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The Republic of Kazakhstan or Kazakhstan
(Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, IPA /qɑzɑqˈstɑn/;
Russian: Казахстан, Kazakhstán, IPA /kɐzəxˈstɐn/),
also spelled Kazakstan, is a country that
stretches over a vast expanse of Asia. A portion
of its territory west of the Ural River is
located in eastern-most Europe. It has borders
with Russia, the People's Republic of China, and
the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and has a coastline
on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan was a republic of
the now extinct Soviet Union and is now a member
of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the
world by area, but its semi-deserts (steppe)
make it only the 57th country in population,
with approximately 6 persons per sq km (16/mi²).
Population in 2005 was estimated at 15,100,500
[1], down from 16,464,464 in 1989
History
Main article: History of Kazakhstan
Humans have inhabited what is now known as
Kazakhstan since the earliest Stone Age,
generally pursuing the nomadic movement
pastoralism for which the region's climate and
terrain are best suited. In fact, historians
believe vast steppes of modern day Kazakhstan
was the place where the man first domesticated
the horse. From the 4th century through the
beginning of the 13th century, the territory of
Kazakhstan was ruled by a series of nomadic
nations. Following the Mongolian invasion in the
early 13th century, administrative districts
were established under the Mongol Empire, which
eventually became the territories of the Kazakh
Khanate (Ak Horde). The major medieval cities of
Aulie-Ata and Turkestan were founded along the
northern route of the Great Silk Road during
this period.
Traditional nomadic life on the vast steppe and
semi-desert lands was characterized by a
constant search for new pasture to support the
livestock-based economy. The Kazakhs emerged
from a mixture of tribes living in the region in
about the 15th century and by the middle of the
16th century had developed a common language,
culture, and economy. In the early 1600s, the
Kazakh Khanate separated into the Great, Middle
and Little (or Small) Hordes (Dzhuz)—confederations
based on extended family networks. Political
disunion, competition among the hordes, and a
lack of an internal market weakened the Kazakh
Khanate. The beginning of the 18th century
marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. The
area was a bone of contention between the Kazak
emirs and the Persian Kings for many centuries.
In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to
expand, and spread into Central Asia. The "Great
Game" period is generally regarded as running
from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian
Convention of 1907. Following the Bolshevik
Revolution of 1917 a second less intensive phase
followed. The tsars effectively ruled over most
of the territory belonging to what is now the
Republic of Kazakhstan.
In the 20th century, and after the fall of the
Soviet Union, the Kazakhstanian problem of
transport became readily apparent. Many Kazakh
men were being forced to travel on buses because
of the lack of cheap automobiles availible to
the public. Often, these men were travelling
with women, who in Kazakh society are not
allowed to travel inside of vehicles. Many
citizens blame the transportation problems in
the country on the Jews. There is even a popular
song that attributes the problem of transport,
along with many others, to the Jewish population
of Kazakhstan.
The Russian Empire introduced a system of
administration and built military garrisons and
barracks in its effort to establish a presence
in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game"
between it and Great Britain. Russia enforced
the Russian language in all schools and
governmental organizations. Russian efforts to
impose its system aroused the resentment of the
Kazakh people, and by the 1860s, most Kazakhs
resisted Russia's annexation largely because of
the disruption it wrought upon the traditional
nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy.
The Kazakh national movement, which began in the
late 1800s, sought to preserve the Kazakh
language and identity. From the 1890s onwards
ever-larger numbers of Slavic settlers began
colonising the territory of present-day
Kazakhstan, in particular the province of
Semirechie. The number of settlers rose still
further once the Trans-Aral Railway from
Orenburg to Tashkent was completed in 1906, and
the movement was overseen and encouraged by a
specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое
Управление) in St. Petersburg. The competition
for land and water which ensued between the
Kazakhs and the incomers caused great resentment
against colonial rule during the final years of
tsarist Russia, with the most serious uprising,
the Central Asian Revolt, occurring in 1916.
Although there was a brief period of autonomy
during the tumultuous period following the
collapse of the Russian Empire, the Kazakhs
eventually succumbed to Soviet rule. In 1920,
the area of present-day Kazakhstan became an
autonomous republic within Russia and, in 1936,
a Soviet republic.
Soviet repression of the traditional elites,
along with forced collectivization in late
1920s-1930s, brought about mass hunger and led
to unrest. Soviet rule, however, took hold, and
a communist apparatus steadily worked to fully
integrate Kazakhstan into the Soviet system.
Kazakhstan experienced population inflows of
thousands exiled from other parts of the Soviet
Union during the 1930s and later became home for
hundreds of thousands evacuated from the Second
World War battlefields. The Kazakh Soviet
Socialist Republic (SSR) contributed five
national divisions to the Soviet Union's World
War II effort.
The period of the Second World War marked an
increase in industrialization and increased
mineral extraction in support of the war effort.
At the time of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's
death, however, Kazakhstan still had an
overwhelmingly agricultural-based economy. In
1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated
the ambitious "Virgin Lands" program to turn the
traditional pasturelands of Kazakhstan into a
major grain-producing region for the Soviet
Union. The Virgin Lands policy, along with later
modernizations under Soviet leader Leonid
Brezhnev, sped up the development of the
agricultural sector, which to this day remains
the source of livelihood for a large percentage
of Kazakhstan's population.
Growing tensions within Soviet society led to a
demand for political and economic reforms, which
came to a head in the 1980s. In December 1986,
mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs took
place in Almaty to protest the methods of the
communist system. Soviet troops suppressed the
unrest, and dozens of demonstrators were jailed
or killed. In the waning days of Soviet rule,
discontent continued to grow and find expression
under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy
of glasnost. Caught up in the groundswell of
Soviet republics seeking greater autonomy,
Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a
republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics in October 1990. Following the August
1991 abortive coup attempt in Moscow and the
subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union,
Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16,
1991.
The years following independence have been
marked by significant reforms to the Soviet
command-economy and political monopoly on power.
Under Nursultan Nazarbayev, who initially came
to power in 1989 as the head of the Kazakh
Communist Party and was eventually elected
President in 1991, Kazakhstan has made
significant progress toward developing a market
economy and a fledgling democracy. The country
has enjoyed significant economic growth since
2000, partly due to its large oil, gas, and
mineral reserves.
Provinces
Former capital of Kazakhstan - AlmatyMain
article: Provinces of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is divided into 14 provinces
(oblystar) and the two municipal districts of
Almaty and Astana. Each is headed by an Akim
(provincial governor) appointed by the
president. Municipal Akims are appointed by
oblast Akims. The Government of Kazakhstan
transferred its capital from Almaty to Astana on
December 10, 1997.
Kazakhstan is divided into 14 oblys and 3 cities
(qala)*:
Taldy-Korgan, Almaty*, Aqmola (Astana), Aqtobe,
Astana*, Atyrau, Batys Qazaqstan (Oral),
Bayqongyr*, Mangghystau (Aqtau; formerly
Shevchenko), Ongtustik Qazaqstan (Shymkent),
Pavlodar, Qaraghandy, Qostanay, Qyzylorda,
Shyghys Qazaqstan (Oskemen; formerly
Ust'-Kamenogorsk), Soltustik Qazaqstan
(Petropavl), Zhambyl (Taraz; known as Dzhambul
in the Soviet period, but before that as
Aulie-Ata)
note: administrative divisions have the same
names as their administrative centers
(exceptions have the administrative center name
following in parentheses); in 1995 the
Governments of Kazakhstan and Russia entered
into an agreement whereby Russia would lease for
a period of 20 years an area of 6,000 km²
enclosing the Bayqongyr (Baykonur) space launch
facilities and the city of Bayqongyr (formerly
Leninsk). Just recently, the lease of Bayqongyr
facilities was extended through 2050.
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