Kizlyar (; ; , Qızlar) is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the border with the Chechen Republic in the river delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala, the capital of the republic. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 48,984.
Etymology
According to some researchers, the name of the city comes from an old name for the
Terek River. A folk etymology for the name Kizlyar is from an unspecified
Turkic languages, meaning "girls". According to Vyacheslav Nikonov, the correct translation of this Turkic toponym is "red cliff".
History
The first documented reference to Kizlyar dates back to 1609, although some historians associate the place with Samandar, the 8th-century capital of
Khazaria. In 1735 the Russian government built a fortress in Kizlyar and laid foundations for the
Caucasus fortified borderline. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Kizlyar operated as one of the
between Russia and the Middle East and Central Asia. During this period, the population was largely
Armenians and Russian. In 1796 2,800 Armenians and 1,000 Russians lived in Kizlyar.
[Jane Burbank and David L. Ransel, Imperial Russia: New Histories of the Empire (Indiana University Press, 1998), 160.] During the
Russian Empire, the settlement was the administrative capital of the
Kizlyarsky Otdel of the
Terek Oblast. In 1942 the Germans briefly took Kizylar (Kizjlar).
In January 1996 Chechen separatists raided the local airbase in the course of the Kizlyar raid, which claimed the lives of seventy-eight Russian soldiers.
On February 18, 2018, five people were killed and five wounded after a shooting attack took place outside a Christian church in Kizlyar. Police killed the attacker in a shootout.[TASS. "TASS: World – Four killed, four wounded by unidentified shooter in Dagestan's Kizlyar" . Retrieved February 18, 2018.][BBC News. "Dagestan church shooting leaves five dead in Kizlyar" . Retrieved February 18, 2018.]
Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kizlyar serves as the administrative center of Kizlyarsky District, even though it is not a part of it.
[Law #16] As an administrative division, it is, together with one urban-type settlement (Komsomolsky) and one rural locality (the railway crossing loop of No. 17), incorporated separately as the
Town of Kizlyar—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.
As a municipal division, the Town of Kizlyar is incorporated as
Kizlyar Urban Okrug.
[Law #6]
Demographics
As of the 2021 Census, the town's ethnic composition was as follows:
Economy
In the early 19th century, Kizlyar became a center of
viticulture and
wine making. The local cognac factory (Kizlyar Brandy Factory) produces a variety of alcoholic beverages but specializes primarily in a regional variant of
brandy, marketed throughout Russia as "cognac".
Kizlyarka is a type of grape vodka produced in Kizlyar. Kizlyar is also known for traditional knife, dagger, and saber making.
Climate
Kizlyar has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification:
BSk).
Twin towns and sister cities
Kizlyar has sister city relationships with:
[ Kizlyar official site ]
Notable people
Notes
External links
Sources
