According to Russian sources, the fortress was built in the eponymous area in 1825 by the Kokand commander Lyashker-kushbegi on the orders of Madali-khan. At that time, it served as a major administrative center for the Kokand people in managing the Kyrgyz population in Semirechye, a base for tax collectors, a trading post, and a fortified outpost in the far northeast of the Kokand Khanate. The area of Pishpek initially covered 2.25 hectares.
According to Kyrgyz folk legend, someone from the Solto tribe named Pishpek (Bishkek — literally: a stirrer for churning kumis) was buried at this site. A mausoleum-dome was erected in his honor after his death. Therefore, the Kokand fortress established here was named Pishpek.
Built on the remnants of an early medieval settlement called "Kuznechnaya Fortress," Pishpek Fortress was located on the left bank of the Alamedin River, which flows from the snow-capped Kyrgyz Ridge. Being in the center of winter Kyrgyz pastures and at the crossroads of cattle-driving and trade routes, it thus held a dominant position.
The fortress had a typical layout for late medieval adobe fortifications, surrounded by two rows of high walls, pierced with loopholes and embrasures, corner towers, and gates, with a moat running along the outer perimeter of the walls. In plan, the fortress had an irregular quadrilateral shape, with residential buildings, barracks, shops, and mud huts of traders located behind the first fortress walls. Inside the citadel, occupying the eastern part of the fortification, were the commandant's house and those of other officials. There were also guard services, armories, a treasury, and various utility rooms — food warehouses, a slaughterhouse, and a well.
Sources report that Pishpek was a major transit trade center. It had caravanserais for merchants, a mosque, and shops. Near the western wall of the military fortress, a civil settlement of Kokand was being built. Here lived merchants and farmers.
To ensure the obedience of the surrounding Kyrgyz population, the commandants of Pishpek kept hostages (amanats) — children or relatives of prominent Kyrgyz feudal lords, incited inter-feudal disputes, and supported clan conflicts. Pishpek had a dungeon — a prison-well.
Several descriptions, drawings, and plans of Pishpek Fortress have survived — both before and after it was captured by the joint efforts of Kyrgyz rebels and Russian troops. Describing the fortress, one contemporary noted that it was surrounded by a double wall. The inner wall was higher than the outer and was so wide that, as claimed, a cart could pass along its top.
The outer moat surrounding the walls was deep, with a width of 10 to 16 meters. On the walls were located 8 bronze and iron cannons. Pishpek housed a garrison of 500 dzhigits, who were mainly recruited from Kyrgyz armed with spears, and from Sart who had rifles and sabers. There were approximately the same number of sarbaz — regular infantry.
With the acceptance of Russian citizenship by the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz in early 1855, the Kokand forces hurriedly fortified Pishpek and strengthened its garrison. Rumors reached the Russian authorities about the activation of Turkish and English agents in Kokand and other cities of Central Asia. An interesting report in this regard was made by the Governor-General of West Siberia, Gasford, to the military minister on May 31, 1855, which stated: "The Kokandis, incited by the Turkish Sultan (and probably the English...), numbering 9,000 under the command of a relative of the khan, arrived in early May at their border fortress Pishpek on the upper reaches of the Chu River."
The commandant of Pishpek was also replaced; Atybek was appointed. Under these conditions, the Chuy Kyrgyz were forced to temporarily endure new tax burdens and the outrages of Kokand soldiers. But not for long. Soon, one of the largest anti-Kokand uprisings broke out in Semirechye. The rebel Kazakhs and Kyrgyz dealt with the hated tax collectors, interrupted communications between Kokand fortresses, and besieged Pishpek. The troops sent against them from five Kokand panshahs (military commanders) were utterly defeated by the rebels near Pishpek. Eventually, the uprising was suppressed.
At the end of April — beginning of May 1858, Atybek, with a troop of 5,000 men, left Pishpek, crossed the Chu River, and began to plunder the surrounding population. Only upon learning that three companies of infantry and two hundred Cossacks were approaching from Verny to confront the Kokandis, was he forced to return to Pishpek.
In 1860, a two-thousand-strong Russian detachment under the command of Colonel I. E. Zimmermann set out from Verny to stop the plundering actions of the Kokandis and capture Tokmak. Appeals were sent to the nomadic Kyrgyz along the Chu, stating that the actions of the detachment were directed exclusively against the Kokandis. On August 26, 1860, Tokmak was captured, and soon after a brief siege, Pishpek was also taken. The fortress was destroyed with the active assistance of the Kyrgyz. However, when the Russian troops returned to Verny, the Kokandis rebuilt Pishpek, and in 1861, Rahmatulla was appointed its governor. The new commandant vigorously set about collecting increased taxes, forced the surrounding Kyrgyz population to work on the restoration of the Tokmak and Pishpek fortifications, and called for new hostages. Among those forced to give their son as a "student" in Pishpek was one of the largest feudal lords of the Chuy Valley, Baytyk Kanaev, whose mausoleum still rises to the right of the road from Frunze to Vorontsovka.
Thus, discontent against the Kokandis was brewing not only among the working masses but also among the feudal lords. Moreover, Rahmatulla detained 300 horses belonging to Baytyk and insulted his son. The Kyrgyz population decided to rise against the Kokandis once more. As folklore materials testify, during one of the holidays, Baytyk destroyed Rahmatulla, who had come to his aiyl, along with 60 sarbaz. In September 1862, all the Kyrgyz of the Chuy Valley rose up. A messenger was sent to Verny for help. The approaching Russian troops, led by the head of the Alatav district, G. A. Kolpakovsky, besieged Pishpek. On October 24, 1862, the Kokandis surrendered. With the help of the surrounding population, Pishpek Fortress was finally destroyed.
The fortress was the largest Kokand fortification in Kyrgyzstan.
Participants in the military operations during the capture of Pishpek Fortress from 1860 to 1864..
