Kyrgyz Fortresses
Archaeological studies of the Kokand fortresses and archival sources now allow us to speak with confidence about the existence of Kyrgyz fortresses.
For a long time, this information, especially from archival sources, did not attract the attention of historians. It was somehow taken for granted that nomads, who did not have a stable settlement, could not have their own fortresses.
The vague information about "mounds" and "small mounds" among the Kyrgyz, mentioned only in passing in the diaries and reports of travelers, was not taken seriously. This changed only after special archaeological excavations were conducted in the Ketmen-Tube valley, and all surviving written data were compiled.
Indeed, during field studies in the late 1940s, the well-known Soviet archaeologist A. N. Bernsham, describing the ruins of the central Tian Shan Cholok-Korgon fortress, classified it as a monument of Kyrgyz fortification art, of which, as he noted, there were very few.
Characterizing the sedentary settlements of the Talas Valley, another archaeologist, P. N. Kozhemyako, briefly mentioned a certain fortification of the Kyrgyz batyr Chynike, the ruins of which he dated to the 18th-19th centuries.
The first excavation work at such a monument was carried out in 1973 by V. D. Goryacheva and V. M. Ploskih during rescue archaeological research in the flood zone of the Toktogul Reservoir. This site was a fortress that the local Kyrgyz population called
Ulug-KorgonThe wall and one of the towers were cleared, two rooms were excavated, the fortress was mapped, and the internal layout was restored. As a result of the survey, the researchers concluded that the construction of the fortress widely utilized centuries-old Central Asian traditions, and there was also a continuity with local late medieval fortification architecture.
The fortress was built by the Kyrgyz in the 18th century, that is, before the Kokand colonization, and initially functioned as a clan tribal fortification, the base of the Ketmen-Tube feudal lord (by the way, one such feudal lord, named Satyke, was mentioned as having resisted the Kokand forces during the conquest of the valley). With the conquest of Ketmen-Tube by the Kokand Khanate, the old Kyrgyz fortress was expanded and fortified, acquiring the completed forms characteristic of similar fortifications of the Kokand, Bukhara, and Khiva Khanates of the 18th-19th centuries.
Since the voluntary incorporation of Kyrgyzstan into Russia, the fortress ceased to function, fell into disrepair, and was ultimately destroyed by the earthquake of 1946.
The authors also mention a small Kyrgyz fortress of the Talas manap Sadyr, built in the 18th century below Bauterek-Aryk. Sadyr is known from sources as a prominent Talas feudal lord who actively participated in the inter-feudal struggle against the Kazakhs in the 1760s and eventually fell into their captivity.
According to survey materials from the 19th century, during the Kokand period, the local Kyrgyz feudal lord Nurek Adzhibekov also had his own fortification in the Talas Valley. In 1843, the Issyk-Kul manap Borombai built the Kyzyl-Unkur fortress in the upper reaches of the river Juuqa. The manap Baytik had a fort near Pishpek; on San-Tash, Ormon-Khan built his Chon-Korgon, and manap Ryskulbek built one in Ketmen-Tube.
Information about the Kyrgyz fortifications of Ormon-Khan on San-Tash and Borombai on the river Juuqa can be found in a letter from Borombai to the district chief Peremyshlsky dated August 16, 1855. It states: "On the road from Almaty to the camps of the Kyrgyz of the Bogu clan (probably on San-Tash — B. D.), there was a 'Urman mound' (the fortress of Orion. — B. D.) and a decent mound of the Sart (i.e., Kokand people), subordinate to the Pishpek commandant." In this letter, he also mentions that there are 2 "mounds" on Issyk-Kul on the river Juuqa.
The cornet Luchchev wrote in a report dated October 2, 1855, to the district chief Peremyshlsky that the "Kokand mound" on San-Tash (60 fathoms long, 40 fathoms wide, up to 4 arshins high, surrounded by a ditch on the front side and a moat on the other sides) was destroyed in 1855. This occurred during the campaign against the Kyrgyz by the Cossack detachment of cornet Luchchev, who accompanied the returning Kyrgyz envoy manap Kachibek from Verny.
The construction techniques of both Kyrgyz fortifications and Kokand fortresses were similar and, according to A. N. Bernsham, were presumably adopted from Uzbek masters. In any case, Bernsham is absolutely right when he states that "the technical constructive techniques of these structures carry echoes of various construction methods, often reviving the craftsmanship of deep antiquity."
Special archaeological surveys, along with references to archival documents, diaries, and notes of 19th-century travelers, allow us to assert that the Kyrgyz had fortifications even before the Kokand colonization, but they did not withstand the test of time and, naturally, did not survive to this day. The Kokand authorities, as noted by V. M. Ploskih, did not encourage the construction of their own Kyrgyz fortifications, so no Kyrgyz fortress dating back to the early years of Kokand rule has been found. As the role and power of the Kyrgyz feudal lords grew, they began to build their own fortifications: first as administrative points, and later as their own feudal bases, no longer connected to service to Kokand. However, both Kokand and Kyrgyz fortresses turned out to be short-lived.
With the voluntary acceptance of Russian citizenship by the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz in January 1855, a small Cossack detachment with a rocket launcher was sent to Chu, which was to patrol between Chu and Verny, preventing attacks by Kokand troops on the already Russian-subjugated Kazakhs and Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz. The existing Kokand and Kyrgyz fortifications only hindered this, and therefore were destroyed. In general, as the Kyrgyz gradually accepted Russian citizenship, such fortifications were either destroyed or fell into disrepair. The settlements that arose after the arrival of Russian-Ukrainian settlers and settling Kyrgyz no longer required the construction of bulky and ineffective fortress walls and fortifications as such. The new social relations that developed in Kyrgyzstan with the voluntary incorporation into Russia gave rise to new types of housing. Cities began to emerge here.
Kokand and Kyrgyz fortifications
