Balykchy
1574648
209394063
2008-05-01T04:42:04Z
Vmenkov
268974
{{Infobox Settlement
|official_name = {{PAGENAME}}
|native_name = Балыкчы
|image_skyline = E8361-Balykchy-Fishmongers.jpg
|imagesize =
|image_caption = Fish vendors at Balykchy selling dried fish to a transit bus passenger
|image_flag =
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|pushpin_map = Kyrgyzstan
|pushpin_label_position =bottom
|pushpin_mapsize = 300
|pushpin_map_caption =Location in Kyrgyzstan
|subdivision_type = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
|subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Kyrgyzstan|Province]]
|subdivision_name = [[Image:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg|30px]] [[Kyrgyzstan]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Issyk Kul Province]]
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|population_total = 40,000
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|latd=42|latm=28|lats=|latNS=N
|longd=76|longm=11|longs=|longEW=E
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'''Balykchy''' ({{lang-ky|Балыкчы}}) is a town with a population about 40,000 people located at the western end of Lake [[Issyk-Kul]] in [[Kyrgyzstan]], at {{coor dm|42|28|N|76|11|E|region:KG_type:city(50,000)}} and an elevation of about 1900 meters. A major industrial and transport center (wool and crop processing, lake shipping, rail terminal, and road junction) during the Soviet era, it lost most of its economic base after the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] and the closure of virtually all of its industrial facilities.
It was named Rybachye (''fishing place'' in Russian) during the Soviet era. In the early 1990s, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the town was known as Issyk-Kul, taking the name of the adjacent lake. Shortly after independence, its name was changed to '''Balykchy''' [http://www.dostuck.com.kg/old/cities.shtml]which means ''fishing place'' in Kyrgyz language.
The main road from [[Bishkek]], the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to China, a part of the ancient [[Silk Road|Great Silk Road]], passes through Balykchy before it starts its long and arduous way across the alpine ranges of [[Naryn]] oblast in central Kyrgyzstan to the Chinese border at [[Torugart]] Pass. Plans for the rail road from the Chinese border to Balykchy, where the line from Bishkek currently ends, are under discussion.
{{commonscat|Balykchy}}
{{Kyrgyzstan-geo-stub}}
[[Category:Cities, towns and villages in Kyrgyzstan]]
[[Category:Cities along the Silk Road]]
[[Category:Issyk Kul Province]]
[[de:Balyktschy]]
[[et:Balõktšõ]]
[[fr:Balykchy]]
[[it:Balykshy]]
[[pl:Bałykczy]]
[[ru:Балыкчи]]
[[tr:Balıkçı, Kırgızistan]]