Taraz

Introducing Taraz

Ask any Kazakh what they know about Taraz and they’ll probably say ‘vodka’ as this is where the country’s favourite brand is produced. It’s a quiet, Soviet-style place with leafy boulevards and one excellent museum.

Medieval Taraz reached its peak in the 11th and 12th centuries as a wealthy Silk Road stop and capital of the Turkic Karakhanid state which also ruled Bukhara for a while. Levelled by Jenghiz Khan, it didn’t resurface until the 19th century when the Kokand khanate refounded it as a northern frontier town.

The Soviet regime settled many internal exiles here, renamed the town Dzhambul after the locally-born Kazakh bard Zhambyl Zhabaev and added phosphate factories to pump up the economy. Since independence, the name has changed again and the factories have closed, which has at least cleaned up the air.

Last updated: Jun 3, 2009