Kazakhstan, Almaty
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Country name: Republic of Kazakhstan
| Location: Central Asia, northwest
of China; a portion of its territory west of the Ural River is in eastern-most
Europe Area: total: 2,717,300 sq km (the 9th-largest country in the world) Area - comparative: slightly less than four times the size of Texas = equivalent to the size of Western Europe Land boundaries: China 1,533 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,051 km, Russia 6,846 km, Turkmenistan 379 km, Uzbekistan 2,203 km Highest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m Natural resources: major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium |
Population: 15,185,844 (July
2005 est.) Nationality: noun: Kazakhstani(s) adjective: Kazakhstani Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9% (1999 census) Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7% Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Almaty city
Almaty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Verny, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the biggest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,185,900 (2004) (8% of the population of Kazakhstan) citizens.
The name "Almaty" means "appled" (the place with apples), the more stately version of its name, Alma-Ata, means "apple's father".
Almaty is located at 43.27° N 76.91° E. A troop of Siberian cossacks from Omsk founded the fort Zailiysky in 1854 at the foot of the Tian Shan mountain range, and renamed it one year later to Verny, a name that remained until 1921. In a devastating earthquake in 1911, almost the only large building that remained standing was the Russian Orthodox cathedral. In the 1920s, after the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway, Alma-Ata, as it was then known, became a major stopping point along the track.
In 1929, Almaty became the capital of the Kazakh SSR. In late 1991, Almaty
became the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a designation it kept until
1998, when the capital was moved to Astana. Almaty, however, remains the
largest city in Kazakhstan and the country's major commercial center. In
2005, the city launched an Olympic application to host the XXII Olympic Winter
Games in the year 2014. A short bus ride into the Tian Shan mountains brings
one to Medeo, a popular tourist destination, with several hotels and an olympic-size
skating rink.On 21 December 1991, the Charter that ended the Soviet Union creating the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed there.
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last updated 24.04.2006.