Barskoon (; ;
) is a settlement on the southern shore of Lake
Issyk Kul
Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleve ...
in the
Issyk-Kul Region
Issyk-Kul (, ) is one of the regions of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Karakol. It is surrounded by Almaty Region, Kazakhstan to the north, Chüy Region to the west, Naryn Region to the southwest, and Xinjiang, China to the southeast. It takes ...
of
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
. Its population was 9,040 in 2021.
It is on the A363 highway between
Bökönbaev
Bökönbai (, ) is a village in the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. It is the seat of the Tong District and of the Kün-Chygysh village community. It was established as Kol'tsovka village in 1912. With a population of 14,267 (2021), it is the lar ...
to the west and
Kyzyl-Suu to the east.
Geography
Barskoon is a village located at the mouth of the Barskoon valley. The valley connects the southern shore of Lake-Issyk-Kul to the inland
Ala-Bel plateau, the upper
Naryn
Naryn ( ; ) is the regional administrative center of Naryn Region in central Kyrgyzstan. Its area is , and its estimated population was 41,178 as of January 2021. The town was established as a fortress on the caravan route in 1868. It is situated ...
river valley, and further towards
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
and northwestern China.
History

Its prominent location made Barskoon an important trading post in the Middle Ages. A route of the ancient
Silk Road
The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...
passed through here, passing over the
Bedel Pass into
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. There are ruins of an ancient
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
in Barskoon, providing testament to the times when caravan routes dispersed from here
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
in the East and South. After the end of the
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...
and the gradual
decline of the Silk Road after the 1400s, the town began to lose prominence.
The modern town began as a Russian military post after the
Russian conquest of Central Asia
In the 16th century, the Tsardom of Russia embarked on a campaign to Territorial evolution of Russia, expand the Russian frontier to the east. This effort continued until the 19th century under the Russian Empire, when the Imperial Russian Army ...
. During the 1916 uprising of the Kyrgyz against colonial rule known today as
Urkun
The Central Asian revolt of 1916, also known as the Semirechye Revolt and as Urkun in Kyrgyzstan, was an anti-Russian uprising by the indigenous inhabitants of Russian Turkestan sparked by the conscription of Muslims into the Russian military ...
, large numbers of Kyrgyz attempted to flee through the Barskoon valley into China, and many perished at Bedel and
Seok Pass
Seok Pass, Söök Pass or Suyak Pass (, ) is a mountain pass in the Terskey Alatau mountain range of Kyrgyzstan. Its elevation of makes it the third highest mountain pass in Kyrgyzstan after Bedel Pass and Kyzylart Pass, and the highest one th ...
. The name of Seok Pass ("Bone Pass") stems from this incident.
After the establishment of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, the ancient trade road became important for frontier defense against China. The border crossing at Bedel Pass was closed, and a new road, present-day A364, was built over
Barskoon and Seok Pass towards
Kara-Say, then east towards
Ak-Shyyrak and
Engilchek.
In 1997, the
Kumtor Gold Mine
The Kumtor mine () is one of the largest gold mines in Central Asia. The mine has been producing gold since 1997 and has produced over 13.8 million ounces of gold as of June 30, 2022. At 13,000 feet, the mine is the second-highest in the world, b ...
was opened, and the road through the Barskoon valley became the main access road of the mine. In the spring of 1998, a lorry carrying cyanide used in the gold refining process was involved in an accident - leaving the road and crashing into a stream. The resulting pollution temporarily decimating the tourist industry around
Lake Issyk Kul as many tourists cancelled their planned holidays.
Population
Etymology
The name appears as variants in medieval sources. The first mentioning is in the 9th-century
Book of Roads and Kingdoms
The ''Book of Roads and Kingdoms'' (, ''Kitāb al-Masālik waʿl-Mamālik'') is a group of Islamic manuscripts composed from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. They emerged from the administrative tradition of listing pilgrim and post st ...
by 9th-century geographer
Ibn Khordadbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh (; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking bureaucrat and geographer of Persian descent in the Abbasid Caliphate. He is the aut ...
. The etymology of the name is not clear. Popular folk etymologies link it to the
snow leopard
The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...
, called ''ilbirs'' in
Kyrgyz and ''bars'' in many
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
. Another etymology is brought forward by
C. E. Bosworth
Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies.
Life
Bosworth was born on 29 December 1928 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now ...
, who mentioned that it was "so named because in ancient times, one of the rulers of Persia had settled in Turkestan and become a ruler there. He was called Pārsi-khwān that is, one who is literate in Persian, and this became contracted to Barskhan."
Notable people
The 11th century scholar
Mahmud al-Kashgari
Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari; ; , Мәһмуд Қәшқири; , Махмуд Қашғарий was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar.
His father, Husayn, was the mayor of ...
(also known as Barskhani) was a native of this area. His father Husayn was mayor of the village. Mahmud al-Kashgari is best known as the author of the
Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk
The ' (; translated to English as the ''Compendium of the languages of the Turks'') is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled between 1072–74 by the Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, who extensively documented t ...
, the first comparative dictionary of the
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
, which he wrote whilst living in
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
in 1072-4. His map of the then known world has Barskon at the centre of the world. His tomb is in
Upal, a small town in present-day
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
southwest of
Kashgar
Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...
on the
Karakoram Highway
The Karakoram Highway (, ), also known as the KKH, National Highway 35 (), N-35, and the ChinaPakistan Friendship Highway, is a National Highways of Pakistan, national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab p ...
to
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
.
Barskoon is also known as the birthplace of
Abu Mansur Sabuktigin. Born there in 942, he was later sold as a slave to
Alp-Tegin
Alp-Tegin, ( ''Alptegīn'' or ''Alptigīn'') or Alptekin, was a Turkic slave commander of the Samanid Empire, who would later become the semi-independent governor of Ghazna from 962 until his death in 963.
Before becoming governor of Ghazni, Al ...
, the
commander-in-chief of the
Samanid
The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...
rulers of
Bukhara
Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...
. Sabuktigin became one of the most prominent generals of 10th-century Central Asia, married Alptigin's daughter, and became the founder of the
Ghaznavid dynasty
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic '' mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus to the Indu ...
, which ruled large parts of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and northwestern India until 1186.
Sights
Barskoon is a popular tourist destination and home to tourism companies, such as Shepherd's Way Trekking.
Barskoon Valley in Orexca.com
/ref> The Barskoon valley has an impressive Barskoon waterfall and is a good centre for trekking and horse riding. There are two interesting sights along the road - a Soviet lorry mounted on a plinth and a bust of Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...
, who holidayed on the South shore of Issyk Kul
Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleve ...
after his historical first manned space flight.
West is the village of Tamga, which is famous for a rock ("Tamga-Tash") with a Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
inscription dating from the 3rd to 8th centuries, which the locals interpreted as a Tamga
A tamga or tamgha (from ) was an abstract seal or brand used by Eurasian nomads initially as a livestock branding, and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was used as a livestock branding for a particular tribe, clan or family. They wer ...
.
In the mountains to the south-east is a region known as syrt
A syrt is a kind of an elevated landform in Russia and Central Asia.
The word means "highland", "ridge" or "backbone" in Turkic languages (''sırt'') and is present in Turkic toponymy in the mentioned areas: in Tien Shan, Pamirs, South Urals, suc ...
- an "alpine cold desert" located at average altitudes around . A364, one of the few good roads into the mountains in southern Issyk-Kul Region, goes south down the valley, over the Barskoon and Söök Passes to Kara-Say in the Naryn valley and then east to Ak-Shyrak. There is a border police post located at Kara-Say, and a border area permit is needed for onward travel. The through road beyond Ak-Shyrak to Engilchek is currently not passable as of 2017.
References
External links
A map of Kyrgyzstan showing the location of Barskon
{{Jeti-Ögüz places
Populated places in Issyk-Kul Region
Populated places along the Silk Road