Turkmen national consciousness.
Between the 17th and 19th centuries, control of Turkmenistan was fought over by the rulers of Afghanistan, Persian Shahs, Khivan Khans and the Emirs of Bukhara. During this period, Turkmen spiritual leader Magtymguly Pyragy reached prominence with his efforts to secure independence and autonomy for his people. In 1885, the Russian forces seized the Afghan territory of the Panjdeh oasis (around modern-day Serhetabat in Turkmenistan) during the Panjdeh Incident.
According to Paul R. Spickard, "Prior to the Soviet conquest, the Turkmen were known and feared for their involvement in the Central Asian slave trade. The neighboring rural villages of Persia and Afghanistan were the main victims of Turkmen raids, in which groups of armed men on horseback would carry away captives to be sold in the slave markets of Khiva, Bukhara, and Mari."
At this time, the vast territory of Central Asia including the region of Turkmenistan was largely unmapped and virtually unknown to Europe and the Western world. Rivalry for control of the area between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia was characterized as The Great Game. Throughout their conquest of Central Asia, the Russians were met with the stiffest resistance by the Turkmen. By 1894, however, Russia had gained control of Turkmenistan and incorporated it into its empire.
Soviet Union
The rivalry officially concluded with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Slowly, Russian and European cultures were introduced to the area. This was evident in the architecture of the newly formed city of Ashgabat, which became the capital. The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia and the subsequent political unrest led to the declaration of the area as the Turkmen SSR, one of the six republics of the Soviet Union in 1924, assuming the borders of modern Turkmenistan.
The new Turkmen SSR went through a process of further Europeanization. The tribal Turkmen people were
