Uralsk

Uralsk (Oral in Ka­zakh lan­gu­age), al­so spel­led ural’sk, is a ci­ty and ad­mi­nist­ra­tive cent­re of West Ka­zakh­stan ob­last, wes­tern Ka­zakh­stan, along the Ural Ri­ver.

• Uralsk po­pula­ti­on — 210,000 (2006).
• Uralsk land area — 700 sq. km.
• Uralsk pho­ne co­de — +7–71122.
• Uralsk pos­tal co­des — 090000–090013.

Oral, fo­un­ded in 1613 by Cos­sacks, was ori­ginal­ly na­med Yaitsk, af­ter the Yaik ri­ver, the na­me of the Ural ri­ver at the ti­me. Be­ca­use the Yaik Cos­sacks (Ural Cos­sacks) si­ded with the in­surrec­ti­onists du­ring the re­bel­li­ons of Sten­ka Ra­zin and Pu­gac­hev, Emp­ress Cat­he­rine II dec­la­red on Ja­nu­ary 15, 1775 that the Yaik ri­ver wo­uld hen­ce­forth be re­named the Ural Ri­ver and Yaitsk wo­uld be known as Uralsk.

The ci­ty was cap­tu­red by Pu­gac­hev, and its fort­ress be­si­eged from De­cem­ber 30, 1773 – Ap­ril 17, 1774. Cza­rist tro­ops un­der Com­mander Mant­su­rov to­ok the ci­ty af­ter Go­lyt­sin had ta­ken the ci­ty of Oren­burg from the re­bel for­ces.

Push­kin vi­sited the ci­ty with his fri­end Vla­dimir Dahl in Sep­tember 1833 whi­le do­ing re­se­arch for his bo­ok «The His­to­ry of Pu­gac­hev’s Ri­ot» and his no­vel «The Cap­ta­in’s Da­ugh­ter».

The ci­ty was un­der si­ege im­po­sed by Cos­saks du­ring the Rus­si­an Ci­vil War. Mik­ha­il Frun­ze, Va­sily Cha­pa­ev and Ge­or­gy Zhu­kov par­ti­cipa­ted in the de­fen­ce. Uralsk was re­named Oral af­ter the in­de­pen­dence of Ka­zakh­stan in 1991.

Among its na­tural att­rac­ti­ons is La­ke Shal­kar, with rich ani­mal and plant li­fe. The mi­neral con­tent of its wa­ter, iden­ti­cal to that of a sea, ma­kes it use­ful for me­dical pur­po­ses. The ter­ri­tory of the re­gi­on al­so fe­atu­res the sce­nic Sa­sai and San­tas mo­un­ta­ins, Sa­dovs­koe la­ke and ma­ny ot­her att­rac­ti­ons.