Mangistau region (kaz. Mangystau oblysy) is a region in the south-west of Kazakhstan, formerly called Mangyshlak.It was formed on March 20, 1973 from the southern part of the Guryev region. In 1988, the region was abolished, restored in 1990 under the name of Mangistau.
The administrative center is the Aktau city.
Mangistau region is located to the east of the Caspian Sea on the Mangyshlak (Mangistau) plateau, borders in the northeast with Atyrau and Aktobe regions, in the south with Turkmenistan and in the east with the Republic of Karakalpakstan as part of Uzbekistan.
Mangistau region is an industrial region, 25% of Kazakhstan's oil is produced here (almost 20 million tons), the Aktau-Zhetybai-Uzen oil pipeline passes.
In the Mangistau region there are the "sea gates" of Kazakhstan - Aktau city.
Mangistau region is a part of an ancient civilization, an open-air archaeological reserve.
Archaeologists have found numerous Paleolithic monuments on the coast of the Sarytash Bay, on the Tyubkaragan peninsula and in the valleys of the Shahbagata and Kumakap rivers. The industry of the Shakhbagat site (Proto-Levallois-Acheul) on the territory of the Fort Shevchenko city administration resembles the tools of the Olduvai culture, the industry of the Shahbagat site (Levallois-Acheul I) corresponds to the Middle Acheulean.
There is a Neolithic settlement on the island of Kulaly in the Caspian Sea.
The Koskuduk I site on the coast of the Caspian Sea (end of the 5th - first half of the 4th millennium BC) dates back to the Neolithic/Chalcolithic period. The Eneolithic human burial at the Koskuduk I site is the oldest in Kazakhstan. In the V millennium BC. e. the Oyuclinian culture was replaced by the Toulouse culture.
In the 1st millennium BC. e. The Great Silk Road from Khorezm and Khiva to Europe and the Middle East passed through the lands of Mangistau. On the Ustyurt plateau along this path there were fortresses, caravanserais, settlements of artisans, cattle breeders and hunters. Archaeological finds show that the fortresses and these settlements had a fairly high standard of living. The Great Migration of Peoples and the countless wars associated with it interrupted the Great Silk Road through Ustyurt, and the Mongol invasion finally buried and wiped out its attributes from the face of the earth.
Mangystau for many centuries moved to the very edge of the Eurasian ecumene. For the first time, the Mangyshlak peninsula was mentioned in the 9th century. called Siyah-Kuh (“Black Mountain”) by the Arab geographer Al-Istakhri, who wrote: “I do not know of any other place in that region where anyone lives, except perhaps Siyah-Kuh, where a tribe of Turks lives; they have recently settled there because of the enmity that arose between the Guz and them. Another mention of the existence of a settlement on the Mangyshlak peninsula is associated with the name of the Seljuk sultan Alp-Arslan, who in 1065 forced the Kypchaks of the Mangyshlak fortress to submit to his authority.
Fortress Mangyshlak (Kazakh Mangystau), which existed in the X-XIII centuries. as a major trading post, gave the name to the entire peninsula; its exact location is unknown, presumably it was located on the site of the ancient settlement of Kyzyl-Kala (archaeological research is being carried out there now).
In 1882, the Mangyshlak uyezd was formed as part of the Russian Empire from the Mangyshlak bailiff, which had existed since 1868.
In June 1920, the Mangyshlak uyezd, together with the 4th and 5th Adaevsky volosts of the Krasnovodsk uyezd, formed the Adaevsky uyezd, which in October of the same year was transferred to the Kirghiz (Kazakh) ASSR.
The economic awakening of the region was due to the discovery by geologists in the early 1950s of the richest deposits of uranium and rare earth elements, oil and gas in the bowels of the Mangistau region. The average salary was the highest among the regions of Kazakhstan in the period from 1996 to 1997. In some years from 1998 to 2002, unemployment in the region exceeded 10% (first place among the regions of Kazakhstan). By the beginning of the 21st century, the region had the largest share of taxes, fees and payments among the regions. Now the region is one of the most prosperous in Kazakhstan, in recent years, the immigration growth of the population has been increasing.
