‘Since it’s about to be a capital’: managing urban growth and pasturage in early Soviet Bishkek

Abstract Bishkek became the administrative centre of the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast in December 1924, meaning that Bishkek became the capital city for the Soviet Kyrgyz Republic when it was declared in 1926. This elevation in status coincided with an inauspicious economic and social situation for the city, which was still recovering from the violence of the late imperial era. Ethnic relations in Bishkek and its environs were strained, particularly over the land question. Yet, the acquisition of pastureland by the Kyrgyz population in the Bishkek region appears as a quirk of urban land management rather than a conscious policy of reparations.