Oral (Kazakh: Орал, Russian: Уральск, Uralsk, also spelled Ural'sk) is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 195,500 (1999 census). It is the capital of the Batys Qazaqstan. Ethnic composition dominated by Russians (54%) and Kazakhs (34%).

Oral, founded in 1622 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 15 January 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 30th 1773 - April 17th 1774. Czarist troops under Commander Mantsurov took the city after Golytsin had taken the city of Orenburg from the rebel forces. Thousands of civilians died in the siege, mostly because of starvation.

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".

Leo Tolstoy visited his friend ataman Arkadiy Stolypin, father of Pyotr Stolypin, in Uralsk in 1862.

The inhabitants of the city fought against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Uralsk was renamed Oral after the independence of Kazakhstan in 1991.

Oral is an agricultural and industrial center, and has been an important trade stop since its founding. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals. It is served by Oral Ak Zhol Airport.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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