Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country in Central Asia and Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world as well as the world's largest landlocked country, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km˛ (greater than Western Europe). It is bordered by Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and China. The country also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea.
Vast in size, the land in Kazakhstan is very diverse in types of terrain: flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, mountains, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, with a population density of less than 6 people per square kilometer (15 per sq. mi.). The total population has declined somewhat since independence, dropping from 16,464,464 in 1989 to about 15,300,000 in 2006. This is mostly due to the emigration of Russians and Volga Germans since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan, once the Kazakh SSR, is now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. With an area of 2.7 million square kilometers (1.05 million sq. mi), Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world and the largest landlocked country in the world. It is equivalent to the size of Western Europe. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometers (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometers (1,369 mi) with Uzbekistan, 1,533 kilometers (953 mi) with China, 1,051 kilometers (653 mi) with Kyrgyzstan, and 379 kilometers (235 mi) with Turkmenistan. Major cities include Astana, Almaty, Karagandy, Shymkent, Atyrau and Oskemen.
Burabay National Park in Akmola Province.The terrain extends west to east from the Caspian Sea to the Altay Mountains and north to south from the plains of Western Siberia to the oases and deserts of Central Asia. The Kazakh Steppe(plain), with an area of around 804,500 square kilometers (310,600 sq. mi), occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterized by large areas of grasslands and sandy regions. Important rivers and lakes include: the Aral Sea, Ili River, Irtysh River, Ishim River, Ural River, Charyn River and gorge, Lake Balkhash, and Lake Zaysan.
The climate is humid continental, with hot summers and colder winters. Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions.
The Charyn Canyon is 150–300 meters deep and 80 kilometers long, cutting through the red sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern Tien Shan 'Heavenly Mountains' (200 km east of Almaty) at 43°21'1.16"N, 79°4'49.28"E. The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of 150–300 m. The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare ash tree that survived the Ice Age and is nowadays also grown in some other areas. Bigach crater is a Pliocene or Miocene impact crater, 8 kilometers (5 mi) in diameter and estimated at 5 ± 3 million years old at 48°30'N, 82°00'E. |
