Karakol, city, eastern Ysyk-köl oblasty (province), eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is located on the Karakol River at the northern foot of the Teriskey Alatau (Teskey Ala) Mountains at an elevation of 5,807 feet (1,770 metres). The city was founded in 1869 as a Russian military and administrative outpost; it was twice renamed for the Russian explorer Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, who died there in 1888. Karakol has many food-processing and other light industries, a teacher-training institute, a theatre, and a museum. Pop. (2006 est.) 61,900.