Kyrgyzstan Table of Contents
The Mongols' invasion of Central Asia in the fourteenth century
devastated the territory of Kyrgyzstan, costing its people their
independence and their written language. The son of Chinggis (Genghis)
Khan, Dzhuchi, conquered the Kyrgyz tribes of the Yenisey region, who by
this time had become disunited. For the next 200 years, the Kyrgyz
remained under the Golden Horde and the Oriot and Jumgar khanates that
succeeded that regime. Freedom was regained in 1510, but Kyrgyz tribes
were overrun in the seventeenth century by the Kalmyks, in the
mid-eighteenth century by the Manchus, and in the early nineteenth
century by the Uzbeks.
The Kyrgyz began efforts to gain protection from more powerful
neighboring states in 1758, when some tribes sent emissaries to China. A
similar mission went to the Russian Empire in 1785. Between 1710 and
1876, the Kyrgyz were ruled by the Uzbek Quqon (Kokand) Khanate, one of
the three major principalities of Central Asia during that period (see
fig. 3). Kyrgyz tribes fought and lost four wars against the Uzbeks of
Quqon between 1845 and 1873. The defeats strengthened the Kyrgyz
willingness to seek Russian protection. Even during this period,
however, the Kyrgyz occupied important positions in the social and
administrative structures of the khanate, and they maintained special
military units that continued their earlier tradition of military
organization; some Kyrgyz advanced to the position of khan.
Source:
U.S. Library of Congress
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