Atyrau

Capital, seaport town, and economic and cultural centre of Atyrau oblast (region), western Kazakhstan; population (1995) 148,900. Atyrau stands 15 km/9 mi north of the mouth of the Ural River, near the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. It is a major centre for the extraction, refining, and transshipment of oil from the Emba oilfields in the east and the Tenghiz oilfields in the southeast. Fishing and fish-processing (notably caviar) are also important industries.

Atyrau was established as a Russian frontier garrison in 1645, taking the name of the Russian trader who founded the town. The fishing industry here has been adversely affected by the sharp decline, since the 1980s, in the Caspian Sea sturgeon population.

Atyrau

Oblast (region) in western Kazakhstan; area 117,000 sq km/45,174 sq mi; population (1996) 352,000. The main towns are Atyrau (capital) and Kulsary. The province lies on the northeastern shore of the Caspian Sea and is predominantly part of the Caspian lowland, with some hills in the southwest and the Ustyurt plateau in the southeast. The main rivers are the Ural and the Emba. Much of the region is desert or semi-desert, with a dry, severe continental climate. There are extensive oil and natural gas deposits, the extraction and refining of which comprise the area's chief industry. Fishing and sheep raising are also important to the economy.

The north of the province formed part of the traditional gateway to Europe for the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. In the 13th–15th centuries the area belonged to the Mongol Golden Horde, then to the Nagay Khanate. In the 16th century, Russian Cossacks from the Volga began to settle on the banks of the Ural River. Oil extraction was first undertaken on the Emba River in 1911.