Kazakhstan capital Almaty
The international presentation of Astana as the new capital of Kazakhstan was held on 10th June 1998.
Today, the city covers more than 200 sq. km.
In 1999 Astana was awarded with the medal and title of City of Peace by UNESCO.
The first capital of Kazakhstan was Orenburg (now in the Russian Federation) in 1920, then was transferred to Kyzylorda in 1925.
The capital was moved from Almaty to Akmola for economic, ecological and geographical reasons. Almaty is too far from the actual geographic center of the country. The population in Almaty is close to 1.5 million with no further prospects for growth. In fact the city is fairly overbuilt, densely populated and has no spare areas for development. Transport is also a problem. Year in, year out the ecological condition of the "southern capital" deteriorates dramatically. It is one of the most polluted cities in Kazakhstan. Akmola was chosen as the best alternative, based on a nationwide study taking into account 32 parameters including socioeconomic indices, climate, landscape, seismic conditions, natural environment, engineering and transport infrastructure, construction facilities and work force.
The decisive advantages of Astana included its overall condition, land, central location, proximity to major economic centers and arteries, potential to increase its population to 400000, stable utility supplies, well-developed transport infrastructure and balanced natural environment.
Akmola's history starts in 1830 with the construction of the Akmola fortress in Karautkul to make it "the main town of the territory of the Siberian Kyrghyz on the Ishim River". The fairly advantageous position of the city was clear as early as 1863 in an abstract from the Geographic and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg. It describes how picket roads and lines connected this geographic center to Kargaly in the East, Aktau fort in the South and through Atbasar to Kokchetau in the West.
According to other sources the Akmola steppes have always seen inter-cultural exchanges. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Herodotus mentioned a route through the Great Steppe (the later Great Silk Road) which ran through these steppes. Caravan routes developed prosperous trade and handicrafts in cities traditionally engaged in cattle breeding and farming. These were obviously cradles of civilization.
In the 19th c. Akmola was a substantial commercial and economic center in the steppe. It officially became a district city on 16October 1868 according to the Provisional Administrative Regulation in the Orenburg Steppe Region and the General Governorship of Western Siberia. At the time Omsk was the capital of the General Governorship of Western Siberia...