Ashgabat

City · 1881 CE · in Europe

Capital of Turkmenistan (1992–today).

Kinshasa (1881 CE): Founded as Léopoldville by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881, it is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one of Africa's largest cities.
Brazzaville (1880 CE): Capital of Free French (1940–1943).
Sofia (c. 1880 CE): Capital of Principality of Bulgaria (1880–1908), Kingdom of Bulgaria (1947–1947), People's Republic of Bulgaria (1948–1990), and 1 more.
Hobyow (c. 1880 CE): Capital of Sultanate of Hobyo (1880–1894).
Vryheid (1884 CE): Capital of Nieuwe Republiek (1885–1888).
Addis Ababa (1886 CE): Capital of Ethiopia founded in 1886 by Menelik II and Empress Taytu; seat of the African Union.
Djibouti (1888 CE): Capital of Republic of Djibouti (1979–today).
Yaoundé (1888 CE): Capital of Republic of Cameroon (1960–today).
Port Moresby (1873 CE): Capital of Papua New Guinea (1975–today).
Bangui (1889 CE): Capital of Central African Republic (1961–today).

Around the same time and place

Oil struck at Masjed Soleyman (1908 CE): Prospectors financed by William Knox D'Arcy struck oil at Masjed Soleyman, the first major oil discovery in the Middle East, leading to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
Kazakh Khanate (c. 1465–1847 CE): State founded by the sultans Kerei and Janibek in the Chu valley around 1465, the forerunner of the Kazakh nation.
Köneürgenç (c. 1512–1919 CE): Capital of Khanate of Khiva (1512–1919).
The Great Game (c. 1830–1907 CE): Rivalry between the British and Russian empires for influence in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia.
First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842 CE): British invasion of Afghanistan that ended with the destruction of the retreating army from Kabul in January 1842.
Russian conquest of Central Asia (1839–1895 CE): Russian annexation of the Kazakh steppe and the khanates of Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva, culminating in the capture of Tashkent in 1865.
Ruhollah Khomeini (c. 1902 CE – 1989 CE): A Shia cleric who led the Iranian Revolution from exile and became Iran's first Supreme Leader.
Kazakh famine of 1930–1933 (1930–1933 CE): Famine caused by Soviet collectivisation and forced sedentarisation that killed around 1.5 million people in Kazakhstan.