Bishkek
Encyclopedia
Bishkek formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan
.
Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province
which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz
word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis
), the Kyrgyz national drink. Founded in 1825 as the Kyrgyz-Khokand fortress of "Bishkek", then, in 1862, named as the Russian fortress Pishpek (крепость Пишпек), in 1926 the city was renamed Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik
military leader Mikhail Frunze
. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament restored the city's historical name.
Bishkek is situated at about 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) altitude just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too
range, an extension of the Tian Shan
mountain range, which rises up to 4855 metres (15,928.5 ft) and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan
. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway
by a spur line.
Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards and, especially outside the city centre, thousands of smaller privately built houses. It is laid out on a grid pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees which provide shade in the hot summers.
through the Tian Shan
range, the location was fortified in 1825 by the Uzbek
khan of Kokhand with a mud fort.
In 1862, the fort was conquered and razed when Tsarist Russia annexed the area. Russian built the town on, actually, empty field. The site became a Russian garrison and was redeveloped and named "Pishpek" from 1877 onward by the Russian government, which encouraged the settlement of Russian peasants by giving them fertile black soil farms to develop. In 1926, the city became the capital of the newly established Kirghiz ASSR
and was renamed "Frunze" after Mikhail Frunze
, Lenin's
close associate who was born in Bishkek and played key roles during the 1905
and 1917 revolutions
and during the Russian civil war
of the early 1920s.
The early 1990s were tumultuous. In June 1990, a state of emergency was declared following severe riots in southern Kyrgyzstan which threatened to spread to the capital. The city was renamed Bishkek on 5 February 1991 and Kyrgyzstan achieved independence later that year during the breakup of the Soviet Union
. Before independence, Bishkek was a "Russified" city, the majority of its population being ethnic Russians. In 2004, Russians made up approximately 20% of the city's population ( about 7-8% in 2011 ).
Today, Bishkek is a modernizing city, with many restaurants and cafes and lots of second-hand European and Japanese cars and minibuses crowding its streets. But streets and sidewalks never been fixed since russians start rapidly leaving this place from 1991. At the same time Bishkek still preserves its former Soviet feel, with Soviet-period buildings and gardens prevailing over newer structures. Unfortunately, people "with connections" with government, destroyed many parks inside the city, building houses and garages for themselves.
Bishkek is also the country's financial centre, with all of the country's 21 commercial banks featuring offices in the city. During the Soviet era, the city was home to a large number of industrial plants, but most have been shut down after 1991 or operate today on a much reduced scale. One of today's Bishkek's largest employment centres is Dordoy Bazaar
, which is one the major entrepôt
s for Chinese goods imported into CIS
countries.
s, and the Soviet period.
The central part of the city is primarily built on a rectangular grid plan. The city's main street is the east-west Chui Avenue (Prospekt Chui), named after the region's main river. In the Soviet era, it was called Lenin Avenue. Along, or within a block or two from it, many of the most important government buildings, universities, the Academy of Sciences compound, and so on, are to be found. The westernmost section of the avenue is known as Deng Xiaoping
Avenue.
The main north-south axis is Yusup Abdrakhmanov Street, still (2007) commonly referred to by its old name, Sovietskaya Street. Its northern and southern sections are called, respectively, Yelebesov and Baityk Batyr Streets. Several major shopping centres are located along it, and in the north it provides access to Dordoy Bazaar
.
Erkindik ("Freedom") Boulevard runs north-south, from the main railroad station (Bishkek II) south of Chui Avenue to the museum quarter and sculpture park just north of Chui Avenue, and further north toward the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the past, it was called Dzerzhinsky Boulevard—named after Communist
revolutionary, Felix Dzerzhinsky
—and its northern continuation is still called Dzerzhinsky Street.
An important east-west street is Jibek Jolu ('Silk Road
'). It runs parallel to Chui Avenue about a mile north of it, and is part of the main east-west road of Chui Province. Both the Eastern and Western bus terminals are located along Jibek Jolu.
There is a Roman Catholic church located at ul. Vasiljeva 197 (near Rynok Bayat). This is the only Catholic Cathedral in Kyrgyzstan.
, just inside the bypass highway on the north-eastern edge of the city, is a major retail and wholesale market.
mountain range, some 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) away, provides a spectacular backdrop to the city; the Ala Archa National Park
is only a 30 to 45 minutes drive away.
(Köppen climate classification
Dsa) averaging 322 clear days annually due to its mountainous location. Average precipitation
is around 440 millimetres (17.3 in) per year. Average daily temperature
s range from −3 °C in January to about 25 °C (77 °F) during July. The summer months are dominated by dry periods experiencing the occasional thunderstorm
which produces strong gusty winds and rare dust storm
s. The mountain
s to the south
provide a natural boundary to provide protection from much of the damaging weather along with the smaller chain which runs NW to SE. In the winter months, sparse snow storms
and frequent heavy fog
are the dominating features. When an inversion sets up, the fog can last for days at a time.
Responsibility for ambient air quality monitoring in Bishkek lies on Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology. In total, there are 7 air quality monitoring stations in Bishkek, measuring levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, and ammonia.
Bishkek uses the Kyrgystan currency, the som
. The som's value fluctuates regularly, but averages around 47 som per U.S. Dollar as of March 2011. The economy in Bishkek is primarily agricultural with the mass amounts of fruits, vegetables and livestock providing a co-existing system of bartering in the outlying regions. The streets of Bishkek are regularly lined with produce vendors in a market style venue. In the major portions of downtown there is a more urban cityscape with banks, stores, markets and malls. The most sought after of the goods are the prevalent hand-crafted artisan pieces; these include statues, carvings, paintings and many nature based sculptures.
was mayor until his resignation in August 2005, following which his deputy Arstanbek Nogoev
took over the mayorship. Nogoev was in turn removed from his position in October 2007 through a decree of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
and replaced by businessman and former first deputy prime minister Daniar Usenov. In July 2008 former head of the Kyrgyz Railways Nariman Tuleyev
was appointed mayor, who was dismissed by the interim government after 7 April 2010. Now interim mayor is Isa Omurkulov, also a former head of the Kyrgyz Railways.
, the biggest football stadium in Kyrgyzstan and the only one eligible to host international matches. Several Bishkek-based football teams are playing on this pitch, including six-times Kyrgyzstan League champions Dordoi-Dynamo
.
The city is home to the Bandy
Federation of Kyrgyzstan which is a member of the IOC recognized Federation of International Bandy. Alex Kantrowitz (russian man), originally from Bishkek, is a noted olympic swimmer for the Czech Republic.
In addition, the following international schools serve the expatriate community in Bishkek:
).
Taxi cabs can be found throughout the city.
There is no subway in Bishkek, but the city is considering designing and building a light rail system (Бишкекское лёгкое метро).
, Tokmok
, Kemin
, Issyk Ata, or the Korday
border crossing.
Long-distance regular bus and minibus services to all parts of the country, as well as to Almaty
(the largest city in neighboring Kazakhstan
) and Kashgar
, China, run mostly from the newer grand Western Bus Station; only a smaller minority of them runs from the Eastern Station.
The Dordoy Bazaar on the north-eastern outskirts of the city also contains makeshift terminals for frequent minibuses to suburban towns in all directions (from Sokuluk
in the west to Tokmak
in the east) and to some buses taking traders to Kazakhstan and Siberia.
There are also long-distance trains that leave for Siberia (Novosibirsk
and Novokuznetsk
), via Almaty
, over the Turksib route, and to Yekaterinburg
(Sverdlovsk) in the Urals, via Astana
. These services are remarkably slow (over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg), due to long stops at the border and the indirect route (the trains first have to go west for more than a 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) before they enter the main Turksib line and can continue to the east or north). For example, as of the fall of 2008, train No. 305 Bishkek-Yekaterinburg was scheduled to take 11 hours to reach the Shu
junction—a distance of some 269 kilometres (167.1 mi) by rail, and less than half of that by road.
(IATA
code FRU), located approximately 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) northwest of the city centre, and readily reachable by taxi.
In 2002, the United States obtained the right to use Manas International Airport as an air base
for its military operations in Afghanistan
and Iraq
. Russia subsequently (2003) established an air base of its own (Kant Air Base) near Kant
some 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) east of Bishkek. It is based at a facility that used to be home to a major Soviet military pilot training school; one of its students, Hosni Mubarak
, later became president of Egypt
.
, Kazakhstan
Astana
, Kazakhstan Colorado Springs
, Colorado
, United States
, since 1994 Meriden
, Connecticut
, USA, since 2005 Ankara
, Turkey
İzmir
, Turkey Ürümqi
, People's Republic of China
Minsk
, Belarus
, since 2008
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
.
Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province
Chuy Province
Chuy Province or Chui Province is the northernmost province of the Kyrgyz Republic. It is bounded on the north by Kazakhstan, and clockwise, Issyk Kul Province, Naryn Province, Jalal-Abad Province and Talas Province...
which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz language
Kyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan...
word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis
Kumis
Kumis, also spelled kumiss or koumiss in English is a fermented dairy product traditionally made from mare's milk. The drink remains important to the peoples of the Central Asian steppes, of Turkic and Mongol origin: Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Yakuts, Mongols and Kalmyks...
), the Kyrgyz national drink. Founded in 1825 as the Kyrgyz-Khokand fortress of "Bishkek", then, in 1862, named as the Russian fortress Pishpek (крепость Пишпек), in 1926 the city was renamed Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
military leader Mikhail Frunze
Mikhail Frunze
Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.-Life and Political Activity:Frunze was born in Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan, to a Moldovan medical practitioner and his Russian wife...
. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament restored the city's historical name.
Bishkek is situated at about 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) altitude just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too
Kyrgyz Ala-Too
The Kyrgyz Ala-Too is a large range in the North Tien-Shan. It stretches for a total length of 454 km from the west-end of Issyk-Kul to the town Taraz in Kazakhstan. It runs in the east-west direction, separating Chuy Valley from Kochkor Valley, Suusamyr Valley, and Talas Valley. Talas Ala-Too...
range, an extension of the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
mountain range, which rises up to 4855 metres (15,928.5 ft) and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway
Turkestan-Siberia Railway
The Turkestan–Siberian Railway is a broad gauge railway that connects Central Asia with Siberia. It starts north of Tashkent in Uzbekistan at Arys, where it branches off from the Trans-Caspian Railway. It heads roughly northeast through Shymkent, Taraz, Bishkek to the former Kazakh capital of...
by a spur line.
Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards and, especially outside the city centre, thousands of smaller privately built houses. It is laid out on a grid pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees which provide shade in the hot summers.
History
Originally a caravan rest stop (possibly founded by the Sogdians) on one of the branches of the Silk RoadSilk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
through the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
range, the location was fortified in 1825 by the Uzbek
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
khan of Kokhand with a mud fort.
In 1862, the fort was conquered and razed when Tsarist Russia annexed the area. Russian built the town on, actually, empty field. The site became a Russian garrison and was redeveloped and named "Pishpek" from 1877 onward by the Russian government, which encouraged the settlement of Russian peasants by giving them fertile black soil farms to develop. In 1926, the city became the capital of the newly established Kirghiz ASSR
Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic existing from 1920 until 1925, when it took the name of Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic....
and was renamed "Frunze" after Mikhail Frunze
Mikhail Frunze
Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.-Life and Political Activity:Frunze was born in Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan, to a Moldovan medical practitioner and his Russian wife...
, Lenin's
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
close associate who was born in Bishkek and played key roles during the 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
and 1917 revolutions
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and during the Russian civil war
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
of the early 1920s.
The early 1990s were tumultuous. In June 1990, a state of emergency was declared following severe riots in southern Kyrgyzstan which threatened to spread to the capital. The city was renamed Bishkek on 5 February 1991 and Kyrgyzstan achieved independence later that year during the breakup of the Soviet Union
History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)
The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991, spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth stagnated...
. Before independence, Bishkek was a "Russified" city, the majority of its population being ethnic Russians. In 2004, Russians made up approximately 20% of the city's population ( about 7-8% in 2011 ).
Today, Bishkek is a modernizing city, with many restaurants and cafes and lots of second-hand European and Japanese cars and minibuses crowding its streets. But streets and sidewalks never been fixed since russians start rapidly leaving this place from 1991. At the same time Bishkek still preserves its former Soviet feel, with Soviet-period buildings and gardens prevailing over newer structures. Unfortunately, people "with connections" with government, destroyed many parks inside the city, building houses and garages for themselves.
Bishkek is also the country's financial centre, with all of the country's 21 commercial banks featuring offices in the city. During the Soviet era, the city was home to a large number of industrial plants, but most have been shut down after 1991 or operate today on a much reduced scale. One of today's Bishkek's largest employment centres is Dordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar is a large wholesale and retail market in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It is one of Asia's greatest public market places, comparable to Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market or Tehran's Grand Bazaar...
, which is one the major entrepôt
Entrepôt
An entrepôt is a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying import duties, often at a profit. This profit is possible because of trade conditions, for example, the reluctance of ships to travel the entire length of a long trading route, and selling to the entrepôt...
s for Chinese goods imported into CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...
countries.
Orientation
Though the city is relatively young, the surrounding area has some sites of interest dating from prehistory, the Greco-Buddhist period, the period of Nestorian influence, the era of the Central Asian khanateKhanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
s, and the Soviet period.
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
Avenue.
The main north-south axis is Yusup Abdrakhmanov Street, still (2007) commonly referred to by its old name, Sovietskaya Street. Its northern and southern sections are called, respectively, Yelebesov and Baityk Batyr Streets. Several major shopping centres are located along it, and in the north it provides access to Dordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar is a large wholesale and retail market in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It is one of Asia's greatest public market places, comparable to Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market or Tehran's Grand Bazaar...
.
Erkindik ("Freedom") Boulevard runs north-south, from the main railroad station (Bishkek II) south of Chui Avenue to the museum quarter and sculpture park just north of Chui Avenue, and further north toward the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the past, it was called Dzerzhinsky Boulevard—named after Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
revolutionary, Felix Dzerzhinsky
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky was a Communist revolutionary, famous as the first director of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, known later by many names during the history of the Soviet Union...
—and its northern continuation is still called Dzerzhinsky Street.
An important east-west street is Jibek Jolu ('Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
'). It runs parallel to Chui Avenue about a mile north of it, and is part of the main east-west road of Chui Province. Both the Eastern and Western bus terminals are located along Jibek Jolu.
There is a Roman Catholic church located at ul. Vasiljeva 197 (near Rynok Bayat). This is the only Catholic Cathedral in Kyrgyzstan.
City centre
- State Historical Museum, located in Ala-Too SquareAla-Too SquareAla-Too Square is the central square in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The square was built in 1984 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Kyrgyz SSR, at which time a massive statue of Lenin was placed in the square's center...
, the main city square - State Museum of Applied Arts, containing examples of Kyrgyz traditional handicraftHandicraftHandicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...
s - Frunze House Museum
- Statue of Ivan PanfilovIvan PanfilovNot to be confused with Major General Alexei Pavlovich Panfilov, who is known for negotiating the creation of the Anders Army.In Allen Paul's book Katyn: Stalin's Massacre and the Triumph of Truth , page 172, it is written that the name of the assistant chief of the General Staff of the Red Army...
stands in the park near the White House. - An equestrian statue of Mikhail FrunzeMikhail FrunzeMikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.-Life and Political Activity:Frunze was born in Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan, to a Moldovan medical practitioner and his Russian wife...
still stands in a large park (Boulevard Erkindik) across from the train station. - The train station itself was built in 1946 by German prisoners of war and has survived since then without further renovation or repairs; most of those who built it perished and were buried in unmarked pits near the station.
- The main government building, the White House, is a huge, seven story marble block and the former headquarters of the Communist Party of the Kirghiz SSRKirghiz Soviet Socialist RepublicThe Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kirghiz SSR, the Kyrgyz SSR, or even Kirghizia, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union...
- At Ala-Too Square, there is an Independence monument where the changing of the guards may be watched.
- Osh bazaar, west of the downtown area, is a large, picturesque produce market
Outer neighbourhoods
The Dordoy BazaarDordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar is a large wholesale and retail market in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It is one of Asia's greatest public market places, comparable to Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market or Tehran's Grand Bazaar...
, just inside the bypass highway on the north-eastern edge of the city, is a major retail and wholesale market.
Outside the city
The Kyrgyz Ala-TooKyrgyz Ala-Too
The Kyrgyz Ala-Too is a large range in the North Tien-Shan. It stretches for a total length of 454 km from the west-end of Issyk-Kul to the town Taraz in Kazakhstan. It runs in the east-west direction, separating Chuy Valley from Kochkor Valley, Suusamyr Valley, and Talas Valley. Talas Ala-Too...
mountain range, some 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) away, provides a spectacular backdrop to the city; the Ala Archa National Park
Ala Archa National Park
The Ala Archa National Park is an alpine national park in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, established in 1976 and located approximately 40 km south of the capital city of Bishkek...
is only a 30 to 45 minutes drive away.
Climate
Bishkek has a humid continental climateHumid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
(Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
Dsa) averaging 322 clear days annually due to its mountainous location. Average precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
is around 440 millimetres (17.3 in) per year. Average daily temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
s range from −3 °C in January to about 25 °C (77 °F) during July. The summer months are dominated by dry periods experiencing the occasional thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
which produces strong gusty winds and rare dust storm
Dust storm
A dust / sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil to move from one place and deposition...
s. The mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s to the south
South
South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
provide a natural boundary to provide protection from much of the damaging weather along with the smaller chain which runs NW to SE. In the winter months, sparse snow storms
Winter storm
A winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are formed that only occur at low temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are low enough to allow ice to form...
and frequent heavy fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
are the dominating features. When an inversion sets up, the fog can last for days at a time.
Demographics
Bishkek is the most populated city in Kyrgyzstan. Its population, according to the Population and Housing Census of 2009, was 835,800.Air Quality
Emissions of air pollutants in Bishkek amounted to 21.9 thousand tons in 2008. Of all other cities of Kyrgyzstan, the level of air pollution in Bishkek is the highest with occasional exceeding maximum allowable concentrations by several times, especially in the city's center.Responsibility for ambient air quality monitoring in Bishkek lies on Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology. In total, there are 7 air quality monitoring stations in Bishkek, measuring levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, and ammonia.
Economy
Kyrgyzstani som
The som is the currency of the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. The ISO 4217 currency code is KGS. The som is sub-divided into 100 tyiyn...
. The som's value fluctuates regularly, but averages around 47 som per U.S. Dollar as of March 2011. The economy in Bishkek is primarily agricultural with the mass amounts of fruits, vegetables and livestock providing a co-existing system of bartering in the outlying regions. The streets of Bishkek are regularly lined with produce vendors in a market style venue. In the major portions of downtown there is a more urban cityscape with banks, stores, markets and malls. The most sought after of the goods are the prevalent hand-crafted artisan pieces; these include statues, carvings, paintings and many nature based sculptures.
Government
Local government is administered by the Bishkek Mayor's Office. Askarbek SalymbekovAskarbek Salymbekov
Askarbek Salymbekov is a Kyrgyz politician. He was a former mayor of the capital Bishkek and withdrew his candidacy for another term in 2005. He was replaced on August 18, 2005 by Arstanbek Nogoev who was voted to become the capital's new mayor by a vote of 37 for and 3 against.-References:...
was mayor until his resignation in August 2005, following which his deputy Arstanbek Nogoev
Arstanbek Nogoev
Arstanbek Imankulovich Nogoev was the mayor of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from 18 August 2005 to 10 October 2007. He graduated from the Frunze Polytechnic Institute in 1974, where he studied in the Faculty of Technology and published several monographs on the topic of agriculture...
took over the mayorship. Nogoev was in turn removed from his position in October 2007 through a decree of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev is a politician who served as the second President of Kyrgyzstan, from 2005 to 2010...
and replaced by businessman and former first deputy prime minister Daniar Usenov. In July 2008 former head of the Kyrgyz Railways Nariman Tuleyev
Nariman Tuleyev
Nariman Tuleyev is a Kyrgyz railway developer and politician.He is the CEO of the Kyrgyz Railway and in 2008 announced that work will commence on the electrification of the line which connects the capital Bishkek with the Kazakhstan railway network....
was appointed mayor, who was dismissed by the interim government after 7 April 2010. Now interim mayor is Isa Omurkulov, also a former head of the Kyrgyz Railways.
Sports
Bishkek is home to SpartakSpartak Stadium (Kyrgyzstan)
Spartak Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 23,000. It is currently the home ground of the Kyrgyzstan national football team....
, the biggest football stadium in Kyrgyzstan and the only one eligible to host international matches. Several Bishkek-based football teams are playing on this pitch, including six-times Kyrgyzstan League champions Dordoi-Dynamo
Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn
FC Dordoi is a Kyrgyz football club based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The club was founded in 1998.The club is owned by Dordoi Association, the group of companies which also owns Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek.-History:*1997: Founded as FC Dordoi Naryn....
.
The city is home to the Bandy
Bandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
Federation of Kyrgyzstan which is a member of the IOC recognized Federation of International Bandy. Alex Kantrowitz (russian man), originally from Bishkek, is a noted olympic swimmer for the Czech Republic.
Education
Educational institutions in Bishkek include:
|
Kyrgyz State National University The Kyrgyz National University is a national university of Kyrgyzstan. It is based in Bishkek.-External links:*http://www.university.kg/ - Website of the Kyrgyz National University... |
In addition, the following international schools serve the expatriate community in Bishkek:
|
Transportation
Mass public transport
There is public transportation available, including buses, electric trolley buses, and public vans (known in Russian as marshrutkaMarshrutka
Marshrutka , from marshrutnoye taksi is a share taxi in the CIS countries, the Baltic states, and Bulgaria. Marshrutnoye taksi literally means routed taxicab...
).
Taxi cabs can be found throughout the city.
There is no subway in Bishkek, but the city is considering designing and building a light rail system (Бишкекское лёгкое метро).
Commuter and long-distance buses
There are two main bus stations in Bishkek. The smaller old Eastern Bus Station is primarily the terminal for minibuses to various destinations within or just beyond the eastern suburbs, such as KantKANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
, Tokmok
Tokmok
Tokmok ; , Tokmak) is a city of about 53,087 in northern Kyrgyzstan, east of the country's capital of Bishkek. Its geographical location is ; its altitude is 816 m above sea level. From 2004 until 19 April 2006 it served as the administrative seat of Chui Province...
, Kemin
Kemin
Kemin is a urban-type settlement in northeastern Kyrgyzstan, the capital of Kemin District of Chui Province. It is located in about 95 km eastward of Bishkek on the left bank of Chu River in Chuy Valley. Kemin was established in 1912....
, Issyk Ata, or the Korday
Korday
Korday or Kordai is a village in Zhambyl Province of Kazakhstan,and the administrative center of that province's Korday District. It has been formerly known under its old Russian name of Georgievka....
border crossing.
Long-distance regular bus and minibus services to all parts of the country, as well as to Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
(the largest city in neighboring Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
) and Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, China, run mostly from the newer grand Western Bus Station; only a smaller minority of them runs from the Eastern Station.
The Dordoy Bazaar on the north-eastern outskirts of the city also contains makeshift terminals for frequent minibuses to suburban towns in all directions (from Sokuluk
Sokuluk
Sokuluk is a large village with a de jure population of 11,968 in the Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan.Sokuluk is the administrative center of Sokuluk District, and is located about 5 km away from the town of Shopokov, the main economic center of the area.-History:According to historians, Sokuluk...
in the west to Tokmak
Tokmak
Tokmak may refer to one of the following:*Tokmak, Ukraine, a city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine*Tokmak, Uzbekistan, a city in Uzbekistan*Tokmok, a city in Kyrgyzstan, often also spelt Tokmak...
in the east) and to some buses taking traders to Kazakhstan and Siberia.
Rail
As of 2007, the Bishkek railway station sees only a few trains a day. It offers a popular three-day train service from Bishkek to Moscow.There are also long-distance trains that leave for Siberia (Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
and Novokuznetsk
Novokuznetsk
Novokuznetsk is a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. It serves as the administrative center of Novokuznetsky District, but it is not administratively a part of it...
), via Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
, over the Turksib route, and to Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
(Sverdlovsk) in the Urals, via Astana
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...
. These services are remarkably slow (over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg), due to long stops at the border and the indirect route (the trains first have to go west for more than a 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) before they enter the main Turksib line and can continue to the east or north). For example, as of the fall of 2008, train No. 305 Bishkek-Yekaterinburg was scheduled to take 11 hours to reach the Shu
Shu, Kazakhstan
Shu , formerly known as Chu , is a city in Jambyl Province of Kazakhstan, the administrative center of Shu District.The city is located on the river of the same name, and is populated by approximately 35,000 people.-Transportation:...
junction—a distance of some 269 kilometres (167.1 mi) by rail, and less than half of that by road.
Air
The city is served by Manas International AirportManas International Airport
Manas International Airport is the main international airport in Kyrgyzstan located 25 km north-northwest of the capital Bishkek.The airport is operational 24 hours and its ILS system is ICAO CAT 2...
(IATA
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
code FRU), located approximately 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) northwest of the city centre, and readily reachable by taxi.
In 2002, the United States obtained the right to use Manas International Airport as an air base
Manas Air Base
Transit Center at Manas is a United States military installation at Manas International Airport, near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, primarily operated by the U.S. Air Force....
for its military operations in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Russia subsequently (2003) established an air base of its own (Kant Air Base) near Kant
Kant, Kyrgyzstan
Kant is a city in the Chuy Valley of northern Kyrgyzstan, some 20 km from Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.It is the administrative center of the Ysyk-Ata District ....
some 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) east of Bishkek. It is based at a facility that used to be home to a major Soviet military pilot training school; one of its students, Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
, later became president of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Twinned cities
Sister cities of Bishkek include: AlmatyAlmaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
Astana
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...
, Kazakhstan Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 1994 Meriden
Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 59,653.-History:...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, USA, since 2005 Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
, Turkey Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, since 2008