Kazakhstan: In the Land of the Steppe

Where is Kazakhstan? This is a question many people will find themselves pondering upon hearing the name of this vast, but somewhat obscure country.

The answer to this and other questions are addressed in the following article.

Like many countries once part of the former Soviet Union, a detailed knowledge of Kazakhstan is often lacking with many people having only a vague notion of its general location and other basic facts. As strange as it may seem, it is likely that many people's only introduction to Kazakhstan has come from watching the movie Borat and even then possibly thinking it was the name of a fictitious country! Jokes aside, Kazakhstan is undoubtedly deserving of greater recognition as a country well worth visiting.

Stretching from the Caspian Sea in the West to the border with China in the East and spanning over 1,500km from North to South at its widest point, the Republic of Kazakhstan is the ninth largest and largest landlocked country in the world and is roughly equivalent to the size of the four largest U.S. states of Alaska, Texas, California and Montana combined. Although by far the largest of the Central Asian nations in area, with a population of only 16.6 million Kazakhstan is sparsely populated and the wide open spaces and general sense of remoteness are one of the defining characteristics of the country.

The geography of Kazakhstan is dominated by the Eurasian Steppe: an expanse of grassy, and in places, semi-arid plain extending across huge tracts of land from Mongolia in the East and as far as Hungary in the West. In the Far East and South East, Kazakhstan's borders are ringed by the towering peaks of the Altay and Tien Shan mountain ranges among which feature some of the highest mountains in the world. In the South, the grasslands of the steppe gradually give way to an increasing arid landscape with the driest regions forming part of the Kyzl-kum desert. Three large bodies of water also feature prominently in the geography of Kazakhstan. To the West lies the largest of these-the Caspian Sea, the Northern and North Eastern shores of which mark part of Kazakhstan's Western territorial limits. Further to the East (while also not wholly located within the borders of Kazakhstan) is the Aral Sea which is the unfortunate scene of an environmental disaster of epic proportions, and it is now sadly reduced to a fraction of its former size due to much of its inflow having been diverted for irrigation purposes. Lastly, Lake Balkhash is the largest lake lying wholly within the borders of Kazakhstan and is located in the South East of the country.

Kazakhstan supports a sizeable agricultural sector and its exports of wheat, in particular, constitute a significant share of global production. However, in terms of GDP, energy in the form of exploitation of the country's petroleum and natural gas reserves is now the single most important economic activity and has been largely responsible for the Kazakhstan's rise to relative prosperity over most of the past decade or more. While many economic and financial reforms were undertaken in the years since Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, political reform has lagged far behind and the country has consistently scored low on almost every measure of freedom and human rights.

As with a number of other countries in the region, the fabled Silk Road played an instrumental role in the early history of what is now Kazakhstan bringing with it not just goods but contact with new ideas, cultures and religions. The Silk Road was an overland trade route that for hundreds of years was a conduit, allowing for the exchange of goods and in particular silk, between China and the West. Following the "road" West from China it, at various points, branches off in different directions; however, the various routes then converge in Central Asia, hence the close identification of the countries of that region with the Silk Road.

Traditionally, Kazakhstan was home to a nomadic herding culture of Turkic origin whose tribes came under the sway of the Mongol Empire in the 13th Century and then its successor, the Golden Horde leading eventually to the founding of the Kazakh Khanate. Prior to these events, from about the 8th Century onwards the influence of Islam began to be felt in the region and it remains the religion of the majority of Kazakhstan's population today. During the mid 19th Century with the expansion of the Russian Empire, the Kazakh's once again fell under the dominion of a foreign power and subsequently became part of the Soviet Union as the Kazakh SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic), finally gaining independence again with the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The legacy of Russian/Soviet dominance in Kazakhstan can be seen in the large number of people of Russian descent and the widespread use of Russian even among those of Kazakh ethnicity. Besides Russians, there are significant populations of other ethnic minorities such as Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians, Uzbeks and Germans. This ethnic diversity is also a consequence of the Soviet era when Kazakhstan received large numbers of deportees from other parts of the Soviet Union.

While once a predominantly nomadic and pastoral society based on the raising of livestock such as sheep, horses and camels; a growing majority of Kazakhstan's citizens now reside in urban centers living a typically modern, and to varying degrees, Western-influenced lifestyle. This is especially true of the younger generations. However, recent years have seen a revival in interest and renewed pride in traditional Kazakh culture, one consequence of which is reflected in the increase in the number of people learning to speak the Kazakh language.

The most populous and cosmopolitan city in Kazakhstan is Almaty located close to the border with Kyrgyzstan in a mountainous area in the South East. It is also the financial and cultural center of Kazakhstan and was the capital city until 1997 when it was moved to Astana on the Kazakh Steppe in the North-Central part of the country. Astana's dubious claim to fame is that it is officially the second coldest capital city in the world after Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia with an average mid-winter minimum temperature of -18 degrees Celsius! Other important provincial centers include Karaganda-notable for its large ethnic German population, and Shymkent; capital of South Kazakhstan province.

While Kazakhstan might not be everyone's idea of a holiday destination it has much to offer the adventurous traveler. Visitors will be rewarded with an opportunity to experience for themselves a part of the world few other people get to experience, a part of the world rich in cultural and historical significance. However, for many travelers it is the landscape of Kazakhstan which leaves the most lasting impression, from the stark beauty of the seemingly endless steppe to the grandeur of its mountains. These features have not only given shape to the physical landscape but are also powerful symbols which have shaped the consciousness of the Kazakh people over millennia.