Almaty

Almaty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Verny, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the biggest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of over 1,300,000 (9% of the population of Kazakhstan) citizens. The name means "Appled (i.e., 'place with apples'"; in the surrounding region, unrivalled genetic diversity among wild apples confirms that south-east Kazakhstan is where the apple is native. Almaty is located at 43°15' North, 76°57' East (43.25, 76.95). http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html

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A troop of Siberian cossacks from Omsk founded the fort Zailiysky in 1854 at the foot of the Tian Shan mountain range, and renamed one year later as Verny, a name that remained until 1921. In a devastating earthquake in 1911, almost the only large building that remained standing was the Russian Orthodox cathedral. In the 1920s, after the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway, Alma-Ata, as it was then known, became a major stopping point along the track.

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In 1929, Almaty became the capital of the Kazakh SSR. In late 1991, Almaty became the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a designation it kept until 1998, when the capital was moved to Astana. Almaty, however, remains the largest city in Kazakhstan and the country's major commercial center. In 2005, the city launched an Olympic application to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in the year 2014.

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A short bus ride into the Tian Shan mountains brings one to Medeo, a popular tourist destination, with several hotels and an olympic-size skating rink. Almaty is also home to Kazakhstan's premier university, Kazakh State University (KazGU), as well as the Kazakh Academy of Sciences and many other educational and government buildings, including the president's residence, built after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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On December 21, 1991, the Charter that ended the Soviet Union creating the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed there.

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Imperial Russia: Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917...

Genetic diversity: Genetic diversity is a characteristic of ecosystems and gene pools that describes an attribute which is commonly held to be advantageous for survival -- that there are many different versions of otherwise similar organisms. For example, the Irish potato famine can be attributed in part to the fact ...

Apple: The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the family Rosaceae, and is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple oval with an ...

Almaty related Images and Photos (experimental)

Astronomical Station in Snow Covered Landscape at Almaty in Kazakhstan Central Asia