Unieros Kazakhstan Country Profiles

Kazakhstan Flag

Official Name:
Republic of Kazakhstan
Population: 15.4 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Astana
Area: 2.7 million sq km (1 million sq miles)

Major languages: Kazakh, Russian
Major religions: Islam, Christianity

Monetary unit: 1 Kazakh tenge = 100 tiyn
Main exports: Oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery, chemicals, grain,
wool, meat, coal

President: Nursultan Abish-uly Nazarbayev

Sources:
BBC
TIMESONLINE
World Fact Book

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The Republic of Kazakhstan

Brief History

The Republic of Kazakhstan was formed as early as the 1st century. Arabs dominated the land and in the 17th century Russians overtook the Kazakh tribes. In 1920 Kazakhstan officially became an autonomous republic of the USSR. In the 1940s hundreds of thousands of Koreans, Germans, Crimean Tatars were forced to move to Kazakstan. Later millions of Russians moved to Kazahkstan in a mission to develop virgin land. In the 1980s there were uprisings against Soviet rule, which led to the first ethnic Kazakh state leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Nazabayevev became the first Kazakh president in 1990 on October 25 and declared state sovereignty and in 1991 Kazakstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

Fiction:
Kazakhstan is a tiny country

Fact:
Kazakhstan is a the ninth largest country in the world and is located in Central Asia . If you look at the map, Kazakhstan its size is equivalent to the size of the entire Western Europe.

People:
Unlike the movie that present Kazakhs as ignorant and uncivilized, in reality Kazaks are a ethnically diverse people comprising Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Chechens, Kurds, Koreans, and Central Asian ethinic groups and for the most part these groups live together peacefully.

Economic Development:
Kazakhstan is a vast mountainous country with majority of people living in regions in the East and the industrial sector in the north. In 2001 a major oil pipeline opened enabling the transport of oil from the Caspian to world markets. Oil has brought major improvement to Kazakhstan economy and large foreign investment. The country produces around 1 million barrels of oil each day and hopes to one day be among the world's top 10 oil producers.

Since its independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is a developing country with newly privatized business which have made few wealthy but the majority of the population is largely poor. The country struggles with social issues including high unemployment, drug addiction and HIV/AIDS.

Cultural Exports:
Although fictional Borat character has nothing to do with real Kazakhs, the movie's popularity has made the country more recognized around the world. The Kazakh government has criticized the film and President Nazarbayev recently stated: "The bottom line is we want people to know that he does not represent the true people of Kazakhstan."

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