The Unconquerable Ones

The Kyrgyz (or Kirghiz) peoples are a group of 40 or so Turkic tribes now predominantly living in the Tien Shan mountains of Central Asia. They are descended from indigenous Siberian and are genetically related to Ukrainians, Poles and Icelanders. The Kyrgyz migrated south sometime in the ninth century, and early Chinese sources described them as light skinned with fair or red hair and blue-green eyes. These features are not so distinct in the modern Kyrgyz population, due to intermarriage and assimilation with other ethnic groups.

The Kyrgyz language is Turkic in origin, is somewhat close to Kazakh, and is spoken by four million persons. The name “Kyrgyz” is believed to mean “undefeatable” or “unconquerable” – referring to the epic hero Manas, who reputedly united 40 tribes to defeat the Khitan people of Northern China and Manchuria.

The borders of the Kyrgyz Republic (also known as Kyrgyzstan and Kirghizia) were demarcated by the Soviet Union in the early twentieth century, largely along ethnic and linguistic lines, and the country became independent in 1991. Historically a number of nomadic tribes, including the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs (often also referred to as Kyrgyz in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries), Uzbeks, Tajiks and Uighurs moved freely about the region, unhindered by international borders. In modern Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz comprise 69% of the population, 14.5% are Uzbek (concentrated in southern Kyrgyzstan) and 9% are Russian. The remainder of the population is made up of 80 different ethnic groups.