Atyrau

Kazak �Atyrau�, also spelled �Aterau�, formerly (until 1992) �Guryev�, also spelled �Gurev, �Guriev�, or �Gurjev� city, western Kazakstan. It is a port on the Ural (Zhayyq) River near its mouth on the Caspian Sea. Founded as a fishing settlement in the mid-17th century by the fishing entrepreneur Mikhail Guryev, it soon became a fort on the Ural fortified line manned by the Ural Cossacks. Fishing and trade were the main economic activities until Soviet times. Now, in addition to a large