Tarki

Tarki or Targhu ( _ru. Тарки, Kumyk: Таргъу) is an urban-type settlement in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, situated approximately six kilometers from the republic's capital, Makhachkala, on the Tarkitau Mountain.

According to oral tradition, Tarki sits on the site of Samandar, the capital of Khazaria until the early 8th century. In 1396, Tamerlane passed through Tarki on a military campaign. In the late 15th century, Tarki became the capital of the Shamkhals who held sway in Dagestan until the early 18th century, when their territory contracted to a tiny strip of the Caspian shore.

The Shamkhals submitted to Russian authority more than once, first in the early 17th century, then during the Persian Expedition of Peter the Great and Persian Expedition of 1796. As early as 1559, Ivan the Terrible had a Russian fort constructed there. In 1668 the town was sacked by the Cossacks of Stepan Razin.

The town finally passed to Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan (1813). Eight years later, the Russians built Burnaya Fortress there, which was succeeded by Fort-Petrovsk, now known as Makhachkala.