Talas, Kyrgyzstan

Talas is a medium sized town of about 34,500 inhabitants in north-west Kyrgyzstan, in a scenic location in the 60 km long Talas valley between mountains. The city is the administrative center of the homonymous area Talas.

History

Although the valley was sparsely populated since at least 1000 years, it was mainly used as pasture economic importance, and only in the winter, the shepherds were living in the valley. After the historically significant Battle of Talas in 751, between the Arabs and the Chinese the valley for several centuries remained uninhabited, although some archaeological excavations in the 1970s and 1980s show that once flourished here life and trade. With the Russian conquest in 1864, the first Europeans arrived in the valley. Military from Tashkent built on the site of the present town of Talas 1877 a base, and next to it a small settlement called Dimitrowka developed, whose inhabitants with grown vegetables and livestock supplied the tsarist army.

In April 1882 Mennonites came up with a settlement permit from St. Petersburg, and the governor of Turkestan in Tashkent had them land in the Talas valley between the rivers Urmaral and Kumuschtak to. At this time there were 16 small houses in Dimitrowka Russian and Ukrainian families, built according to the Ukrainian nature, as they were known in the villages of southern Russia.

The first stone building in the village was built in the 1920s brick church. The population of the settlement was always mixed and is still multilingual: Slavs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Uyghur, Dungan, German, Greek, Chinese, Tajiks and other nationalities live peacefully together. In the 1940s, there were also Karachay- Chechens, who had been deported from the Caucasus. After 1956, these Caucasians are returned to their homeland.

The status as a city and its present name " Talas " received the settlement in 1931. Since that time it has also administrative administrative center of the Talas district, with all the accompanying facilities. The in the neighboring mountain ranges and in the Talas valley with their herds of cattle nomadic Kyrgyz have been merged into this time in the wake of the Soviet forced collectivization in collective and state farms and made ​​new settlements sedentary. To ensure that the influx of ethnic Kyrgyz began in the city of Talas.

Apart from the impressive mountain scenery on both sides of the valley and almost 300 days of clear sunshine of the place has little to offer today.

Economy and Transport

The Talas valley is fertile with adequate irrigation and teaches proper handling good harvest. The city, therefore, lives mainly from the processing and marketing of agricultural products.

In the division of Turkestan in 1925 in several Soviet republics, the Talas valley came to Kyrgyzstan. The economy of the valley, however, remained as it had been for decades, to the neighboring town Djambul (since 1992 Taras ) at the mouth of the valley in Kazakhstan and geared to their rail service. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this demarcation had significant negative consequences, since you now could reach the other areas of Kyrgyzstan Talas only after double border crossing and control of Kazakhstan - once at the entrance from Talas to Kazakhstan as a transit country, and then a second time at the exit from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan. The economy of the valley had to suffer this much. The Kyrgyz government was forced in the 1990s, the transport connection of the Talas Valley to Tschüi Valley and the road Bishkek - Osh over the 3600 m high Töö Ashuu Pass and the 3300 meter high Ötmöck Pass to Susamyr again manufacture. The 3 km long tunnel in the high mountains on this route, which connects the capital Bishkek with the Talas valley, was further expanded in the 1940s and 1950s by forced laborers and has proven its real value only since the 1990s, after a renovation.

Chingiz Aitmatov

The most famous Kyrgyz writer of modernity, Chingiz Aitmatov, was born in the village of Sheker in the Talas Valley, very near the border with Kazakhstan. Many themes of his literary career, he reached up with his compatriots in the Talas Valley.

Manas

The mythical Kyrgyz national hero Manas is supposed to be born in the Ala Too mountains in Talas district. A few kilometers east of Talas away stands a mausoleum, which is output as that of the Manas and is a popular destination. However, it said in a front label that the mausoleum "... the most glorious of women Kenizek - Khatun, the daughter of the Emir Abuka " is dedicated. According to legend Kanikey, the widow of Manas, who ordered this inscription to lead her husband's enemies astray and prevent grave desecration. The building, known as " Manastin Khumbuzu " (or " Ghumbez of Manas" ), was probably built in 1334. Nearby is a museum, Manas and his firmly held in the Manas epic legend is dedicated. On the surrounding fairgrounds impressive traditional Kyrgyz Equestrian Games will be held in the summer since 1995.