Talgar (Kazakh: Талғар, romanized: Talğar, pronounced [tɑlˈʁɑɾ]; Russian: Талгар) is a town in Almaty Region, southeastern Kazakhstan.

The settlement bore the name Talkhiz and was situated in the mountains of Semirechye at the borders of Turkic tribes Karluk and Chigils.

A town neighboring Almaty, a river flowing through it and the highest peak of Zailiisky Alatau also bear this name.

The locality was chosen because it was on the Silk Road and situated at the foothills of Zailiisky Alatau, incorporating rich land sources and summer pastures.

It was a time of political and economic change in Kazakhstan history, since the country got controlled by the feudal Karakhanid dynasty.

Talgar developed rapidly in this period and, like other cities of the Ili river valley it became the capital of an economically and geographically important territory.

After a Cossack fortification, Vernoye, was established in February 1854 in nearby Almaty, the local government decided to further fortify the eastern border with the Russian Empire.

Three stanitsas were founded close to Vernoye: Sofiiskaya (Talgar), Nadezhdinskaya (Issyk), and Lyubavinskaya (Kaskelen).

First information concerning the founding of Sofiiskaya stanitsa was registered in February–March 1858 when Khorunzhy Zherebyatyev and 24 Siberian kazak families built several houses on the right bank of the Talgar river.

The town sits at the foot of Zailiisky Alatau which is a mountain range of Tian Shan and a part of the Himalayan orogenic belt.

The high-mountainous nival glacial band occupies altitudes of 3000 m and more above sea level and is characterized by sharp tops and steep stony declines.

The sub-alpine chord (2400–3000 m) of the Talgar mountains is characterized by dominant high-grass meadows and steppe with juniper bushes on southern stony slopes.

The erosive relief of the middle part of the mountains occupies absolute altitudes in a range of 1700 up to 3000 m. Gorges and narrow valleys up to 700 m. deep with steep slopes are most typical here.

Thus, Talgar mountains are notable for catastrophic cyclic natural processes such as earthquakes, mudflows, and snow avalanches.