Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (officially Republic of Kazakhstan) is a country in Central Asia, with its capital at Astana, and is home to roughly 20.6M people.
Its official languages are Kazakh, Russian; the currency in circulation is Kazakhstani tenge (₸); people from here are called Kazakhstani.
- »It is the largest landlocked country in the world.
- »The Baikonur Cosmodrome, leased to Russia, launched the first satellite and the first human into space.
- »The Aral Sea, once among the world's largest lakes, has largely dried up.
Kazakhstan touches five neighbours: China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Russia to the northeast, Turkmenistan to the southwest and Uzbekistan to the southwest. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Astana became capital in 1997, moved from Almaty because the old capital sat in an earthquake zone with no room to grow. The new city was built on open steppe and has been renamed three times since.
2,711,825 km² (1,047,041 sq mi), 9th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Argentina.
Population 20,592,571, 64th of 198 on file. That averages 7.6 per km² (20 per sq mi).
A golden steppe eagle beneath a sun with 32 rays, on sky blue, the blue standing for the endless sky of the steppe and for the Turkic peoples. The hoist carries a traditional ornamental pattern.