Karakol is one of the major towns in the Kyrgyz Republic, and part of the historic Silk Route Caravansei of Central Asia. The name means something like "black hand/wrist", possibly reference to the hands of immigrant Russian peasants, black from the valley's rich soil.

The city was founded in 1869 as a Russian military and administrative outpost. It was renamed for the Russian explorer Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, who died there in 1888, to Przhevalsk.

Karakol is the administrative centre of Issyk-Kul region. It has many food and other light industries, a teacher-training institute, a theatre, and a museum. There is also a small airport right at the north-eastern edge of town.

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