Taraz

From Freepedia

Taraz (formerly Zhambyl or Dzhambul) is a city and a center of the Zhambyl oblysy in Kazakhstan. It is located in the South of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River( Taraz River) and its population is about 300,000 (1993 estimate.)

It has been a populated area for a long time and in the 5th Century it was located on the Silk Road between Europe and China. In the 8th and 9th centuries it was under the control of the Arabs, and in the 11th century it was capital of the Turkic Kara-khanid Empire, which also ruled Bukhara. In the 13th century it was destroyed by the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan.

Rebuilt some 600 years later by the Khanate of Kokand as a fontier fort, it was taken by Tsarist Russia in 1864. It was called Aulie-Ata ("Holy Father") until 1936 and then Mirzoyan until 1938, when it was renamed for the Kazakh poet Zhambyl Zhabayev. The original name was restored in 1997.

It is located on the Turkestan-Siberia Railway and its economy is primarily based on agriculture such as cotton production. In the city itself processed food, fertilizer, textiles, and metal products are manufactured.

Near Taraz are two mausoleums from the 11th and 12th centuries.

The Battle of Talas (751) is believed to have been fought in today's Kyrgyzstan, southeast of Taraz.