Kyrgyzstan - Country history and economic development

552. Formation of the first Turkic khanate, uniting Turkic-speaking regions under one political leadership.

750. Arabs conquer the area that is now Kazakhstan, spreading the influence of the Islamic culture and religion.

840. Formation of the Kyrgyz khanate.

1240-1440. The Mongol Horde—armies originating from what is now Mongolia—overwhelm the Kipchak nomads. The Mongol Horde sweeps westward and southward, extending Mongol influence over much of modern-day Central Asia.

1850. Major Russian emigration to Kyrgyzstan occurs as emigrants search for new agricultural lands.

1867. The Russian tsar decrees the establishment of the Turkestan general-governorship, extending official Russian rule into Kyrgyzstan, making the country part of the Russian Empire.

1917. The Russian provisional government, unable to rule a country exhausted by World War I, falls to the Bolshevik Revolution. Bolshevik revolutionaries (communists) in St. Petersburg proclaim the establishment of a communist government.

1918. The communists announce the establishment of the Russian Socialist Republic (which includes the territory of present-day Kyrgyzstan). Opponents of the communists rally to restore the monarchy. Civil war ensues and continues for 2 years.

1924. The Kyrgyz Autonomous District is formed within Russia.

1936. The Kyrgyz Autonomous District is transformed into the Kyrgyz Socialist Republic.

1957-61. Under Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, a new agricultural initiative called the "Virgin Lands Campaign" relocates tens of thousands of people from the European parts of the USSR to Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan.

1991. An unsuccessful attempt to take over the Soviet government by Communist Party hard-liners precipitates a crisis in Moscow. Kyrgyzstan declares independence from the USSR on 31 August. A group of 11 high Communist Party officials gather in Almaty (then known as Alma-Ata) to sign a document announcing the end of the USSR and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 21 December.

1992. Kyrgyzstan joins major international organizations: the UN, World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

1993. The Kyrgyzstan constitution is adopted.

1995. A new version of the Kazakhstan constitution, assigning greater powers to the executive branch, is adopted.

1998. Kyrgyzstan is the first post-Soviet state to be admitted as a member of the World Trade Organization.

2000. Kyrgyzstan joins the Eurasian Economic Community, an international organization designed to create a common economic market throughout much of the former USSR.