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| Kazakhstan proclaimed its independence in the early 1990s, immediately following the breakdown of the U.S.S.R. The current President of Kazakhstan is ]. | Kazakhstan proclaimed its independence in the early 1990s, immediately following the breakdown of the U.S.S.R. The current President of Kazakhstan is ]. | ||
| In 1997 the capital of |
In 1997 the capital of Kazakhstan moved from the southern city of ] to ], a city closer to the geographic center of the country. | ||
| Although Kazakhstan is considered to have made greater progress in the field of democratic reforms, compared to the other Central Asian countries, the situation is far from perfect and international and non-governmental human rights organizations often point to frequent violations of ] by state officials. The most famous recent case is the trial of opposition journalist ]. | |||
| Kazakhstan is a signatory to the ]. | Kazakhstan is a signatory to the ]. | ||
Revision as of 14:31, 9 June 2003
File:Kazakhstan flag medium.png
Kazakhstan (also Kazakstan) is a country in Central Asia. It has borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea.
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world by area, but has a population less than that of Australia. At last estimate, the population stood at less than 15 million people.
In part because of the country's enormous deserts, the Soviet government used Kazakhstan as its nuclear testing site, and this, along with near-absent pollution controls, has contributed to an alarmingly high rate of disease in many rural areas. Kazakhstan has identified two major ecological disasters within its borders-- the shrinking of the Aral Sea and radioactive contamination at the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing facility. The Central Asian Regional Environmental Center is located in Kazakhstan, which fosters regional cooperation on environmental issues.
Kazakhstan possesses the Soviet equivalent to the United States' Cape Canaveral, where they have launched their version of the space shuttle and the well-known space station Mir. Russia currently leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baikonur Cosmodrome space launch site in south central Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, once colonised by Czarist Russia, was absorbed into the Soviet Union following the Russian Revolution of 1917, led at that time by V.I. Lenin. For the next half-century, Kazakhstan suffered under the mismanagement of the Soviets, especially in agrarian policy and cattle-raising.
Kazakhstan proclaimed its independence in the early 1990s, immediately following the breakdown of the U.S.S.R. The current President of Kazakhstan is Nursultan Nazarbayev.
In 1997 the capital of Kazakhstan moved from the southern city of Almaty to Astana, a city closer to the geographic center of the country.
Although Kazakhstan is considered to have made greater progress in the field of democratic reforms, compared to the other Central Asian countries, the situation is far from perfect and international and non-governmental human rights organizations often point to frequent violations of human rights by state officials. The most famous recent case is the trial of opposition journalist Sergei Duvanov.
Kazakhstan is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Kazakhstan appears, ludicrously, in the movies Air Force One (with Harrison Ford), The World is Not Enough (James Bond), and the 2002 flick, Rollerball (with Jean Reno).
See also Communism
- Abai Kunanbaev
- History of Kazakhstan
- Geography of Kazakhstan
- Demographics of Kazakhstan
- Politics of Kazakhstan
- Economy of Kazakhstan
- Communications in Kazakhstan
- Transportation in Kazakhstan
- Military of Kazakhstan
- Foreign relations of Kazakhstan
- Cities of Kazakhstan
- List of Kazakh historical figures
- Kazakh
- Kazakh origin
- Kypchakia
Much of this material is originally from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the U.S. Department of State's 2002 website. Incompletely Wikified.