Tokmak
Tokmak or Tokmok (Kyrgyz: Токмок, Tokmok ('hammer'); Russian: Токмак, Tokmak) is a city in northern Kyrgyzstan, east of the country's capital of Bishkek.
Location
Its geographical location is 42°50′N 75°17′E; its altitude is 816 m above sea level. From 2004 until 19 April 2006 it served as the administrative seat of Chui Province. Just to the north is the Chu River and the border with Kazakhstan.
Tokmok was established as a northern military outpost of the Khanate of Kokand ca. 1830. Thirty years later, it fell to the Russians who demolished the fort. The modern town was founded on 13 May 1864 by Major-General Mikhail Chernyayev.
Currently, the city of Tokmok is a district-level administrative unit of Chui Province. Although the city is surrounded by the province's Chuy District (whose administrative center is the village of Chuy, adjacent to Tokmok), it is not a part of it.
History
Despite its relatively modern origin, Tokmok stands in the middle of the Chuy Valley, which was a prize sought by many medieval conquerors. The ruins of Ak-Beshim, the capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate, are situated 8 km southwest from Tokmok. Yusuf Has Hajib Balasaguni, author of the Kutadgu Bilig is said to have been born in this area.
About 15 km south of Tokmok is the 11th-century Burana Tower, located on the grounds of an ancient citadel of which today only a large earthen mound remains. This is believed to be the site of the ancient city of Balasagun, founded by the Sogdians and later for some time the capital of the Kara-Khanid empire. A large collection of ancient gravestones and bal-bals is nearby. Excavated Scythian artifacts have been moved to museums in St. Petersburg and Bishkek.
Visited by Xuanzang in 630 AD
Further west Xuanzang passed Aksu before turning northwest to cross the Tian Shan's Bedel Pass into modern Kyrgyzstan. He skirted Issyk Kul before visiting Tokmak on its northwest, and met the great Khan of the Göktürks, whose relationship to the Tang emperor was friendly at the time.
After a feast, Xuanzang continued west then southwest to Tashkent, capital of modern Uzbekistan.