Republic of Kazakhstan
Republic of Kazakhstan 1---731
Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan is a landlocked country located in Central Asia. Landlocked countries are completely surrounded by land and cannot reach the open sea. There are currently 45 landlocked countries in the world as well as five partially recognized countries.
Kazakhstan is located in both Europe and Asia. The Ural River, which forms the traditional border between these continents, cuts through Kazakhstan in the west.
Its area is 2,725 million square kilometers and its population is about 19.6 million people.
It is bordered by Russia to the north, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the southwest.
Its capital is Astana, which is the fifth largest city in the country after Almaty, Karaganda, Shymkent, and Tazar.
Kazakhstan has been inhabited for thousands of years by nomads. More than 5,000 petroglyphs (rock carvings) dating back to about 2000 years BC were discovered at the Tamgaly site, which is included in the UNESCO list.
Genghis Khan and the Mongol tribes conquered Kazakhstan between 1219-1224.
Since the eighteenth century, Kazakhstan has been ruled by Russia, and in 1920 it became part of the Soviet Union.
In 1991, Kazakhstan declared its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world when measured by total area, and as such, Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world.
It is also the largest of the former Soviet republics, with the exception of Russia.
▪Although Kazakhstan is a landlocked country, it has a naval power based on the landlocked Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is also bordered by Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan.
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world. Its area is 386,400 square kilometers, which is larger than Japan.
Kazakhstan is one of the world's richest countries in minerals and is considered a leader in the future of the oil industry. Oil reserves may rise to 60 billion tons, twice the reserves of Iran, Iraq, or the Arabian Peninsula.
▪Although Kazakhstan has a very large area, the country's population is low. Therefore, it is one of the countries with the lowest population density in the world, as the country's population density is only 7 people per square kilometre.
The border between Russia and Kazakhstan is the longest land border in the world (7,512.8 km).
Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan is the second largest lake in the world. This lake has a mixed character because half of the lake consists of fresh water and the other half contains salt water.
▪Kazakhstan can be literally translated as "Land of Wanderers", as the name "Kazakh" comes from the Old Turkic word Qaz meaning "to wander", and the term "Cossack" is of the same origin. The Persian suffix "stan" means "earth".
Kazakhstan is rich in mineral resources, as more than 99 elements from Mendeleev's periodic table can be found in the country.
Kazakhstan renamed its capital Astana to Nur-Sultan in honor of Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev, who ruled the country for 30 years after he finally resigned, aged 78, in 2019. However, in September 2022 it returned to its old name Astana. As such, Astana is the Guinness World Record holder for the most number of name changes (five in just six decades).
It is believed that the origin of the apple fruit is Kazakhstan. The city of Almaty, which means “father of apples” in Kazakhstan, has always had the honor of being the birthplace of the apple, which was recently confirmed through DNA tests.
Kazakhstan is home to part of the Eurasian Steppe, the largest grassland in the world, extending from Hungary to China and reaching nearly a fifth of the way around the Earth.
The historic Silk Road, the ancient trade route linking China with Europe and the Middle East, passes through Kazakhstan, and the network of Silk Road sites consists of one of the country's five UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The famous Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime, Punishment and The Idiot) lived in Kazakhstan from 1857 to 1859 when he was in exile, and his house in the city of Syme is now a museum.
It is the country where horses were first domesticated. The ancient Kazakhs were the first to tame horses and use them for travel purposes. Later, they began to use horses in war. This is why Kazakhs are particularly attached to horses. They also love to eat horse meat.
In 2015, a mysterious disease killed 200,000 endangered saiga antelope in Kazakhstan. The mass die-off left only about 100,000 saiga alive in the world.

Kazakhstan is the world's leading producer of uranium, a heavy metal widely used in nuclear energy production.
The Land of the Kazakhs became the first former Soviet republic to pay all debts owed to the International Monetary Fund. Seven years before its due date, thanks to the booming oil and mineral industry.
Kazakhstan has a space launch facility, and not just any space launch facility, but the first and largest in the world. The first satellite sent into space, Sputnik 1, was made in Kazakhstan. This satellite was sent into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in present-day Kazakhstan.
Snow leopards can be found in Kazakhstan, where the notoriously difficult-to-detect endangered species known as the “mountain ghost” is an official symbol of Kazakhstan. Only about 7,500 remain in the wild with only about 150 believed to be in Kazakhstan.


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