city, east-central Kazakhstan. It lies on the Samarkand Reservoir of the Nura River. The settlement, a satellite city of Qaraghandy (Karaganda), came into being when the reservoir was built in 1934; until 1945 it was called Samarkandsky. Later, small industrial plants were built there. In World War II a steel mill using scrap metal was established, and by 1945 the city had more than 25,000 inhabitants.

The huge Karaganda Metallurgical Works produced its first pig iron in 1960–61 and was still being expanded in the 1970s, when it had become one of the largest iron and steel plants in the Soviet Union. The city's chemical industry includes a synthetic-rubber works and a chemical plant producing calcium carbide. Pop. (1995 est.) 206,100.