Abaza is a town in the Republic of Khakassia, Russia. The town’s name comes from an abbreviation formed as an acronym of the phrase “Abakan Plant.”
The town of Abaza emerged in 1856 in connection with the development of the Abakan iron-ore deposit—the Abakan ironworks. It was located on the site of a forge belonging to a retired Cossack of the 2nd Abakan Cossack guard detachment of the Sayan Fortress, Alexander Sipkin, where, together with two assistants, he unauthorizedly mined ore from a mountain called Abakan Grace and produced cast-iron items from it for residents’ everyday needs. In 1867, the Ural merchant Kolchugin founded and put into operation here a cast-iron foundry and an ironworks, which operated until 1926.
From 1926 to 1957, the deposit was not exploited. In 1956, Abaza was granted the status of an urban-type settlement.
In 1957, ore extraction resumed. In 1966, the settlement was transformed into a town of district significance, and in 2003 it became a town under republican jurisdiction.