Kyrgyz in the Russian Empire
The Conquest of the Kyrgyz by Russia.
In the last quarter of the 18th century, the southern tribes were part of the Kokand Khanate, while the northern tribes were under the authority of their tribal leaders.
With the emergence of the Kokand possession in 1709, alongside the settled groups of Uzbeks and Tajiks known as sarts, there were also representatives of the ilatiya (partly settled by that time, and mainly semi-nomadic Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kipchaks, Turks, and other ethnicities), whose villages and winter pastures were located within the boundaries of the possessions. During the 20s to 50s of the 18th century, the Kokand Khanate expanded by incorporating foothill and mountainous territories, and the Kyrgyz living there became part of it. During the invasion of Fergana by the Dzungar-Oirat troops, when the Kyrgyz bey from the Kusch tribe, Kubat, successfully fought against foreign invaders leading Kyrgyz militias, the possessions of the khanate continued to expand. In the 1760s, the unification of all Kyrgyz tribes in the Fergana Valley within the Kokand Khanate was completed, and many tribal leaders began to participate in the governance of the khanate. In the 20s to 30s of the 19th century, the Kyrgyz from the northern territories (Toguz-Toro, Talas, Atbashy, Naryn, the Tien Shan mountains, Chuy, Kochkor, Jumgal, Kemin, and Susamyr valleys, and the Issyk-Kul basin) became part of the khanate.
Pressure from Kokand prompted some Kyrgyz beys to turn their attention to the Russian Empire. They understood that only by establishing relations with Russia and securing its support could they preserve their power and political independence. The first such attempts were made by Atake-baatyr, the bey of the sarybagysh tribe, which occupied the foothills of Chuy. He sent a delegation to St. Petersburg consisting of Abdyrahman Kuchakov and Shergazy. They arrived in Omsk and were received by Catherine II in St. Petersburg on March 15, 1786. The delegation presented the empress with gifts, including one slave, the skins of three leopards, and five lynxes, and presented two horses to the governor-general. Without waiting for the return of his first delegation, Atake-baatyr sent a second delegation to Omsk in the summer of 1788, led by Satymbay, the son of Abdyrahman. Thus, the first delegations made a successful step towards the formation of diplomatic relations.
By the 1840s, a trend towards political consolidation of some tribes began to emerge. However, the sarybagysh manap who proclaimed himself "khan of the Kyrgyz," Ormon Niyazbek uulu, was unable to achieve political unification of the local tribes. The Kyrgyz of Issyk-Kul, Talas, and Naryn continued to live under the leadership of their beys and manaps.
Russia gradually approached the possessions of the Kokand Khanate. In 1854, the fortress of Verny was built on the Almaty River. Meanwhile, the long-standing confrontation between the beys-manaps of the sarybagysh and bugu tribes led to their open conflict in the 1850s (Kenenasariev, 2009, pp. 98-110). Fearing turmoil, the supreme manap of the bugu tribe, Borombai, decided to accept Russian citizenship. On September 26, 1854, a delegation of the bugu tribe was sent to Omsk, the center of the West Siberian Governor-Generalship. On January 17, 1855, manap Kachybek Sheralin, as a trusted and authorized ambassador from his people, took an oath on the Quran to transition under the protection of Russia (Archive of Foreign Policy, pp. 52-68).
In the early 1860s, another escalation of Anglo-Russian rivalry occurred due to England's increased activity in Afghanistan, which prompted Russia to conquer the Kokand Khanate. Capturing the Kokand fortresses of Pishpek and Tokmak, the tsarist troops conquered the Chuy Kyrgyz in the early 1860s. Following them, as a result of several expeditions, the Naryn Kyrgyz recognized Russian citizenship. During the military campaigns of General M.G. Chernyaev against Auliye-Ata, Chimkent, and Tashkent from 1863 to 1865, the Kyrgyz of the Talas Valley were also conquered. The southern regions remained part of the Kokand Khanate until 1876, that is, until the final conquest of the khanate by Russia, when the Kyrgyz tribes were included in the Turkestan Governor-Generalship of the Russian Empire.
Kyrgyzstan as part of Russia
