Petropavl, formerly Petropavlovsk, city in northern Kazakhstan, on the Ishim River near the border with Russia capital of Soltustik Qazaqstan (North Kazakhstan) Province. Petropavl is located along the northern edge of the Virgin Lands region, an area of expanded cultivation begun in the 1950s that stretches from the Volga River to northern Kazakhstan and western Siberia. It is a center for grain growing and processing, mainly wheat. There are also factories that manufacture diesel engines and electrical insulation materials. A large thermal electric station in Petropavl helped to electrify a part of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Petropavl is on the west-east Trans-Siberian Railroad at its junction with the north-south Trans-Kazakhstan Railroad connecting it to the rest of Central Asia. Large train yards in Petropavl handle coal and lumber from Siberia, and grains, meat and coal from Kazakhstan.
Petropavl was founded in 1752 as a Russian fort extending Russian settlement into the nomadic Kazakh territories to the south. Petropavl (at that time called Kyzldzhar) was an important trading center for silk and carpets. It developed as an important center for trade between Russia and the Central Asian khanates (states) from the late 1800s until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Population (1993 estimate) 248,000.
