Kazakhstan - some background info

Kazakhstan is the largest country of central Asia, stretching from Siberia to the deserts of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and from China to the Caspian Sea. The country covers two time zones and five climatic zones. We will be in Kostanai (also spelled Qostanay) in the north of the country - northwest of the capital, Astana.

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Stone Age, generally by nomads, to which the region's climate and terrain are best suited. Historians believe the vast steppes of Kazakhstan were where humans first domesticated the horse. The rich steppe land had been a valuable prize for many invaders, including Atilla the Hun, Genghis Khan and Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) who conquered and ruled the region. It was the Turkic-speaking tribes that developed trade routes including the Silk Road flowing east to west and the Sable Road connecting central Kazakhstan to the Altai and south-west Siberia.

Islam was gradually introduced starting from the 11th century. It was only in the late 15th century that the first Kazakh states were formed and a Kazakh people emerged divided into hordes ruled by khans. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural "Virgin Lands" program, Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 caused many of these newcomers to emigrate. Kazakhstan possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items.

A few stats for you:

• Area: 1,052,085 sq mi – 9th largest country in the world (in area) - slightly larger than the US east of the Mississippi river
• Climate: continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid
• Population: 15,185,844 in July 2005
  
• Ethnic groups: Kazakh 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Uighur 1.4%, other 6.6% (1999 census)
• Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
• Languages: Kazakh (state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.)
• Literacy: definition - age 15 and over can read and write: 99.5% (for comparison, it’s 99.7% in the US)

(Info from a variety of on-line sources)