Kara-Balta

Brief information about the Kara-Balta

Kara-Balta (lit. 'black ax', Russian and Kyrgyz: Кара-Балта) is a city and municipality on the Kara-Balta River, at Chuy Region, Kyrgyzstan, the capital of Jayyl District. It received city status under the Soviets in 1975 and was established under the Kokand Khanate in 1825.

Its city population was officially 37,834 at the 2009 census. The municipality had a population of 54,200 based on this Soviet 1989 census. Kara-Balta is situated on the slopes of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, at the western part of Chuy Region, 62 km west of the capital of Bishkek.

Another street goes south through the Töö-Ashuu Pass and then divides, one branch going west to the other south and Talas Province and then east to Balykchy on Lake Issyk Kul.

It has a temperate climate. The terrain is flat. Following the invasion by Genghis Khan nomads and pastoralists inhabited the area, although the Chuy Valley has been settled since the Fifth Century.

The settlement flourished under the Khanate of Kokand and became a city.