Area: 2.7 million sq.km. Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world.
Population: 149 million (52% Kazakhs, 31% Russians, 18% other)
Capital: Astana (0.8 million)
Major cities: Almaty (1.3 million, Karaganda (0.6 million), Shimkent (0.5 million).
The Kazakh peaceful and generous land has always been famous for its hospitality – and with good reason. Lying at the crossroads of two ancient cultures, the Kazakh land has long welcomed visitors from Europe and Asia alike. It enjoys a rich cultural legacy from ancestors such as Attila the Hun, Al-Farabi, Zoroaster and Genghis Khan. Historical chronicles relate that Great Silk Road towns like Taraz, Otrar, Ispijab, Yassy and Almaty were major trade centers in ancient and medieval times.
Today people from over a hundred ethnic groups live peacefully together in Kazakhstan. They are still glad to share their famous hospitality and show visitors the Baikanur cosmodrome, the Medeo high altitude skating rink, Chimbulak ski resort, prehistoric wall-paintings at Tamgaly, Sinning Dune in the Altyn-Emel National Park, the lakes and pine forests of Kokshetau, and medieval Ahmed Yassaui mausoleum in Turkestan. Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia, where Europe and Asia meet. It is the same size as Western Europe but with the population of Holland. Kazakhstan is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the west, Russia to the north, China to the east, and Kyrgistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south. A former Soviet republic, Kazakhstan withdrew from the Soviet Union and declared independence on 16 December 1991.
LANDSCAPE
Kazakhstan’s landscape is diverse in the extreme and you can experience virtually every climate zone here. In the south, south-west and east, Kazakhstan is framed by the Tien-Shan, Tarbagatai and Altai Mountains, a dark green and turquoise mosaic crowned with glittering snow all year round. To the west the Caspian Sea, a treasure-trove of sturgeon and Kazakhstan’s oil deposits. Most of the country is occupied by steppe, the sand-stone massifs of Karazylkum. The Sary-Arka steppes contain the unique Lake Balhash which is half freshwater, half salt. In the north there are about 80 picturesque lakes, lost in the low-lying pine forests of Kokshetau. The endless steppe alternates with hills and mountains ranges. This region, known as the “land of seven river:, is watered by Syr-Darya, Ural, Ishim, Tobol, Irtysh, Ili and Chu rivers, now spreading out expansively, now slinking through the sands like snakes.
The highest point in Kazakhstan – Khan-Tengry Peak- is 7,010(?) meters above sea level, while the lowest- the Karage depression east of the Caspian Sea –is 132 meters below.
CLIMATE
Kazakhstan’s climate is extreme continental. The Altai and Tien-Shan mountains bring down the temperatures and increase humidity. Temperatures range between +18 and -20 C in the north, +30 C in the south. The weather in July is almost as hot as in Sri Lanka, while in January it is comparable to northern Norway. The best times to visit are late spring, summer and early autumn.
WILDLIFE
With its varied landscapes, Kazakhstan provides a home for many types of wildlife: 158 species of animal, 485 birds, 52 reptiles, 12 amphibians and 150 fish. 19 species of animals and 23 of birds are listed in the International Red Book of rare and endangered species. About 50 species of mammal, 141 birds and 30 fish are found in the Zaili Alatau Mountains alone.
Herds of kulans (onagers) and jeirans (goitred gazellers) graze the steppes. The deserts are populated by giant lizards, jerboas, snakes and spiders. High in the mountans you might see a snow leopard and its neighbors the ulars (mountain turkeys). The cries of a blue bird (the Indian thrush) can be heard in the chasms of deep gorges, while in the broad shallows of the rivers, timid sicklebills hide among the stones and pepples. Bustards, Menzbir marmots, Ustyurt mount goats, Turktstan lynx, Tien-Shan brown bears, swans and pink flamingos-all these endangered animals and birds are unique to Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s nature reserves are a must for bird - watching, insect-watching and botanic tours. Our lands also guard many palaeontological treasures. Geological tours take in the country’s wealth of minerals and the rainbow palette of natural stones: agate, Jasper, rock crystal, onyx and petrified wood. In ancient volcanic area in the south Jungaria, you can see volcano craters and find shards of volcanic rock, while the Zaili Alatau contains all the glacier forms of an Alpine relief.
ANIMALS
In Kazakhstan people have always respected the snow leopard as one of the strongest and proudest animals. It features on many state symbols, including Almaty’s coat of arms and the Independence Obelisk in Republic Square. This beautiful wild cat owes its name to its habitat – the snow peaks of the Tien-Shan, where permanent glaciers border the Alpine zone. It is rare to come across a snow leopard, and only possible in the remotest reaches of the Tien-Shan.
The Kazakhs have used the falcon (baloban) as a hunting bird since time immemorial. They are splendid hunters of game birds: a falcon can catch 15-20 ducks during a single flight. These birds are now being exploited by dishonest people who either sell balobans to wealthy foreigners or try to take them out of the country, so action is being taken at a national level to protect the falcon from poachers.
Until recently countless herds of strong and fleet-footed kulans. Unrestricted hunting has brought them close to extinction, but plants are under way to breed these rare animals in several protected areas.
PLANTS
The foothills of the Zaili Alatau are stunningly beautiful. The Alpine meadows are home to over 1,000 types of plants: wild apple and apricot trees, Tien-Shan firs, tulips and others. Some rare local plants such as anemone and hawthorn are native to the Almaty region. The mountains are magnificently adorned by the blue Tien-Shan fir trees, rising like candles to heights of up to 40-50 meters. These hardy conifers can thrive even on bare cliff-faces.
In May the regions is a riot of color with red poppies, peonies and apple trees in bloom. The sub-alpine meadows are carpeted with different colored wild flowers. Some flowers, such as the legendary Tien-Shan edelweiss, actually grow on glaciers.
The saxaul (haloxylon), shrub of the steppe, has an incredible ability to survive. In times of drought it sheds all its delicate flaky leaves, but when the rains return the saxaul comes back to life. Amazing lichens, fir-woods and relict ash tree groves dating back to before the Ice Age can also be found in Kazakhstan.
HISTORY
The steppes of Central Asia have been the scene of many interesting events in word history. The first people appeared in the territory of modern-day Kazakhstan half a million years ago. For centuries the steppe was the cradle of warlike hordes that brought terror to the ancient towns of Europe and Asia, especially during the time of the Great Migrations. The neighboring Chinese built the Great Wall of China in order to defend themselves against pushing attacks by nomadic tribes from the Great Steppe. The Chinese called all these tribes Scythians, whether they were ancient Persians, Sacae or Greeks. The Scythians were the first people in the world to learn how to fire an arrow at full gallop. In Those far-off days nations sprang up and disappeared in various regions of what is now Kazakhstan, being assimilated by other peoples and melting away in the crucible of time.
Darius the Great of Persia (550-486 BC) lost both his army and his head trying to subdue the nomads of southern Kazakhstan. The name of Attila the Hun, the most famous leader of warring nomads, inspires respect and fear even today. After a period of respite, during which new tribes formed who were close to the modern-day Kazakhs, the world was shaken by anew advance of East against West. This next wave of unrest was led by Chingiz Khan, known by his descendants as the “Shaker of the Universe”. All subsequent Kazakh rulers were his direct descendants, known as Chingizids.
The dramatic history considerably delayed the emergence of the Kazakhstan nation. In the late 14th century the famous conqueror Tamerlane, a Turk from Samarkand founded his empire, which included the southern regions of what is now Kazakhstan. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Chingizid Abulhair Khan seized the throne from Tamerlane’s descedendants and formed an Ulus (polity) which included tribes and the present of the Kazakhs. Abulhair’s cousins Janibek and Kerei, disliking his policies, began gathering tribes together under the name “Kazakhs”. This was continued by Kasym, Janibek’s son, who in effect became the first Kazakh Khan.
Meanwhile mighty enemy was emerging on the eastern borders of Kazakhstan – the Jungars, Mongol Buddhists who were encouraged by the Chinese to make war on the Kazakhs. The brutal century of fighting that followed is known as the time of the Great Disaster. The Kazakh tribes were forced to seek protection from their powerful neighbors, Russia, or they would have been wiped off face of the earth. The first to propose this political move was Tauke Khan, the famous Kazakh lawgiver, who sent emissaries to Peter the Great. Russia’s active influence in Central Asia dates from this period. Abylai Khan continued to cement the alliance with Russia, and by the 19th century Kazakhstan had become a Russian province.
With the Great October Revolution of 1917 Soviet power came to Kazakhstan. The 1930s were dramatic years for Kazakhstan/ Forced collectivization, which destroyed the Kazakhs’ nomadic way of life, was succeeded by the Great Famine. Various historians estimate that the famine killed between 1.5 and 3 million Kazakhs.
No less gloomy a page in the country’s history was the repression of so-called “enemies of the people”, political dissidents and intellectuals. A large part of the republic was turned into prisons and concentration camps to which people from all over the Soviet Union were sent.
During the Second World War hundreds of factories from the western USSR were evacuated to Kazakhstan to keep the front supplied.
When perestroika (restructuring) began in 1985, the contradiction between the so-called democracy and actual dictatorship by Moscow caused discontent among young Kazakhs. This culminated in the tragic events of 16-18 December 1986 and the deaths on Almaty’s main square.
CULTURE
Traditional Kazakh culture has largely come down to us through epic, heroic and lyrical compositions, tales and songs. The centuries-old aitys – a contest in which bards, singers and improvisers entertain an audience with impromptu jokes, satire and verse – is still popular today.
Chokan Valikhanov (1835-1865), ethnographer, geographer, explorer and artist, is a well known representative of Kazakh culture in both Europe and Asia. Valikhanov, the grandson of the last Kazakhkhans, served as a captain in the Russian army in Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, and Xinjing. His scientific works provide encyclopedic cover age of the region.
The most famous Kazakh cultural figure, however, is Abai Kunanbayev- poet, composer, philosopher and translator. This great thinker, who straddled the words of imperia Russia and nomadic traditions of this people, was able to synthesize the wisdom of the East with the progressive ideas of the West.
The best-known 19th-century Kazakkh composer is Kurmangazy Sagyrbayev (1818-89), who composed kyus – traditional folk melodies. Modern composers include Akhmet and Gaziza Zhubanov, Latif Khamedi and Yevgeny Brusilovsky. Kazakhstan is proud of its classic singers, such as the famous soprano Kulysh Baiseitova, (one of the founders of Kazakh opera), Bibigul Tulegenova, Roza Baglanova, Alibek Dnishev, Ermek Serkebayev.
The first novel written in Kazakh language was The Path of Abai by classic Kazakh writer Mukhtar Auezov (1897-1961). His works have been widely translated. Auezov actively promoted the establishment of the modern Kazakh drama theatre in Almaty which proudly bears his name.
