Kazakh SSR (TheodoresTomfooleries)
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic | |
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Motto: "Барлық елдердің пролетарлары, бірігіңдер!" | |
Anthem: State Anthem of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic | |
Capital and largest city | Alma-Ata |
Official languages | |
Religion |
|
Demonym(s) | |
Government | Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party soviet socialist republic |
Nursultan Nazarbayev | |
• Premier | Vladislav Kosarev |
Legislature | Supreme Soviet |
Union Republic of the Soviet Union (1936 - ) | |
Area | |
• Total | 2,724,900 km2 (1,052,100 sq mi) |
Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 24,880,688 |
• 2019 census | 23,688,104 |
• Density | 9.13/km2 (23.6/sq mi) |
Currency | Soviet Ruble (SUR) |
Date format | CE, mm dd yyyy |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +7 |
ISO 3166 code | KZ |
Internet TLD | .su |
Kazakhstan[a], officially the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (KSSR), is a constituent republic of the Soviet Union situated in Central Asia, with territory in Europe. It is the second largest republic of the Soviet Union by land area, with an area of 2.7 million square kilometres. Kazakhstan shares a 13,200 kilometer long border with Russia, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Turkmenia and China. Its capital and largest city is Alma-Ata, also known as Almaty, while other major cities include Karaganda, Shymkent and Tselinograd.
Kazakhstan historically was settled and dominated by various Iranic peoples, notably the Scythians. Kazakhstan, like much of Central Asia, was subject to a mass migration of Turkic peoples ibetween the 5th and 11th centuries, replacing and assimilating the local Iranic population. The First Turkic Khaganate controlled much of modern day Kazakhstan, which would later fall under the control of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation and then the Golden Horde. The Kazakh Khanate emerged in the 15th century from the Golden Horde, establishing the first independent Kazakh state. The Kazakh Khanate was gradually conquered by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century and incorporated along with the rest of Central Asia. Kazakhstan became the subject of a large colonization program, which resulted in the republic's now diverse population, particularly of Russians. Kazakhstan briefly gained autonomy as the Alash Autonomy before being incorporated by the Bolsheviks into Russia as the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Kazakhstan became a constituent member of the Soviet Union on 5 December 1936. Kazakhstan became one of the destinations for the mass resettlement or deportation of ethnic groups such as the Volga Germans, Greeks and Crimean Tatars.
Kazakhstan's population of 22 million is home to an ethnically diverse population in which no ethnic group makes up a majority. In addition to the eponymous Kazakhs, Kazakhstan is home to the Soviet Union's second largest diaspora of Russians, as well as a large German population. It is home to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, one of the Soviet Union's premier spaceports and where Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched from.