Sauran

Sauran is a medieval settlement in the south of Kazakhstan .

The settlement is located in the territory subordinated to the city of Turkestan of the Turkestan region , 43 km northwest of the city, 1.5 km from the administrative border with the Kyzylorda region , 2 km south of the Samara-Tashkent highway, 500 m from the railway.

The monument is part of the state museum-reserve "Azret-Sultan" with a center in Turkestan.

The modern aul Sauran ^[1] is located 14 km southeast of the site.

In the VI-XIII centuries, the city of Sauran was located 3 km southeast of the later city - now this settlement is called Karatobe. The city on the site of the modern settlement Sauran functioned in the XIII-XVIII centuries, after which it was abandoned. Sauran was an important trade and economic center that controlled the passage between the Karatau ridge and the Syr Darya , along which the caravan route passed. The population of the city during its heyday is estimated from 3 to 15 thousand inhabitants.

The settlement is oval in plan, stretched from the north-east to the south-west by 800 m, from the north-west to the south-east by 550 m. The height of the adobe brick walls is up to 7 m, the base of the walls is up to 3 m, the gate width is 5- 6 m

Sauran is the place of the first discovery in the territory of Kazakhstan of the kyariz system - an irrigation system of wells with underground canals for irrigation of fields, in 2002 similar structures were found in three more places of the Turkestan oasis.

The Arab geographer Makdisi wrote: "Sauran (Savran, Sabran) is a large city surrounded by 7 walls, the cathedral mosque is located in the inner city."

In the first half of the 14th century, Sauran was the capital of the Jochid White Horde . Here in 1320 the ruler of the White Horde Sasa-Buka was buried.

In the period from 1465 to 1718, it was one of the cities of the Kazakh Khanate . In 1514-1515, the poet Vasifi lived in Sauran, leaving a description of the city and its environs. It was among those destroyed in 1723-1727. the jungars of cities. The ancient settlement was finally abandoned at the beginning of the XIX century.

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  The walls of the castle in 1866

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  Minarets of Sauran in 1866