a city (since 1944) under republic jurisdiction and administrative center of Talas Raion, Kirghiz SSR. Situated on the Talas River at an elevation of 1,280 m. Connected by road with the Dzhambul railroad station and the city of Frunze. Population, 22,000 (1974). Talas has a butter factory, a bread-baking combine, a brewery, a garment factory, and a branch of the Frunze Footwear Production Association. The city also has a hydroelectric power plant and a medical school. The Manas Mausoleum is located near Talas.

a river in the Kirghiz SSR and the Kazakh SSR. The Talas River is 661 km long and drains an area of 52,700 sq km, including 9,240 sq km of mountain area. Formed by the confluence of the Karakol and Uchkoshoi rivers, which descend from the slopes of the Kirghiz Alatau and Talasskii Alatau ranges, the Talas flows along an intermontane valley. In the plain its waters are used for irrigation, and the river comes to an end in the sands of the Muiunkum. The Talas is fed by ice and snow, and its high-water period is from late April to early September. The mean flow rate in the upper reaches, 555 km from the mouth, is 15.7 cu m per sec; above Dzhambul, 444 km from the mouth, it is 27.4 cu m per sec. There is ice from December through March, but the river does not become icebound. The Kirov Reservoir and the cities of Talas and Dzhambul are on the Talas River.