Kizlyar

 city, district center

Kizlyar (Russian: Кизля́р; Avar: Гъизляр; Kumyk: Къызлар, Qızlar) is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the border with the Chechen Republic in the delta of the Terek River 221 kilometers (137 mi) northwest of Makhachkala, the capital of the republic. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 48,984. According to some researchers, the name of the city comes from an old name for the Terek River. Another translation of the name Kizlyar is from an unspecified Turkic language, meaning "girls". According to Vyacheslav Nikonov, correct translation of this Turkic toponym is "red cliff".
The first documented reference to Kizlyar dates back to 1609, although some historians associate the place with Samandar, the 8th-century capital of Khazaria. In 1735 the Russian government built a fortress in Kizlyar and laid foundations for the Caucasus fortified borderline. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Kizlyar operated as one of the trading posts between Russia and the Middle East and Central Asia. During this period, the population was largely Armenian and Russian. In 1796 2,800 Armenians and 1,000 Russians lived in Kizlyar. During the Russian Empire, the settlement was the administrative capital of the Kizlyarsky Otdel of the Terek Oblast. In 1942 the Germans briefly took Kizylar (Kizjlar).