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Destination : KYRGYZSTAN
The Kyrgyz Republic is located in the heart of the Eurasian continent. The country occupies a strategic location on the Silk Road - between the markets of the former Soviet Union and Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and China. A Central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions, Kyrgyzstan was annexed by Russia in 1864; it achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Current concerns include: privatization of state-owned enterprises, expansion of democracy and political freedoms, inter-ethnic relations, and terrorism. The capital of Kyrgyzstan is the city of Bishkek with a population of 589,000 people. Kyrgyzstan occupies a strategic position astride the Tian Shan Range separating the Tarim basin to the east from the Fergana valley to the west and both from the vast asian steppes to the north. It is therefore not surprising that the Issyk Kul region has been the stage for much of the action in that part of the world.
The ethnic composition of the republic was very diverse in Soviet times and a substantial part of the population never learned the Kyrgyz language; there are still about 80 nationalities and ethnic groups , but a lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, etc. left the country during the "perestroika". In 1996 The Kyrgyz Republic became the only Central Asian country that restored Russian as a second official language. That fact probably stopped a lot of Russian-speaking people from leaving their homes and migrating to Russia.
Now there are approximately 55-60% Kyrgyz, 15-21% Russian & Ukranian, 13-15% Uzbek.
Early residents were the indo-European Saka nomads who opposed and finally stopped Alexander The Great's eastward penetration into Asia in the 4th century BC. The Saka eventually had to submit to turkic speaking tribes who occupied the Issik Kul area until they fell to the Tang Dynasty Chinese in the 7th century. Tang expansion reached as far as Tashkent and Gilgit but diplomatic blunders by a Chinese general provoked a coalition of Turks, Arabs and Tibetans who trounced the Tang in the Talas valley (in north-west Kyrgyzstan) and drove them out of Central Asia in 751.Muslim Qarakhanid Turks then controlled the Issik Kul plateau until they were overcome in 1130 by the Buddhist Kara Khitan mongols in who had been pushed out of northern China by the Djurchen tribes who came from the Ussuri river region of Manchuria.The Kara-Khitan submitted to Genghis Khan and the Issik Kul plateau became part of the Chaghatai Mohgolistan which, having survived the advent of Tamerlane, became host to the Kyrgyz-Kazaks after their rebellious split with the sedentary Uzbek.
The northernmost part of the country is on the same latitude as Rome, and the southernmost end is on a level with the island of Sicily. The borders of the Republic generally follow natural boundaries - mountain ranges and rivers. Kyrgyzstan borders on Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the south and east.
Kyrgyzstan is remarkable for its natural beauty. It is a country of sunshine, high snow-covered mountains, deep gorges cut by swift rivers and 1,923 mountain lakes. The country's generally mountainous terrain has an average elevation of 2,750 metres above sea level. Because of differences in elevation and degree of shelter, the climate of the Republic differs widely. In the summer months, travellers can spend part of a single day in a sunny valley, in a flowering meadow high in the mountains, and in glaciers above the clouds. Extensive mountain ranges featuring ridges, deep gorges, wide steppe valleys and virgin forests are complemented by more than 40,000 rivers and streams that provide irrigation and a vast potential for hydroelectricity production.
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