Temirtau

Temirtau (Kazakh: Теміртау, romanized: Temırtau; Russian: Темиртау) is a city in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. The population was 170,481 in the 1999 census, rising to 210,590 in 2015. The city is located on the Nura River (the Samarkand Reservoir), northwest of Karaganda. The first groups of settlers to settle in the area were 40 families from Samara (see Stolypin reform), who settled on the left bank of the Nura River on 15 June 1905. The settlement they founded was named Zhaur (Жаур), after a hill on the other side of the river. In 1909 the settlement was renamed Samarkandsky (Самаркандский, or Samarkand for short). The first school and the first hospital were built in 1911.