Baksan is a town in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, located 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) northwest of Nalchik

Nalchik

Nalchik is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. It covers an area of...

 on the left bank of the Baksan River

Baksan River

Baksan River, also known as Azau is a river in Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia, a right tributary of the Malka River . The length of the Baksan is 173 km, the area of its drainage basin is 6,800 km². The Baksan originates in the glaciers of the Elbrus. The towns of Tyrnyauz and Baksan are located on...

 (Terek's basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

). Population:

History

It was founded in 1822 as a Russian military settlement. In the 1860s, the Kabarda settlement of Kuchmazukino was founded to the east of Baksan; it was renamed Staraya Krepost in 1920. In 1891, to the west of the settlement, the selo of Baksan was founded. Baksan and Staraya Krepost were merged in 1960. Urban-type settlement

Urban-type settlement

Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...

status was granted to it in 1965; town status was granted in 1967.