Whales (city)
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Whales ვალე |
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| State : |
 Georgia
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| Region : | Samtskhe Javakheti | ||
| Municipality : | Akhaltsikhe | ||
| Founded : | 10th century | ||
| Coordinates : | 41 ° 37 ' N , 42 ° 53' E | ||
| Height : | 1,150 m. ü. M. | ||
| Residents : | 3,646 (2014) | ||
| Time zone : | Georgian Time (UTC + 4) | ||
| Community type: | city | ||
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Wale ( Georgian ვალე ) is a city in southern Georgia .
geography
It is located in the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti and belongs to the municipality of Akhaltsikhe . Wale is located about 160 kilometers as the crow flies west of the state capital Tbilisi and 10 kilometers west of the regional capital (also the administrative seat of the municipality) Akhaltsikhe , on a ridge of the Lesser Caucasus above the right bank of the left Kura tributary of the Pozchowiszqali ( Turkish Posof Çayı ) coming from Turkey . The border with Turkey runs five kilometers south of the city.
The city has 3646 inhabitants (2014). It is located in a part of Georgia that is largely inhabited by Armenians . In the area of the municipalities in 2002 almost 37% of the population were Armenians. Their proportion is also high in the city of Wale.
history
The place has been known as a village since the 10th century.
In the Soviet period, lignite deposits were discovered in the immediate vicinity of the place and mining began in 1946. In this context, the city received a railway connection in 1947 when the Chaschuri – Wale railway , which had ended in Borjomi, was extended to this point. The population now grew rapidly and the place received urban-type settlement status and city rights in 1962. Since then, however, mining and population have declined considerably since the collapse of the economy as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- Population development
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1959 | 9629 |
| 1970 | 7326 |
| 1979 | 6244 |
| 1989 | 6305 |
| 2002 | 5026 |
| 2014 | 3646 |
Note: census data
Culture and sights
There are several Georgian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches in Wale that date back to the 10th to 16th centuries.
traffic
Wale has been the end point of the 91 km long Chaschuri – Wale railway since 1947 . Today the passenger trains coming from Tbilisi already end in Borjomi, so that the city has to get along without passenger transport by rail. The Wale train station is about three kilometers to the north and several hundred meters of altitude below the city in the Pozchowi valley.
The city is located on the European route E 691 , which branches off the E 80 in Horasan , Turkey, runs through the provincial capital Kars , crosses the border to Georgia to the south of Wale and leads via Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki to Armenia, where it takes the E 117 via Gyumri near Ashtarak and thus represents the shortest road connection between Turkey and Armenia, the direct border of which is closed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population Census 2014 ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Distribution of ethnic groups by administrative unit , results of the 2002 census (English)
- ↑ Article Wale in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)
