>>74905493Kyrgyzstan,[a] officially the Kyrgyz Republic,[b:lit][12] is a landlocked country in Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the capital and largest city of the country. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast.[13][14][15] Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's 7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.[16]
Kyrgyzstan's history spans a variety of cultures and empires. Although geographically isolated by its highly mountainous terrain, Kyrgyzstan has been at the crossroads of several great civilizations as part of the Silk Road along with other commercial routes. Inhabited by a succession of tribes and clans, Kyrgyzstan has periodically fallen under larger domination, for example the Turkic nomads, who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states. It was first established as the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate. Later, in the 13th century, Kyrgyzstan was conquered by the Mongols; it regained independence, but was later invaded by the Dzungar Khanate. After the fall of Dzhungars, Kyrgyz and Kipchaks were an integral part of Kokand Khanate. In 1876, Kyrgyzstan became part of the Russian Empire, and in 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was formed to become a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Following Mikhail Gorbachev's democratic reforms in the USSR, in 1990 pro-independence candidate Askar Akayev was elected president. On 31 August 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared independence from the USSR and a democratic government was established. Kyrgyzstan attained sovereignty as a nation state after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Tian Shan Mountains in East Kyrgyzstan
After independence, Kyrgyzstan was officially a unitary presidential republic; after the Tulip Revolution it became a unitary parliamentary republic, although it gradually developed an executive president and was governed as a semi-presidential republic before reverting to a presidential system in 2021. Throughout its existence, the country has continued to endure ethnic conflicts,[17][18] revolts,[19] economic troubles,[20][21] transitional governments[22] and political conflict.[23]
Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organisation of Turkic States, the Türksoy community and the United Nations. It is a developing country ranked 118th in the Human Development Index, and is the second poorest country in Central Asia after neighbouring Tajikistan. The country's transitional economy is heavily dependent on deposits of gold, coal and uranium.
Etymology
Statue of Manas in Bishkek
Kyrgyz is derived from the Turkic word for "We are forty", believed to refer to the forty clans of Manas, a legendary hero who united forty regional clans. The Persian suffix -stan means "place of".
The 40-ray sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan is a reference to those same forty tribes and the graphical element in the sun's center depicts the wooden crown, called tunduk, of a yurt—a portable dwelling traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia.
The country's official name is Kyrgyz Republic, used in international arenas and foreign relations.[24][25] In the English-speaking world, the spelling Kyrgyzstan is commonly used, while its former name Kirghizia[c] is rarely used.[26]
History
Main article: History of Kyrgyzstan
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2024)
Early history
Petroglyphs of local sheep, Sary Kamysh
The Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 AD.[27] From the tenth century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range and maintained their dominance over this territory for about 200 years.
There is a storytelling tradition of the Epic of Manas, which involves a warrior who unified all of the scattered tribes into a single nation in the 9th century. The trilogy, an element of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, expresses the memory of the nomadic peoples.[citation needed]
In the 12th century, the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the Altay Range and Sayan Mountains as a result of the Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, the Kyrgyz migrated south. The Kyrgyz peacefully became a part of the Mongol Empire in 1207.
Silk road caravansarai utilized during the Islamic Golden Age
Issyk Kul Lake was a stopover on the Silk Road, a land route for traders, merchants, and other travelers from the Far East to Europe. Kyrgyz tribes were overrun in the 17th century by the Mongols, in the mid-18th century by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of
