The Republic of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is located in the south east central region of the former Soviet
Union. Kazakhstan is bordered to the south from left to right by the
Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan (all formally part of
the Soviet Union) and China.
All information is provided by Compton's 3D World Atlas (1998), unless noted otherwise.
Map Provided by Lonely Planet.Com
Kazakhstan Statistics
Area: 1,031,000 sq.miles (2,670,000 sq.km)
Life Expectancy: 69.6 years
Population: 17,110,000
Population Density: 6 people/sq.km
Exchange Rate: ruble 41.19 = US$ 1
Birth Rate: 19.8/1000 people
Capital: Alma-Ata
Infant Mortality: 30/1000 live births
Languages: Kazakh, Russian
Number of Pigs: 2,445,000
Religion: 47% Sunni Muslim
Number of Goats: 684,000
44% Russian Orthodox
2% Protestant
7% Other
The Kazakhstan Flag
The Kazakhstan flag is sky
blue with gold embroidering
down the left side.
There is also a gold sun and
eagle in the center.
Historical Introduction
Kazak is the Turkish word for "peace." The Kazakh people are descended from a mix of
Mongol and Turkic tribes, and now comprise less than 40 percent of the population.
The Kazakhs declared independence from Russia in 1991.
President Nursulta Nazarbayev is extremely popular, but increasingly authoritarian: he
dissolved Parliament, then won a popular mandate to rule until the end of the year 2000.
Tensions between the Kazakh south and the Russian north have been cited as one
reason for the president's decision to relocate the capital from southern Alma-Ata
(Almaty) to northern, more ethnically mixed Akmola (formerly Tselinograd) in 1997.
SPECIAL FACT
In 1933 the Kazakhs slaughtered 24 million sheep and goats, 5 million cattle, and 3
million horses rather than have them put into collective farms as dictated by the Soviet
leader Stalin.
Ethnicity
In 1991, when Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhs were a minority
in their own country, about 43 percent of the population. The combined population of nonKazakhs, consisting of Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Tartars, and Uzbeks, made up the
majority. Most non-Kazakhs arrived in the 1920s and 1930s from Russia.
Russian immigrants known as Virgin Landers came in the 1950s under Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev's directive to grow wheat in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh government has taken steps to
ensure that Kazakhs remain in the majority, and that Kazakh culture predominates. Kazakh-tili
has been restored as the official language, and Kazakh schools have reopened. With the rise of
Kazakh nationalism, ethnic tensions have also increased.
Kazakh (Qazaq) 46%, Russian 34.7%, Ukrainian 4.9%, German 3.1%, Uzbek 2.3%, Tatar 1.9%,
other 7.1% (1996)
SPECIAL FACT
Kazakhstan's Cossacks, who are descended from frontier soldiers loyal to the Russian czars,
gained a reputation for their expert handling of horses and for fierceness on the battlefield.
Kazakhs Migrating
Geography & Agriculture
Central Asia's largest country is more than one-third lowlands and almost one-half hilly plains
and plateaus; the rest is mountainous. Deserts and semi-deserts cover more than 2/3rds of the
country.
Temperatures range from more than 100 degrees F. in the summer to MINUS 50 degrees in the
winter.
Wheat and other crops are cultivated in the north; fruit, vegetables and rice grow in the south.
However, most of the farmland is used for grazing. Several large lakes dot the country, which
also borders the world's largest inland lake, the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan is rich in mineral
resources including copper, gold, lead, zinc, silver, iron ore, oil, and coal.
SPECIAL FACT
The name Alma-Ata is Kazakh for Father of Apples; the capital city is a major producer of the
fruit.
A Vegetable Market In Kazakhstan
Economics & Industry
In the 1990s, when Kazakhstan's economy contracted after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a
large percentage of the urban workforce was left without jobs. Kazakhstan's enormous, untapped
fossil-fuel reserves are the key to a brighter economic future. Eventual revenues from the oil
industry are expected to exceed $5 billion annually. Despite the potential profits, investors are
discouraged by the fact that oil can reach Western markets only via pipelines through other
former Soviet republics, some of which are politically unstable.
Industrial technology is antiquated, and trade has not been established with markets outside the
former Soviet bloc. The traditional occupations of agriculture and shepherding are still important
in rural areas. About 30 percent of the workforce is agricultural. Before the Soviet breakup,
Kazakhstan produced about a third of the U.S.S.R.'s wheat.
SPECIAL FACT
Kazakhstan was a major site for Soviet defense installations and for the Soviet space exploration
program. The cosmonaut center was located at Baikonur.
A Mausoleum In Kazakhstan
Facts For The Traveler
Things To Know Before A Work & Witness Trip
If you're not a fan of endless semi-arid steppe and decaying industrial cities, Kazakhstan may
seem bleak as a month old biscuit. And if it sometimes looks like the landscape has suffered from
hundreds of nuclear explosions, well, parts of it have - ever since Russian rocket scientists started
using Kazakhstan as a sandpit in the late 1940s. But any country which uses a headless goat's
carcass as a polo puck obviously has lots to offer.
The chief exceptions to this relentless desolation are the cosmopolitan city of Almaty (you'll
never believe how many ways there are to cook mutton) and the spectacular spurs of the Tian
Shan and Altai mountains on the country's southern and eastern borders. Those who enjoy
remoteness, wide open spaces, long hypnotic train rides and horse sausage will definitely be in
their element.
A proper Kazakh feast involves cooking a whole sheep. Guest are then given the parts of the
head along with speeches and toasting. The one who receives the eyes will always have excellent
vision. The one who receives the tongue will be given gifts of speech. The one who receives the
ears will be better able to discern the words of others.
Information provided by Lonely Planet.com
Last Paragraph from MWMS Mission Book
The Church of the Nazarene
In
Kazakhstan
Missionaries:
(1)
(2)
Rev. & Mrs. Michael Park
W/Children: Young-Min & Chan-Song
Cinda Kammerman
NAZKOM, the compassionate ministries center in Astana (Capitol City) has been important
to outreach in Kazakhstan. They distribute food to the elderly, who are invited to see the
Jesus film and get acquainted.
Missionary Cinda Kammerman teaches English as a foreign language to reach people with
the gospel.