Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union
After Uzbekistan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, an election was held, and Islam Karimov was elected as the first President of Uzbekistan on 29 December 1991.
Central Asia & Caucasus
USSR launches Mir Space Station
Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. It had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft.
Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika began the end of the Cold War
Gorbachev’s dual program of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) introduced profound changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations.
The Alash Orda set up an independent national government in modern-day Kazakhstan
Alash Autonomy was a Kazakh state that existed between 1917 and 1920, on approximately the territory of the present-day Republic of Kazakhstan. The capital city was Semey, then known as “Alash-qala” (City of Alash).
Mongolia, led by Bogd Khan, declares independence from China
The Mongolian Revolution of 1911 (Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1911) occurred when the region of Outer Mongolia declared its independence from the Manchu-led Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution.
The Transcaucasus Railway is completed
The Transcaucasus Railway was the first railway in South Caucasus. It was funded by the Russian Empire as a strategic railway connecting the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea.
Russian explorers Bellingshausen and Lazarev are first confirmed to sight Antarctica
The first confirmed sighting of mainland Antarctica is attributed to a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, discovering an ice shelf at Princess Martha Coast..
Genghis Khan unites the Mongols, creating the Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan, whom a council proclaimed ruler of all the Mongols in 1206.
Tughril Beg and Chaghri Beg found the Seljuk Empire
At its greatest extent, the Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from western Anatolia and the Levant to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf in the south.
The city of Bukhara in modern-day Uzbekistan becomes a major trade and intellectual center of the Muslim world
Bukhoro became one of the leading centers of learning, culture, and art in the Muslim world, its magnificence rivaling contemporaneous cultural centers such as Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba.