Atyrau Region (; ) formerly known as Guryev Region () until 1991, is one of the

regions of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is divided into 17 regions (; ; ; ) and 4 cities. The regions are further subdivided into districts of Kazakhstan, districts (; ; ; ). The four cities, Almaty, Baikonur, Shymkent, and the capital city Astana, do not belong to the ...

, in the western part of the country around the northeast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

. Its capital is the city of

Atyrau Atyrau (, ; , ; ), known until 1991 as Guryev (), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea, between Europe and Asia, west of Almaty and east o ...

, with a population of 355,117; the region itself has a population of 681,241, of which

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (Kazakh language, Kazakh: , , , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They share a common Culture of Kazakhstan, culture, Kazakh language, language and History of Kazakhstan, history ...

make up more than 90%.

History

The

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

lowlands of Atyrau Region were the central homeland for the Malkar "Hun" dynasties of late antiquity.

Geography

With an area of 118,600 square kilometers, it is the second-smallest region in Kazakhstan (

Turkistan Region Turkistan Region, formerly known as South Kazakhstan Region from 1992 to 2018 and Chimkent Region from 1963 to 1991, is the southernmost region of Kazakhstan, bordering Uzbekistan. It had a population of 2,088,510 as of the 2022 Kazakhstan cens ...

is the smallest). It borders

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(

Astrakhan Oblast Astrakhan Oblast (; ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,010,073. Geography Astrakhan's southern border is the ...

) to the west, as well as the fellow Kazakh regions

Aktobe Aktobe (, ; ) is a major city located on the Ilek River in western Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of the Aktobe Region and is an important cultural, economic, and industrial hub in the region. As of 2023, the city has a popu ...

to the east, Mangystau to the south, and the

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. The region has a population of 695,000 as of July 1st, 2024. Its administrative centre is Oral (also known as Uralsk or Ural'sk), a city of about 250,000 inhabitants. The Region was created ...

to the north. The

Ural River The Ural, also known as the Yaik , is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in the continental border between Europe and Asia. It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and discharges into the Caspian Sea. At , it is the third-longes ...

is the border between

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and flows from

to the

through the region, meaning western Atyrau Region lies in

. A large part of the region is situated in the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

-rich

Caspian Depression The Caspian Depression or the Caspian Lowland is a low-lying flatland region encompassing the northern part of the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It is the larger northern part of the wider Aral–Caspian Depressio ...

. Many

oil wells An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsatur ...

have been drilled in the

Tengiz Field Tengiz field (, ''Teñız mūnai ken orny'') is an oil field located in Zhylyoi District, Atyrau Region, northwestern Kazakhstan. Geography The oil field is located in an area of low-lying wetlands along the northeast shores of the Caspian Se ...

and

Kashagan Field Kashagan Field (, ''Qaşağan ken orny'') is an offshore oil field in Kazakhstan's zone of the Caspian Sea. The field, discovered in 2000, is located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea close to Atyrau and is considered the world's largest d ...

areas. An

oil pipeline A pipeline is a system of pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries around the world. The Un ...

runs from Atyrau to

Samara, Russia Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 million resident ...

, where it joins the Russian pipeline system. A separate oil pipeline runs from the

Tengiz field Tengiz field (, ''Teñız mūnai ken orny'') is an oil field located in Zhylyoi District, Atyrau Region, northwestern Kazakhstan. Geography The oil field is located in an area of low-lying wetlands along the northeast shores of the Caspian Se ...

to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Atyrau is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Demographics

As of 2021, the Atyrau Region has a population of 659,074. Ethnic groups (2021): * Kazakh: 92.86% *

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: 5.01% *

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

: 0.48% *

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

: 0.35% *Others: 1.30%

Administrative divisions

The region is divided into seven districts and the city of

. The districts are: #

Inder District Inder District (, ) is a district of Atyrau Region in Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the urban-type settlement of Inderbor. Population: Geography Inder District lies in the Caspian Depression. The Ural river and its ...

, with the administrative center in the urban-type settlement of

Inderbor Inderbor, also known as Inderborskiy, (, ''İnderbor'', ''يندەربور''; , ''Inderborskiy'') is a town in Atyrau Region, southwest Kazakhstan. It lies at an altitude of and has a population of 13,254. Geography Inderbor is located to the ...

; # Isatay District, the selo (village) of Akkystau; # Kurmangazy District, the selo of

Ganyushkino Kurmangazy or ( ), known before 2018 as Ganyushkin(o) (; ), is the administrative center of the Kurmangazy District, Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan. Kurmangazy is situated at 46°38'N, 49°08'E with an elevation of . Kurmangazy is in the west of Atyra ...

; # Kyzylkoga District, the selo of Miyaly; # Makat District, the urban-type settlement of Makat; # Makhambet District, the selo of Makhambet; #

Zhylyoi District Zhylyoi District (, ) is a district located in the south-eastern region of Atyrau Region in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small po ...

, the town of

Kulsary Kulsary (, ''Qūlsary'') is a town and the center of the Zhylyoi District in the Atyrau Region of western Kazakhstan. Population: The city is located 11 kilometers from the Emba River, and 230 kilometers from the city of Atyrau, the center ...

. ^* Two localities in Atyrau Region have town status. These are Atyrau and

. Isatay and Kurmangazy districts are in Europe, Makat, Kyzylkoga and Zhylyoi in Asia, while Inder and Makhambet straddle the Ural River which marks the boundary.

References

* ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', Eighth Edition.

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Regions of Kazakhstan