Kazakhstan, Central Asia
By: Kaelyn Bradley 3rd Hour
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and the former capital of the Republic. Sudden exposure to the outside world has turned Almaty into Central Asia's most cosmopolitan city with shops, restaurants, hotels and casinos that would make the place unrecognizable to anyone who had been away since 1990. Almaty was the capital of Kazakhstan till December 1997. The city has long straight avenues and low-rise architecture. The Zailijski Alatau Mountains rise like a wall along Almaty's southern fringe and form a superb backdrop. There are lots of parks, space and greenery.
Astana, Kazakhstan
Astana is an important industry and cultural center of the republic, also railway auto-transport junction. In 1824 it was founded as the military locality, in 1868 it had got the status of the town, and in 50s of XX century it was an important center of development of virgin and disused lands in the north of the country. The industry of the town is represented by agri-mechanical engineering, food industry, refining of the agricultural raw material, and transport. Earlier it was the fortification founded by the Russian Kazak troops in 1830 on the bank of the Ishim river in Karaotkel natural boundary.
Taraz, Kazakhstan
One of the largest tourist centers of Kazakhstan is Taraz, the city, standing on the “Great Silk Road”. At the beginning of our era on the fertile lands, irrigated by the river, there sprang up the large trade-and-handicraft town Taraz. Up to the XIIth century it was the economic, cultural and political centre of medieval state of Karakhanidz. At the beginning of XIXth century, not far from it, on the spot of ancient Taraz there took place the rapid development of the city named as Aulie-Ata (“ holy aged man”). Its first settlers were Uzbeks, those who came from Namangan.