Talk:Taraz
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One of the oldest cities in Kazakhstan and in Transoxania, Taraz celebrated its official 2000 anniversary (recognized by UNESCO) in 2001, dating from a fortress built in the area by a Xiongnu chanyu named Zhizhi and was a site of the Battle of Zhizhi in 36 BC. The city was first recorded under the name "Talas" in 568 CE by Menander Protector, the secretary of Zemarchus, who lead a Byzantine diplomatic mission sent to by Justinian I to Istämi, the ruler of the Göktürk Qaghanate. A nearby town of Jamukat, founded by Sogdian refugees from Bukhara who fled the tyrant Abrui (Abarzi) also appears in 6th century chronicles. Talas was later described by many other medieval writers, including Xuanzang, who passed Talas in 629 and later wrote: "Traveling 144-150 li west of Zangzuang we arrived to a town Ta-la-sy. The city is 8-9[specify] in circumference. Traders from diffent countries and Sogdians live in it."[citation needed] After brief Tang Chinese rule (657-704) Taraz was incorporated into the Turgesh Qaghanate and served as its capital from 715 until the beginning of a civil war (737) which led to the fall of the qaghanate. The Battle of Talas (751) is believed to have been fought southeast of Taraz, in today's Kyrgyzstan.
The city accepted Islam after being conquered in 893 by the Samanid governor of Samarqand. In 942 it was captured by Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan and became an autonomous city within the Kara-Khanid Khanate. The city prospered in the following century and important mausoleums were constructed, including the Karakhan Mausoleum, Ayshah Bibi and Babadji Khatun. The city was visited by Al-Muqaddasi during this time. In the 12th century Taraz was absorbed into the Seljuk Empire, and then into the Kara-Khitan Khanate. In 1209 the city was conquered by the Shah of Khwarezm who destroyed it and moved the population. A small settlement was briefly re-established on the site, until being razed completely during the war between the children of Chagatai Khan.
A new town was built on the same site 600 years later by the Khanate of Kokand as a frontier fort, and was named Aulie-Ata (Kazakh: Әулие́-Ата, Russian: Аулие́-Ата, Turkic for "Holy Father" - a reference to the founder of the Kara-Khanid Dynasty). The town was taken by Russia in 1864. Aulie-Ata grew substantially after the end of the Russian Civil War and was renamed "Mirzoyan" in 1936 and "Dzhambul" in 1938 (after Kazakh poet Zhambyl Zhabayev).
Located on Turkestan-Siberia Railway, the city based its economy on agriculture and cattle production. Aulie-Ata breed of cattle was developed in the area and is named after the city. Several phosphorite plants were constructed in 1970s and 1980s, leading to further growth, as well as substantial environmental damage.
The city became a part of independent Republic of Kazakhstan in 1991 and was renamed Taraz in 1997.
[edit] The Chagatai Name
Why is there a need to specify the Chagatai name of the city in the introduction? Qaramazov 07:44, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
Because for about 200 years the city was known as Aulie-Ata (at the time of the Russian conquest for instance) and it's useful to have the spelling in the arabic script. "Chagatai" is just a useful shorthand for the old Turkic of Central Asia, it's not a specific reference to the 15th-16th century literary language in this instance, but the name clearly isn't Persian (which is how one usually describes such spellings see e.g. Samarkand), because it contains "Ata", "Father" in Turkic. Sikandarji 07:59, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] clarity please
why have all references to Djamukat been deleted? This is an important fact. Moreover I think the article suffers from a general lack of clarity, for example a disscussion of the Russian/Soviet archeology is not essential information for a history section, it belongs in a archeology section. Also when narrating a timeline explain the importace of the events in their geopolitical context, otherwise to a non-specialist reader it becomes just so many strange names and meaningless dates. and as always the key to good writing, less is more--Gurdjieff (talk) 15:06, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
