Central Asia CA History Timeline
Central Asia CA History Timeline
Central Asia CA History Timeline
c. 2000 BC
Indo-Iranians pass through Central Asia on the way from the IndoEuropean homeland in southern Russia to India and Iran.
c. 1200 BC
c. 700 BC
6th cent. BC
4th cent. BC
330 BC
329-28 BC
250 BC
The Parthians take Soghdiana from the Greeks, leaving the latter to rule
only in Bactria.
206 BC
c. 200 BC
174-161 BC
141-128 BC
138-125 BC
The first Chinese diplomatic mission to the Ferghana Valley, led by Chang
Chien.
121 BC
106 BC
Diplomatic ties are established between the Chinese and the Persians.
102 BC
51 BC
The Hsiung-nu split into two hordes, with the Eastern Horde subject to
China.
AD 48
c. AD 50
c. AD 78-144
The reign of King Kanishka over the Kushan Empire (territory extended to
include the Tarim Basin), with Buddhism as the dominant religion.
AD 97
3rd cent.
The decline of the Kushan and Parthian Empires and the incorporation of
Soghd and Bactria into Persia under the Sassanid dynasty.
220
226
4th cent.
c. 370
440
The Hephthalites (White Huns, later known in the West as the Avars)
move south from the Altai region to occupy Transoxiana, Bactria,
Khurasan, and eastern Persia.
c. 460
552
The Turks destroy the Juan-juan Empire and establish the Turkic
Khaganate, nominally divided into Western and Eastern Khanates.
553-68
The Hephthalites move west to the Russian steppe to form the Avar
Khanate.
570
572-91
576
The Turks invade the Caucasus and establish the Khazar Khanate.
582
618
630
630-40
632
642
642-51
The collapse of the Sassanid Empire under the pressure of Arab raids.
c. 650
The Khazars defeat the Alans and Bulgars, resulting in their domination of
the Caucasus and the Volga region.
652
659
661
667
The Arabs defeat Peroz, the last Sassanid shah, and first cross the Oxus
River (Amu Darya).
673/74-704
Arab raids across the Oxus in an attempt to capture Bukhara and Soghd.
682/83
The revolt of the Turks against the Chinese and the re-establishment of the
Turkic Khanate in Mongolia.
689
691
705
The Arabs, under Qutayba ibn Muslim, launch a holy war against
Transoxiana from Merv.
709
711
712
713
714
The Chinese, under emperor Tai-tsong, defeat the Turks at Lake Issukkul.
715
728
744/45
The Uighurs defeat the Turks in Mongolia and establish the Uighur
Empire.
748
749/50
The Abbasids seize the Caliphate from the Umayyads and subsequently
transfer the capital to Baghdad.
751
The Arabs defeat the Chinese at the Battle of the Talas River and discover
the secrets of making paper and silk from captured prisoners.
mid-8th cent.
Semirechye and the eastern Syr Darya come under the rule of the Qarluqs
while the western Syr Darya comes under the rule of the Oghuz (Ghuzz).
762
820/21
840
867-69
874/75
900
The Samanids overthrow the Saffarids, thus extending their rule into all of
Persia.
906
924
932
mid-10th cent.
962
965
The Kievan ruler Svyatoslav crushes Khazar political power in the Russian
steppe region.
985
The Seljuq Turks, a ruling tribe of the Oghuz, move to the vicinity of
Bukhara.
986
988
The pro-Shiite Persian Buwayhids end the political power of the Abbasid
Caliphate by seizing control of Iraq and much of Iran.
999
mid-11th cent.
The Qarakhanid Empire splits in two: one rules over Western Turkestan
(Transoxiana), the other over Eastern Turkestan (the Tarim Basin).
1040
The Seljuqs defeat the Ghaznavids at the Battle of Dandanqan, near Merv.
1055
The Seljuqs, under Tghral Beg, capture Baghdad, the Abbasid capital,
from the Buwayhids, establish the Seljuq Sultanate, and become the
official protectors of the Caliphate.
1060
The pagan Oghuz, known to the Byzantines as the Cumans, move into the
Russian steppe.
1068
1071
1073
1092
The death of the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah, resulting in the division of the
Sultanate into three parts: Nicaea (Anatolia), Hamadan (Persia), and Merv
(Transoxiana and Khurasan).
1122
1124
The Tungusic Juchen drive the Mongol Khitans (Liao dynasty: 916-1124)
from China, resulting in the creation of the Qarakhitai state in Semirechye.
1137
1140/41
The Qarakhitai defeat the Seljuq Sultan Sanjar at the Battle of the Qatwan
Steppe, thus gaining power in Transoxiana.
1153
1155 (1167?)
1157
1194
The death of Tghril III, the last Persian Seljuq ruler, resulting in the end
of Seljuq power in Iran and the rise of the Turkic Khwarezmians
(Khwarezm Shahs) in Transoxiana.
1206
1209
The Mongols defeat the Kirghiz of the Yenisei, forcing them to flee south
to the Tien Shan.
The Uighurs, under Barchuq, submit to Mongol rule.
1210
1215
The Mongols invade northern China, besieging and sacking the Jin capital
of Yanjing (later known as Beijing).
1218
1219
The Mongols cross the Jaxartes River (Syr Darya) and begin their invasion
of Transoxiana.
1220
1221
1223/24
1227
The death of Chingiz Khan, resulting in the division of his empire amongst
his heirs, including Batu (the Kipchak Khanate, on the Russian steppe) and
Chagatai (The Chaghatayid Khanate, in Transoxiana, the Tarim Basin, and
Semirechye).
1231
1236
1240
Kiev falls to the Mongols and Russia comes under the Mongol yoke.
1242
1243
1244
1249/50
1256
1258
The Mongols destroy Baghdad and bring the Abbasid caliphate to an end.
1260
1270
1284
1294/95
1299-1300
1303
1313-41/42
The rule of the Golden Horde by Khan Uzbek (1282-1342), under whom
the Horde converts to Islam.
1326
1336
1346-63
1363
Timur expels Khan Tughlug Timur and sets up a puppet Khan under his
control.
1368
1369/70
1377-95
1380
The Russians defeat Mamay, Khan of the Golden Horde, at the Battle of
Kulikova.
The Golden Horde is amalgamated with the White Horde (together called
by the former name).
1380-87
1382
1395
1398/99
1400
1401
1402
1405
1407-47
Continuation of the Timurid dynasty with the rule of Timurs son Shah
Rukh (1377-1447) in Herat.
1407-49
1408
c. 1430
Part of the Golden Horde splits off to form the Crimean Khanate under
Hajji Giray Khan.
1434
1445
Part of the Golden Horde splits off to form the Kazan Khanate.
1451/52-69
1453
1464-65
The Muscovite Prince Ivan III (the Great, reigned 1462-1505) sends an
embassy to Abu Said.
1466
Part of the Golden Horde splits off to form the Astrakhan Khanate.
1467
The White Sheep Turks defeat the Black Sheep Turks in Persia.
1468
1478-1506
1480
Ivan III throws off the Mongol yoke and proclaims himself Czar of Russia.
1490
The decline of the overland trade routes, including the Silk Road, due to a
new emphasis on trade by sea.
1497
1500
The Uzbeks capture Samarkand under Muhammad Shaybani Khan (14511510), thus taking over Transoxiana from the Timurids.
1501-11
1502
The final collapse of the Golden Horde at the hands of the khan of the
Crimean Tatar Khanate.
The beginning of the Safavid dynasty in Persia.
1504
1506
1507
1510
The rise of the Khojas in Kashgar, later split into the Aq-Taghliqs (whitecaps) and the Qara-Taghliqs (black-caps).
1514-33
The rule of the Eastern Chagatayid Khan Sayid, under whom the capital
moves from Ili to Kashgar.
1517
The Ottomans defeat the Mamlukes, thus adding Egypt to their Empire.
1522
1526
1552
1556
1557-98
The reign of the last and greatest Shaybanid ruler in Bukhara, Abdullah
Khan II (1533-98).
1558-59
1563-98
The reign of the last Shaybanid ruler of the Siberian Khanate, Kuchum
Khan.
1570
1571
The Kazak Empire divides into three hordes: the Great Horde (east), the
Middle Horde (center), and the Lesser Horde (west).
1584
Yermak, the Russian Cossack leader, defeats Kuchum Khan at the Battle
of Tobol River.
1598/99
1619-21
The Kalmuks, part of the Oyrat tribal confederation, migrate from Jungaria
to the Volga.
1643
1644
1645
1680s
1680-1718
10
1687
1689
The Treaty of Nerchinsk between Russia and China ends border clashes in
Manchuria.
The Ferghana valley, under the leadership of the Khojas, separates from
the Bukharan Khanate.
1710
1715
The first Russian military expedition to the Kazak Steppe under Peter the
Great.
1717
1718
The Oyrats defeat the Kazak Middle Horde north of Lake Balkash.
1722
1723-25
1729
Nadir Qoli Beg (later Nadir Shah) drives the Afghans out of Persia.
1731
1732
1734/35
1739
1740
1740-47
1742
1747
1757
11
1759
The Chinese conquer the Tarim Basin, resulting in the Khojas fleeing to
Kokand.
1763
1768
1771
1782/83
1784/85
1798
1804
1808
1814
1820-28
The Khojas revolt against Chinese rule in Altishahr (the Tarim Basin).
1822
1824
1826
1820s-40s
1837/38-46/47
1839-40
1839-42
The First Opium War results in Chinas defeat at the hands of the
European powers.
The First Anglo-Afghan War results in the British capturing Kabul and
Qandahar and installing a puppet ruler on the Afghan throne.
12
1842
1843-47
1848
1850-64
1854
1855
1855-73
1857
1857-60
1861
1862
1864
1865
June 1865
1867
1868
Jan.1868
The Russians sign a treaty with the Khanate of Kokand which reduces it to
a virtual Russian protectorate.
13
May 1868
June 1868
1869
1871
Aug. 1873
1876
1877
1878
1878-80
1880
Jan. 1881
1881
The Treaty of St. Petersburg between Russia and China results in the
return of the Ili Valley to China.
1882
1884
1885
14
1887
1888
1890
1890-92
Mass immigration of Russian and Ukrainian settlers into the Kazak steppe.
1892
1897-98
1900
1905
1906
1908
1909
1911
1912
1914-18
World War I
1916
Central Asian uprising in protest over conscription into labor units of the
Russian army, resulting in the slaughter of many Kazaks by the Russians.
Apr. 1917
The Bolshevik Party affirms it support of the right of all nations within
Russia to separate and form independent states.
Apr. 1917
Apr. 16-23, 1917 The First Central Asian Muslim Congress in Tashkent demands the
cessation of Russian colonization and the return of confiscated lands.
May 1-11, 1917
15
Nov. 7, 1917
Nov. 1917
The White Cossacks, under Ataman Dutov, cut off Central Asia from
European Russia.
Nov. 25-27, 1917 The Fourth Central Asian Muslim Congress in Kokand results in the
creation of the Muslim Provisional Government of Autonomous
Turkestan.
Dec. 5-13, 1917
Jan. 1918
1918-20
Mar. 1918
Apr. 1918
July 1918
Nov. 1918
Dec. 1918
16
Feb. 1919
May 1919
May 1919
July 1919
Sept. 1919
Oct. 1919
early 1920
Feb. 2, 1920
Feb. 1920
Mar. 1920
Apr. 4, 1920
Sept. 1920
Oct. 6, 1920
1920-23
Jan. 1921
17
Oct. 1921
Feb. 1922
The Bukharan Communist Party comes under the control of the RCP.
Enver Pasha and the Basmachis capture Dushanbe.
Aug. 1922
Nov. 1922
Dec. 1922
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is created, with the Turkestan and
Kirghiz (Kazak) ASSRs included as parts of the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic (RSFSR).
Mar. 1923
The First Conference of the Turkestan ASSR and the Peoples Republics
of Bukhara and Khorezm establishes the Central Asiatic Economic
Council, resulting in the economic and administrative unification of the
three republics.
June 1923
Oct. 1923
Oct. 1923
1923-33
Jan. 1924
The death of Lenin and subsequent rise of Stalin to full power in the
USSR.
Mar. 1924
Sept. 1924
Oct. 1924
18
1924
Apr. 1925
1926
The Baku Turkological Congress proposes the adoption of the Latin script
for all Turkic languages in the USSR.
Feb. 1, 1926
1927
1927-28
The liquidation of the Kazak Alash-Orda party by the Communists and the
replacement of Kazaks by Russians in the republican government.
1928
1928-30
The Latin script replaces the Arabic alphabet in Soviet Central Asia.
1928-33
The forced collectivization of Soviet Central Asians under the First Five
Year Plan.
1930
1931
Nov. 1933
Dec. 1933
July 1934
1936
Dec. 5, 1936
19
1937
1937-38
Mar. 1938
1939-45
World War II
1939-40
The Cyrillic script replaces the Latin Alphabet in Soviet Central Asia.
June 1941
1942
Sheng Shizai breaks with the Soviets and realigns Xinjiang with
Nationalist China.
The Soviet government grants Islam official legal status in the USSR and
establishes the four Spiritual Directorates.
1944
Nov. 1944
1945-49
June 1946
1947
Aug. 1949
Oct. 1, 1949
Mar. 1953
1954
1955
1958-59
20
Oct. 1961
The 22nd Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Party Congress,
at which the concepts of sblizhenie (drawing together) and sliianie (unity)
of the Soviet nations are introduced.
1962
1963
1966-76
1973
1976
1978
Apr. 1978
Jan.-Feb. 1979
Apr. 1, 1979
Dec. 1979
1980-89
Jan. 1985
Mar. 1985
1986
Dec. 17-18, 1986 Anti-Russian riots in Alma-Ata, Kazakstan, as a result of the Kazak
Communist Party chief being replaced by a Russian.
1989
Feb. 1989
21
June 1989
June 1989
June 4, 1989
Feb. 1990
Spring 1991
Summer 1991
The failed Communist coup against Gorbachev results in the five republics
declaring independence.
Sept. 9, 1991
Dec. 1991
1992
1993
1995
22