Background
Kurmanjan was born into a rich family of the Mongush clan in the Osh. When she met him, she did not like him and broke with tradition — first fleeing into neighboring China and later deciding to stay with her father, Mambatbai.
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Kurmanjan Datka
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At the age of 18 she was supposed to be married to a man whom she did not see until her wedding day. An instrumental politician in the increasingly decrepit Kokand khanate, Alimbek was murdered in the course of a palace coup in 1862 and Kurmanjan was recognized by the khans of Bukhara and Kokand as ruler of the Alai and given the title of "Datka". In 1876 the Alai region was annexed by the Russian Empire.
Recognizing the futility of resistance, Kurmanjan Datka persuaded her people to accept Russian overlordship.
The others were then exiled to Siberia and she essentially retired from public life. In 1906, she was visited by Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (later President of Finland) who was a colonel in the Russian army at the time.
Mannerheim took her photograph. She died six months later.
Kurmanjan Datka lived to be over 90 and was survived by two sons, two daughters, 31 grandsons, 57 great grandsons and six great-great-grandsons.
In 1995 a then newly founded women"s committee was named after her. Now it is known as Women"s Public Union “Erayim”. In 2014, the film "Queen of the Mountains" or "Kurmanjan Datka" (original title) was released, which centers around the story of her life.
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Born
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Died
February 1, 1907 (aged 96) -
Nationality
Russian Khanate of Kokand