Peter the Great had a fort built here in 1707. Later, Abakansk was a fortified town of Siberia, in the Russian government of Yeniseisk. It was considered the mildest and most salubrious place in Siberia.
The place is remarkable for certain tumuli (of the Li Kitai) and statues of men from seven to nine feet high, covered with hieroglyphics.
The Abakan River is a river of south-central Russia rising in the western Sayan Mountains and flowing about 563 km northeast to the Yenisei River.