|RNature and climate:|N In the east the mountainchains Tianshan and Altai forming a natural border to China. West of these mountains are vast plains to the Caspian Sea in the west. By the Caspian Sea are plains below sea level.
Most of the area are natural steppes or deserts.
Average temperature in January -4°C by the Caspian Sea and -18°C in the east, and in July between +20 and 28°C.
Percipitation between 100 and 300 mm.
|RPeople:|N 40% Kazakhs, 38% Russians, 6% Germans, 5% Ukrainians, remainder Tatar, Uighur and Korean. The Kazakhs are descendants of Mongol and Turkic tribes that settled in the area about 1000 BC.
|REconomy:|N Nomadic stockraising was the traditionally dominating industry, but in the 1950:s and 1960:s extensive farming in huge state-controlled plantations were introduced. The nomadic people were forced to settled which caused million to starve to death.
Most important crops are wheat, cotton and fruits.
Kazakhstan is rich on minerals such as copper, lead, zinc, chromium, iron ore, bauxite, manganese, nickel, silver, gold, oil, natural gas and coal.
Manufacturing has been developed since World War II and is aimed at equipment for mining, tractors and agricultural machinery.
There is also an extensive textile industry as well as food processing.
|RHistory:|N Mongol and Turkic tribes settled in the area about 1000 BC. In the 6th century AD it became a part of the Turkish Khaganate and in the following centuries Islam was established.
Mongols ruled between 1219 and 1447, and in the early 17th century it was divided in three countries, the Larger, the Middle and the Lesser Hordes. In the mid 17th century Mongols started to invade and the Kazakhs sought help from Russia. By the mid 18th century Russia controlled the whole Kazakh area.
In 1861 all Russian slaves were freed and thousands of them moved to Kazakhstan were they settled.
In 1916 Kazakhs rebelled against Russian rule but the rebellion was brutally repressed. After the Russian revolution 1917 a civil war started in Kazakhstan. The Bolsheviks won the war and Kazakhstan was incorporated into Russia. In 1925 Kazakhstan became an autonomous part of Russia and in 1936 it became one of the USSR's union republics.
Kazakhstan has been the site of nuclear tests and vast areas are radiation poisoned. The industrial pollution is heavy, and artificial irrigation has caused many rivers and lakes to get dry.
The independent republic Kazakhstan was proclaimed in March 1991 and internationally recognized in december 1991.
Kazakhstan was one of the founding members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS, formed at a ceremony in the Kazakh capital Alma-Alta in December 1991.
