Makhachkala

City in northern Caucasia, capital, economic and cultural centre of the Dagestan Republic, in the southwestern Russian Federation; population (1996 est) 347,000. Makhachkala is a major port on the Caspian Sea; oil is piped here for export from Grozny and Izberbash. The city has aerospace, shipbuilding, oil-refining, textile, and food industries. It was founded as a Russian fort in 1844, and became a town in 1857. Makhachkala gained its present name (after the local Bolshevik leader Makhach) and was made the capital of Dagestan in 1922.

Makhachkala was devastated by a major earthquake in 1970. Much of the town has since been rebuilt.