Pavlodar, city, northeastern Kazakhstan. It is a port on the Irtysh (Ertis) River. The community was founded in 1720 as Koryakovsky outpost on the Russian Irtysh fortified line, near salt lakes. It became the town of Pavlodar in 1861, but, although it did a substantial trade in salt and agricultural produce, its population was only about 8,000 in 1897. Since then and particularly since the mid-1960s, it has grown considerably to become a major industrial centre, with tractor, aluminum, and chemical plants. An oil refinery was completed in 1978. The city has industrial and teacher-training institutes. Pop. (2006 est.) 304,809.