Byterik Tower

Astana: Kazakhstan's New Capital

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September 20th 2010
Astana is everything you don't think of when you think of Kazakhstan. President Nazarbaev is doing his darndest to bring the country hurtling into the 21st century with a thirty year plan to build a diversified, high tech economy, part of which was to create a new capital. Skeptics said it couldn't be done, but he's achieved it- and how. Twenty years ago Astana was a small city with no ... read more

Asia » Kazakhstan » Astana

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Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. D... ... read more