Kazakhstan
Unique Ethnic Cultures
Location of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country. It is home to around 17 million people and is located in Central Asia. It is bordered to the north by Russia, to the east by China and to the south by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. To the southwest a significant portion of Kazakhstan borders the shoreline of the Caspian Sea. The capital of Kazakhstan is Astana:
Astana Cityscape
Astana State Auditorium
Astana Nightitme Cityscape
Flag
The national flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan has a gold sun with 32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle, both centered on a sky blue background; the hoist side displays a national ornamental pattern "koshkar-muiz" (the horns of the ram) in gold; the blue color is of religious significance to the Turkic peoples of the country, and so symbolizes cultural and ethnic unity; it also represents the endless sky as well as water; the sun, a source of life and energy, exemplifies wealth and plenitude; the sun's rays are shaped like grain, which is the basis of abundance and prosperity; the eagle has appeared on the flags of Kazakh tribes for centuries and represents freedom, power, and the flight to the future. The width of the flag to its length is 1:2.
[cite from:: Wikipedia]
Ethnic Make-Up
Ethnic Group Distribution in 1999
Ethnic Group Distribution in 2009
Analysis
[Data from Wikipedia]
Popular Foods
Many of Kazakhstan's specialities are meat and sour-milk dishes. Popular dishes include besbarmark (meat and noodles), as well as baursaks (doughnuts) and kozhe (milk soup).
http://www.iaea2012.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=215&Itemid=230
Kazy
- Kazy - common element on a dastarkhan, and the smoked horse-meat sausage is a popular delicacy
Kumys
- Kumys - is the national drink and is made by fermenting mare’s milk over long periods of time. The yeast turns it into a carbonated and slightly alcoholic drink.
Besbarmark
• Besbarmark (“Five Fingers”) - this national kazakh dish was coined the name “five fingers” because it is eaten with one’s hands. Boiled meat is diced with knives and then mixed with noodles and parsley and coriander.
Languages Spoken
Kazakh language - Turkic language in Cyrillic script, incorporating many foreign words from Russian, Persian, Arabic and Chinese languages. About 64.4% of the population speaks this language, and it is the official language of Kazakhstan.
Russian language - is spoken by nearly 95% of the population and is the second official language of the country.
Minority languages include: German, Uyghur, Ukrainian, Tatar, Belorussia, Korean, Polish, Greek, and Romanian.
http://www.sestudyabroad.com/guide/KZ-language.htm
Religion in Kazakhstan
.70% of people in the country identify as Muslims
.26% of people as Christians
.2% as others (mostly Jews)
.1% as Buddhists
A religiously diverse country, Kazakhstan is a secular state.