Tamga

a climatic and pelotherapeutic health resort, in Issyk-Kul’ Oblast, Kirghiz SSR; situated at an elevation of 1,684 m on the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul’. Summers are warm, with an average July temperature of 18°C, and winters are mild, with an average January temperature of –4°C. Tamga offers climatotherapy and lake bathing, as well as treatment for digestive and respiratory (nontubercular) disorders and for diseases of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. There is a sanatorium and facilities for hydrotherapy and pelotherapy.

among Mongols, originally a special emblem or mark with which livestock were branded to denote ownership; later a seal (or its imprint) or a document or charter bearing the khan’s seal. The term became common in the countries conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century. In Middle Asia, certain Trans-caucasian countries, and the Middle East, tamga was the name of a tax imposed by the Mongols on merchants, artisans, and those engaged in promysly (hunters, fishermen, miners, and others engaged in extractive occupations). Such a tribute continued to be paid until the 1570’s (in Iran it was abolished in 1565). In the modern Mongolian language, tamga means “letterhead,” “rubber stamp,” or “ace” (playing card).

In Russia in the 13th to 15th centuries, tamga was a tax levied on commercial transactions. Local merchants, however, paid either no tax at all in their own cities or a tax smaller than what visiting merchants paid. Beginning in the middle of the 16th century, the majority of commercial taxes were gradually replaced by the ruble tax (rublevaia poshlina)—a tax based on the ruble and calculated as a percentage of the price of goods traded.