The population of the city consists mainly of Kyrgyz, Russians, Uzbeks, and Ukrainians.
In the Nestorian Christian cemetery at Bishkek, the oldest tombs date to the Kara-Khitay period (twelfth century). (The Nestorian Christian church separated from the Byzantine church after 431 because of a doctrinal difference.) The khanate of Quqon (Kokand) erected a fortress at Pishpek in the early nineteenth century, which czarist Russian forces destroyed in 1862. The Russian town that arose on the spot was designated a city and district center in the Semirech'e region in 1878. Soviet power was proclaimed at Pishpek on 1 January (or 14 January by the Gregorian calendar), 1918, and the city (renamed Frunze in honor of native son and Red Army commander Mikhail Frunze [1885–1925]) became the capital of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic from its establishment in 1936.
Major industries in Bishkek include spinning, textile production, and machine building. Today Bishkek is home to government offices, several universities and institutes, the National Academy of Sciences, theaters, orchestras, museums, and parks.
Further Reading
Barthold, Vasilii V. ([1898] 1956) "History of the Semirechyé." In Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, trans. by Vladimir Minorsky and Tatiana Minorsky. Reprint ed. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 73–171.
Frunze: Entsiklopediia (Encyclopedia). (1984) Frunze, Kyrgyzstan: Glavnaia redaktsiia Kirgizskoi Sovetskoi Entsiklopedii.
Prior, D. (1994) Bishkek Handbook: Inside and Out. Bishkek, Kyrgzystan: Literary Kyrgyzstan/Far Flung Press.
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