Makhachkala

**Makhachkala** (; Avar: МахIачхъала; Lezgian: Магьачкъала; Kumyk: Магьачкъала, Mağaçqala) is the caipital ceety o the Republic o Dagestan, Roushie. It is locatit on the wastren shore o the Caspian Sea an is hame tae the Makhachkala Grand Mosque, ane o Roushie's lairgest. Accordin tae the preliminary results o the 2010 Census, the ceety haed a population o 577,990.

## History
Makhachkala's historic predecessor wis the toun o Tarki, nou a near suburb, whose history goes back tae the 15t century an possibly hintle earlier. The modren ceety o Makhachkala wis foondit in 1844 as a fortress; toun status wis grantit in 1857. The oreeginal Roushie name o the ceety wis **Petrovskoye** ()—efter the Roushie tsar Peter the Great who visitit the region in 1722.  Housomeivver, amang the locals it wis kent as **Anzhi-Qala** (*A Fortress o Soil*, Qala or Kala قلعه means Fortress in Arabic an Turkic). The ceety wis renamit **Petrovsk-Port** () in 1857, whiles simply **Petrovsk**, an then Makhachkala in 1921. The ceety incurred major damage durin the yirdquauk o 14 Mey 1970. It wis briefly renamit as Shamilkala in 1920s.

In Januar 1919, durin the Roushie Ceevil War, the Breetish based No. 221 Squadron Ryal Air Force at Petrovsk.  In Mairch thay wur jynt bi No. 266 Squadron an baith squadrons wur involvit in bombin operations against Bolshevik forces in Astrakhan an elsewhare. In August 1919 baith squadrons wur athdrawn frae Petrovsk.

## Administrative and municipal status
Administratively, alang wi sax rural localities, it is incorporated as the **[[City of federal subject significance|City]] of Makhachkala**—an administrative unit wi the status equal tae that of the districts. Municipally, the City of Makhachkala is incorporated as **Makhachkala Urban Okrug**.

### Ceety diveesions
Admeenistratively, the ceety is dividit intae three ceety destricts: Kirovsky, Leninsky, an Sovetsky.

## Unrest
Makhachkala is close tae auries o fechtin an therefore it an the surroondin region haes a hivy security service presence. On 25 November 2011, a protest teuk place in Makhachkala attendit bi up tae 3,000 fowk demandin an end tae illegal activities perpetratit bi the security services.

On December&nbsp;15, 2011, Gadzhimurat Kamalov, a Roushie investigative jurnalist an foonder o the unthirlt Chernovik newspaper wis shot deid in an apparent assassination.

## Demographics
The population o Makhachkala includes (2002 census data): http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rndaghestan.html
*Avars (26.5%)
*Laks (14.6%)
*Kumyks (13.9%)
*Dargins (13.7%)
*Lezgins (13.6%)
*Roushies (9.1%)
*Tabassarans (2.2%)
*Azeri (1.4%)
*Rutuls (1.2%)

## Transportation
The ceety is servit bi Uytash Airport, Russian Railways an Caspian Sea International Port.

## Sports
The ceety's fitbaa team, FC Anzhi Makhachkala, plays in the Roushie Premier League. Housomeivver, acause o recent unrest, the players currently live an train in Moscow .

## Climate
The climate o Makhachkala combines subtropical wairm simmers an a continental climate resultin in cauld winters. It is influencit bi a semi-arid climate an aw (Köppen climate classification: *BSk*) as is foond athort maist o the Caspian Sea basin.

## Internaitional relations

### Twin touns an sister cities
Makhachkala is twinned wi:
* **[[Sfax]]**, Tunisie
* **[[Siping (ceety)|Siping]]**, Cheenae
* **[[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]]**, Unitit States
* **[[Vladikavkaz]]**, Roushie
* **[[Yalova]]**, Turkey
* **[[Ndola]]**, Zambie
* **[[Oldenburg]]**, Germany
* **[[Maharajganj]]**, Indie

## References
### Notes

### Sources
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## Freemit airtins
*Makhachkala organizes charity iftars