Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea, between Europe and Asia, 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) west of Almaty and 351 kilometres (218 miles) east of the Russian city of Astrakhan.

It is predominantly made up of Kazakhs, the minorities being Russians, Koreans, Tatars and Uzbeks.

The wooden fort at the mouth of the Yaik River was founded in 1645 as Nizhny Yaitzky gorodok (literally, Lower Yaik Fort) by the Russian trader Gury Nazarov, a native of Yaroslavl, who specialized in trade with Khiva and Bukhara.

The fort was plundered by the Yaik Cossacks, leading the Guriev family to rebuild it in stone (1647–62).

A separate oil pipeline runs from the Tengiz field to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

[5] It is much more continental than areas further west on the European continent, with summers characterized by temperatures averaging 33 °C (91 °F) and lack of precipitation, resembling continental hot-summer mediterranean climates, and subarctic winters with little snow but with chilling temperatures.

[10] Most families of Chevron employees live in Dostyk village, a compound that includes housing, recreational facilities, and an international school.

[11] Atyrau also has expatriate populations working for Agip, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and ConocoPhillips.

[12] As a result of the oil industry, the air in the city is polluted with toxic hydrogen sulfide gas.

The air in the city was found to regularly exceed the maximum permissible concentration and constantly had a 'rotten eggs' smell.

The team competes in the international FIBA Asia Champions Cup and the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship.

Atyrau is twinned with: On August 28, 1965, the first real reinforced concrete bridge in the city, passing through the Ural River, was built and put into operation.