On January 8, 1997, the city of Zhambyl became officially known as the city of Taraz. There are not that many cities on our planet with over than 2000 years of history. Not accidentally, UNESCO decided to celebrate the anniversary of Taraz as a historically important event. This could be regarded as an official recognition of the fact that our young state has its own historical roots. For 2000 years, the city changed its name nine times. At first, it was Talas then Taraz, Yani Taraz, Namangankache. Since 1826, the city was renamed to Aulie-Ata. Between 1936-1938 it was named Mirzoyan, in honor of the First Secretary of the CPSU (b) of Kazakhstan, and in 1938 it was named Jambul, Zhambyl. On January 8, 1997, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev approved the request of residents of Zhambyl: a decree was enacted in order to rename the Zhambyl to Taraz. Thereby Zhambyl regained its ancient name. Taraz is a city in Kazakhstan, the administrative center of Zhambyl (Jambul) region. Located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River (Taraz). One of the oldest cities of Semirechye and points of the northern branch of the Silk Road, which starts from Almaliq (near the modern city of Yining in China) in the direction of the city of Yasa (the modern city of Turkestan) and further to the Syra downstream (Syr).
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