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Kazakhstan
Education
With an area of 2,717,300 sq km (1,049,155 sq mi)—roughly five times the
area of France—Kazakhstan is the second largest member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Almost all of Kazakhstan is
located in Asia, but a small portion is located in Europe. Almaty is the
capital and largest city.
Kazakhstan, republic in Central Asia, bounded on the north by Russia; on
the east by China; on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and
Turkmenistan; and on the west by the Caspian Sea and Russia. It was
formerly the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Land and Resources
Kazakhstan is composed of a vast, generally low-lying plain, fringed by
mountains on the east and southeast. Differences in elevation in the
republic are extreme. Mountainous areas along the border with Kyrgyzstan
reach a height of nearly 5000 m (nearly 16,400 ft), while considerable
areas near the Caspian Sea lie below sea level. The Caspian Sea, the
lowest point in Europe, lies at an elevation of about 28 m (about 91.9
ft) below sea level, while the Karagiye Depression, located to the east
of the Caspian, lies at an even lower elevation. With a height of 132 m
(about 433 ft) below sea level, the Karagiye Depression is the lowest
point in the former USSR.
Most of Kazakhstan's major rivers drain internally, mainly into Lake
Zaysan, Lake Balqash, and the Aral and Caspian seas. Diversion of river
water from the Syr Darya and Ili rivers, principally for irrigation
purposes, has led to a decline in the surface level of the Aral Sea and
Lake Balqash. A few rivers, such as the Ishim, Irtysh, and Tobol, flow
north to the Arctic Ocean. The riverbeds of most of the small and
medium-sized rivers remain dry for much of the year. Precipitation is
meager and generally decreases southward. Deserts and semideserts,
including stone, salt, and sand wastelands, cover more than two-thirds
of the country's surface area.
The climate of Kazakhstan is extremely continental, and, due to the
vastness of the country, characterized by great internal variations.
Average daily temperature in January ranges from -19° to -4° C (-2.2° to
24.8° F), while average daily temperature in July is 19° to 26° C (66.2°
to 78.8° F). In the summer temperatures can reach 45° C (113° F), and in
the winter temperatures can fall below -45° C (-49° F). Kazakhstan is
home to some extremely rare animal species, such as the Saiga antelope,
which is protected by government decree.
Population
With an estimated population of 16,092,000 in 1992, Kazakhstan is unique
among the republics of the former USSR in terms of ethnic composition.
Kazakhs are the only official ethnic group in the former USSR who
constitute a minority—less than 50 percent of the total population—in
their own country. They are still, however, the single largest ethnic
group in Kazakhstan, with 43.2 percent of the total population.
Russians, the next largest group, constitute 36.5 percent.
Until recently, Russians outnumbered Kazakhs in the republic. Beginning
in the 19th century, large-scale immigration boosted the number of
Russians and other Slavic peoples, while the number of Kazakhs declined
as a result of attacks by Russian settlers and forced collectivization.
Higher birth rates among Kazakhs eventually led to the greater
percentage of Kazakhs in the country. Large numbers of Germans (4.1
percent of the total) and Ukrainians (5.2 percent) also reside in the
republic.
Some Kazakhs are followers of Islam. The official state language is
Kazakh, a Turkic language, although Russian is the most widely spoken
language in the country. Only about 40 percent of the population speaks
Kazakh, while more than three-fourths of the people speak Russian.
Almost 60 percent of Kazakhstan is urbanized, the highest level of
urbanization among the republics in Central Asia. Almaty, the capital,
is the largest city with about 1,147,000 inhabitants. It is followed in
size by Qaraghandy (613,000), Shymkent (401,000), Semey (339,000),
Pavlodar (337,000), and Oskemen (330,000). Slavs are concentrated in the
north and in large urban areas, especially Almaty, where they constitute
a majority.
Although the population's health compares favorably overall with the
health in the former Soviet republics to the south, large segments of
the population in Kazakhstan have been exposed to radiation from nuclear
testing. The nuclear testing grounds near Semey experienced the bulk of
Soviet nuclear tests—more than 300 underground nuclear tests and several
aboveground tests. Another testing ground in the western portion of
Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea experienced more than 40 tests. Since
independence, no further tests have occurred on Kazakh territory. The
longterm health effects of nuclear testing in the republic are unknown.
Economy
Formerly based almost exclusively on agriculture, the Kazakh economy
underwent rapid industrialization during the Soviet period. Industry,
which comprised only 15 percent of total production in the late 1920s,
now constitutes the largest branch of the economy with about 40 percent
of net material production and 20 percent of total employment. Mining is
the leading branch of industry, and the republic contains the largest
reserves of chromium, tungsten, copper, lead, and zinc ores of the
former USSR. Coal, manganese, nickel, iron ore, chromium, Iceland spar,
and cobalt are among the other minerals mined. Petroleum and natural-gas
deposits were discovered in 1960 on the Caspian Sea coast. The Irtysh-Qaraghandy
Canal, the largest water-diversion canal in the former USSR in terms of
volume, was built primarily to serve mining activities in the
north-central part of the country. Recent exploration confirmed that
these deposits are extensive, which has prompted several international
corporations to form joint ventures with Kazakh partners to exploit
local petroleum resources. Refining capacity, which does not meet
domestic demand, is scheduled for rapid expansion. Manufacturing is also
an important industrial branch in Kazakhstan. Manufactures include
cement, iron and steel, mineral fertilizer, and textiles. The republic
is home to the Baikonur space launch facility, the leading space center
in the former USSR.
Agriculture, which accounts for roughly one-third of net material
production and one-sixth of total employment, has changed drastically
during the 1900s. Before 1920 agriculture consisted primarily of nomadic
herding. Wool, meat, milk, and other livestock products are still
leading agricultural commodities, but nomadic lifestyles have almost
completely disappeared. During the Soviet period crop cultivation was
greatly expanded, due in part to widespread mechanization and the
construction of large-scale irrigation projects. Kazakhstan is a major
producer of wheat, which is grown primarily in the north. Other crops
include rice and cotton, which are grown on irrigated lands in the
south.
Although Kazakhstan is one of the most modern republics in Central Asia,
economic reform has started off very slowly. Mass privatization, which
received extensive press coverage in the first year of independence, was
suspended in early 1993. It was renewed in November of that year, when
the government began distributing privatization vouchers. But most
properties that have been distributed by the government are still under
some type of governmental control. The state holds a majority interest
in many privatized properties, and a state-controlled contract system
still determines production and distribution patterns to a high degree.
The country issued its own currency, the tenge, in November 1993. The
previous official currency, the Kazakh ruble, was a parallel currency to
the Russian ruble and was printed in Russia. The tenge was issued at a
rate of 500 rubles per tenge.
Kazakhstan has become more integrated into the world economy. Foreign
investment has increased, especially in the oil and natural-gas sectors.
In early 1993 Chevron Corporation, an American oil company, and the
Kazakh government signed an agreement on joint exploration and
development of the huge Tengiz oil field. In January 1994 a free-trade
zone was established between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which was soon
joined by Kyrgyzstan.
Government
Kazakhstan adopted a new constitution in January 1993. Under the
constitution, a president is elected by the voters to a five-year term.
The president serves as head of state. This official appoints a prime
minister to head the government and several members of the Council of
Ministers; the remaining ministers are appointed by the prime minister.
The voters also elect the 177 members of the unicameral legislature,
called the Supreme Kenges, to five-year terms. The People's Unity party
of Kazakhstan is the country's ruling party. Kazakhstan has been a
member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 1991.
History
The region that is now Kazakhstan was settled by Turkic tribes from
about the 8th century and incorporated in the Mongol empire of Genghis
Khan in the 13th century. The Kazakhs, a mixture of Mongol and Turkic
peoples, emerged in about the 15th century. Russian incursions in what
is now Kazakhstan began in the 16th century, as cossacks settled along
the Ural River in the western portion of the country. By the end of the
17th century a formal relationship had developed between the czarist
government in Russia and the cossacks, who protected the Russian
frontier in exchange for title to land and local autonomy. In the 18th
century a line of cossack settlements and fortifications was established
across the northern boundary of the steppe region in Kazakhstan in order
to defend the Russian frontier against marauding bands of Kazakhs and
other nomads. This line remained essentially the same for nearly 70
years under Russia's defensive posture. Beginning in the 1830s, however,
Russian forces mounted a large-scale offensive southward, and by 1866
all of present-day Kazakhstan was under their control. Cossack outposts
grew into peasant settlements as Russian and other Slavic immigrants
came to the steppe in increasingly large numbers. In the period from
1906 to 1914, the influx of settlers averaged over 140,000 people per
year, although about one-fifth of all immigrants eventually returned to
European Russia.
Friction developed between the Kazakhs and the new settlers, and
tensions were exacerbated in 1916 by a governmental decree recruiting
Kazakhs for military service. In retaliation for the decree, Kazakhs
attacked and killed thousands of Slavic settlers. The czarist government
responded by expelling about 300,000 Kazakhs from their lands, many of
whom left for the Xinjiang province in China. In 1917 Russian settlers
responded to the killings by attacking and killing some 80,000 Kazakhs
returning from China.
In 1918 an autonomous republic was established in eastern Kazakhstan,
but it was quickly absorbed by Bolshevik forces. In 1920 the area of
present-day Kazakhstan was organized as an autonomous republic, and
until 1925 it was known as the Kirgiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic (ASSR). In 1936 it was admitted to the USSR as a constituent
republic.
In the late 1920s Soviet authorities under Joseph Stalin instituted a
policy of forced settling and collectivization of the Kazakh population.
As a result of the policy, Kazakh culture and lifestyle were decimated.
Hundreds of thousands of Kazakhs were killed or emigrated to China. In
1954 the Soviet government launched the Virgin and Idle Lands Program,
which called for a rapid increase in the amount of sown land in western
Siberia and Kazakhstan. A new wave of Slavic immigrants flooded the
republic, and Slavs became the largest ethnic group in the country.
Kazakhs subsequently regained their position as the most numerous ethnic
group in the country.
In 1990 Nursultan Nazarbayev became president of the Kazakh Soviet
Socialist Republic. He ran unopposed in the republic's first democratic
presidential elections in December 1991 and won 95 percent of the vote.
Kazakhstan declared its independence later that month, shortly before
the USSR broke apart. As president, Nazarbayev has generally allowed
free speech and assembly for all groups in Kazakhstan except for Russian
and Kazakh nationalist extremists. Some Russian cossacks have called for
the annexation of northern Kazakhstan by Russia, while Kazakh extremists
have called for the expulsion of all non-Muslims from Kazakhstan.
Nazarbayev has tolerated fairly severe criticism of his programs in the
popular press, but has banned any activities that might foment ethnic
distrust. He has established a close economic, military, and political
relationship between Kazakhstan and Russia, despite opposition by Kazakh
nationalists, although friction with Russia developed over control of
the Baikonur space facility after independence. In March 1994 the two
countries signed an agreement granting Russia control of the complex for
20 years at a cost of $115 million a year. A portion of the nuclear
arsenal of the former USSR is still deployed on Kazakh soil. However, by
the terms of a 1992 treaty, Kazakhstan is to destroy all its nuclear
weapons or transfer them to Russian control within seven years. In
December 1993 Kazakhstan ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
In an effort to promote nuclear disarmament, economic reform, and the
development of democratic institutions, the United States more than
tripled its amount of aid to Kazakhstan in February 1994. In March 1994,
elections for a new legislature—which replaced the 360-member assembly
from the Soviet era—were held. Nazarbayev's supporters won at least
two-thirds of the seats.
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