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122-576: It was established in 1931 during the period of settlement of remote areas of greater USSR and its ethnic republics. Cheap labor was in high demand for these purposes. People were arrested and transported from west of the Ural Mountains to the gigantic labor camp in central Kazakhstan spanning from Akmola Region in the north to the Chu River in the south. Later, after WWII , another wave of prisoners poured in, constituting Soviet former POWs held captive by

244-617: A Chagatayid prince of Kashmir , which locates Kazakh in the eastern part of Desht-i Qipchaq . According to Vasily Bartold , the Kazakhs likely began using that name during the 15th century. Though Kazakh traditionally referred only to ethnic Kazakhs , including those living in China, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other neighbouring countries, the term is increasingly being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including residents of other ethnicities. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since

366-545: A Karlag Museum  [ ru ] was established in Dolinka  [ ru ] , Karaganda Region. In 2020 in Zhanalyk village ( Rus . Жаналык) local farmers excavated remains of at least 55 victims of NKVD executions. 49°40′39″N 72°40′55″E  /  49.67750°N 72.68194°E  / 49.67750; 72.68194 Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( / ˈ jʊər əl / YOOR -əl ), or simply

488-540: A legend about a hero named Ural who sacrificed his life for the sake of his people who then poured a stone pile over his grave, which later turned into the Ural Mountains. Possibilities include Bashkir үр "elevation; upland" and Mansi ур ала "mountain peak, top of the mountain", V.N. Tatischev believes that this oronym is set to "belt" and associates it with the Turkic verb oralu- "gird". I.G. Dobrodomov suggests

610-618: A small portion of Kazakhstan is also located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan's 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 kilometres (310,600 sq mi), occupies one-third of

732-509: A 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.23/10, ranking it 26th globally out of 172 countries. Common mammals include the wolf , red fox , corsac fox , moose , argali (the largest species of sheep), Eurasian lynx , Pallas's cat , and snow leopards , several of which are protected. Kazakhstan's Red Book of Protected Species lists 125 vertebrates including many birds and mammals, and 404 plants including fungi, algae and lichens. Przewalski's horse has been reintroduced to

854-707: A further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean. The average altitudes of the Urals are around 1,000–1,300 metres (3,300–4,300 ft), the highest point being Mount Narodnaya , which reaches a height of 1,894 metres (6,214 ft). The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap with the Ural Federal District and the Ural economic region . Their resources include metal ores, coal, and precious and semi-precious stones. Since

976-488: A height of 1,894 metres (6,214 ft). By topography and other natural features, the Urals are divided, from north to south, into the Polar (or Arctic), Nether-Polar (or Sub-Arctic), Northern, Central and Southern parts. The Polar Urals extend for about 385 kilometers (239 mi) from Mount Konstantinov Kamen in the north to the river Khulga in the south; they have an area of about 25,000 km (9,700 sq mi) and

1098-683: A key element in Nazi planning for the territories which they expected to conquer in the USSR. Faced with the threat of having a significant part of the Soviet territories occupied by the enemy, the government evacuated many of the industrial enterprises of European Russia and Ukraine to the eastern foothills of the Ural, considered a safe place out of reach of the German bombers and troops. Three giant tank factories were established at

1220-661: A livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe . In the 15th century, a distinct Kazakh identity began to emerge among the Turkic tribes. This was followed by the Kazakh War of Independence , where the Khanate gained its sovereignty from the Shaybanids . The process was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of the Kazakh language , culture, and economy. Nevertheless,

1342-508: A member of the Kazakh people, derives from Russian : казах . The native name is Kazakh : қазақ , romanized :  qazaq . It might originate from the Turkic word verb qaz- , 'to wander', reflecting the Kazakhs' nomadic culture. The term Cossack is of the same origin. In Turko-Persian sources, the term Özbek-Qazaq first appeared during the mid-16th century, in the Tarikh-i-Rashidi by Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat ,

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1464-583: A republic within the Soviet Union. Following the August 1991 aborted coup attempt in Moscow, Kazakhstan declared independence on 16 December 1991, thus becoming the last Soviet republic to declare independence. Ten days later, the Soviet Union itself ceased to exist . Kazakhstan's communist-era leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev , became the country's first President. Nazarbayev ruled in an authoritarian manner. An emphasis

1586-674: A series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides. Both sides resisted the communist government until late 1919. Following the collapse of central government in Petrograd in November 1917, the Kazakhs (then in Russia officially referred to as "Kirghiz") experienced a brief period of autonomy (the Alash Autonomy ) before eventually succumbing to the Bolsheviks ' rule. On 26 August 1920,

1708-480: A series of parallel ridges up to 1,000–1,200 m (3,300–3,900 ft) in height and longitudinal hollows. They are elongated from north to south and stretch for about 560 km (350 mi) from the river Usa . Most of the tops are flattened, but those of the highest mountains, such as Telposiz, 1,617 m (5,305 ft) and Konzhakovsky Stone, 1,569 m (5,148 ft) have a dissected topography. Intensive weathering has produced vast areas of eroded stone on

1830-511: A strongly dissected relief. The maximum height is 1,499 m (4,918 ft) at Mount Payer and the average height is 1,000 to 1,100 m (3,300 to 3,600 ft). The mountains of the Polar Ural have exposed rock with sharp ridges, though flattened or rounded tops are also found. The Nether-Polar Ural are higher, and up to 150 km (93 mi) wider than the Polar Urals. They include

1952-525: A transition from Aral to Ural explained on the basis of ancient Bulgar - Chuvash dialects. Geographer E.V. Hawks believes that the name goes back to the Bashkir folklore Ural-Batyr . The Evenk geographical term era "mountain" has also been theorized. (cf also Ewenkī ürǝ-l (pl.) "mountains") Finno-Ugrist scholars consider Ural deriving from the Ostyak word urr meaning "chain of mountains". Turkologists , on

2074-441: A year could exceed that by a factor of 10). Over 23,000 km (8,900 sq mi) of land were contaminated in 1957 from a storage tank explosion, only one of several serious accidents that further polluted the region. The 1957 accident expelled 20 million curies of radioactive material, 90% of which settled into the land immediately around the facility. Although some reactors of Mayak were shut down in 1987 and 1990,

2196-1017: Is Azerbaijan ). With an area of 2,700,000 square kilometres (1,000,000 sq mi) – equivalent in size to Western Europe – Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and largest landlocked country in the world. While it was part of the Russian Empire , Kazakhstan lost some of its territory to China's Xinjiang province, and some to Uzbekistan's Karakalpakstan autonomous republic during Soviet years. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometres (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometres (1,369 mi) with Uzbekistan , 1,533 kilometres (953 mi) with China, 1,051 kilometres (653 mi) with Kyrgyzstan , and 379 kilometres (235 mi) with Turkmenistan . Major cities include Astana , Almaty , Qarağandy , Şymkent , Atyrau , and Öskemen . It lies between latitudes 40° and 56° N , and longitudes 46° and 88° E . While located primarily in Asia,

2318-468: Is 136 meters (446 ft) deep. Other lakes, too, are found in the glacial valleys of this region. Spas and sanatoriums have been built to take advantage of the medicinal muds found in some of the mountain lakes. The climate of the Urals is continental. The mountain ridges, elongated from north to south, effectively absorb sunlight thereby increasing the temperature. The areas west of the Ural Mountains are 1–2 °C (1.8–3.6 °F) warmer in winter than

2440-527: Is 80 kilometres (50 mi) long, cutting through a red sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern Tian Shan ("Heavenly Mountains", 200 km (124 mi) east of Almaty) at 43°21′1.16″N 79°4′49.28″E  /  43.3503222°N 79.0803556°E  / 43.3503222; 79.0803556 . The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of between 150 and 300 metres (490 and 980 feet). The inaccessibility of

2562-565: Is also home to the Mynzhylky mountain plateau . Kazakhstan has an abundant supply of accessible mineral and fossil fuel resources. Development of petroleum, natural gas, and mineral extractions has attracted most of the over $ 40 billion in foreign investment in Kazakhstan since 1993 and accounts for some 57 percent of the nation's industrial output (or approximately 13 percent of gross domestic product). According to some estimates, Kazakhstan has

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2684-914: Is much less developed on the eastern slopes. The eastern slopes are relatively flat, with some hills and rocky outcrops and contain alternating volcanic and sedimentary layers dated to the middle Paleozoic Era. Most high mountains consist of weather-resistant rocks such as quartzite , schist and gabbro that are between 395 and 570 million years old. The river valleys are underlain by limestone. The Ural Mountains contain about 48 species of economically valuable ores and minerals. Eastern regions are rich in chalcopyrite , nickel oxide (e. g. Serov nickel deposit ), gold , platinum , chromite and magnetite ores, as well as in coal ( Chelyabinsk Oblast ), bauxite , talc , fireclay and abrasives. The Western Urals contain deposits of coal, oil, natural gas (Ishimbay and Krasnokamsk areas) and potassium salts . Both slopes are rich in bituminous coal and lignite , and

2806-700: The Ilych , Shchugor , and the Usa , and via the Ob basin in the east, which includes the Tobol , Tavda , Iset, Tura and Severnaya Sosva . The rivers are frozen for more than half the year. Generally, the western rivers have higher flow volume than the eastern ones, especially in the Northern and Nether-Polar regions. Rivers are slower in the Southern Urals. This is because of low precipitation and

2928-522: The Irtysh , and intervening island arcs . The collision lasted nearly 90 million years in the late Carboniferous – early Triassic . Unlike the other major orogens of the Paleozoic ( Appalachians , Caledonides , Variscides ), the Urals have not undergone post-orogenic extensional collapse and are unusually well preserved for their age, being underlaid by a pronounced crustal root. East and south of

3050-800: The Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was established. The Kirghiz ASSR included the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, but its administrative centre was the mainly Russian-populated town of Orenburg . In June 1925, the Kirghiz ASSR was renamed the Kazak ASSR and its administrative centre was transferred to the town of Kyzylorda , and in April 1927 to Alma-Ata . Soviet repression of

3172-629: The Kyshtym disaster . The Ural Mountains extend about 2,500 km (1,600 mi) from the Kara Sea to the Kazakh Steppe along the border of Kazakhstan. Vaygach Island and the island of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain on the north. Geographically this range marks the northern part of the border between Europe and Asia. Its highest peak is Mount Narodnaya, approximately 1,895 m (6,217 ft) in elevation. Transverse faults divide

3294-527: The Ob River , both starting from the town of Ustyug . The rivers, Chusovaya and Belaya , were first mentioned in the chronicles of 1396 and 1468, respectively. In 1430, the town of Solikamsk (Kama Salt) was founded on the Kama at the foothills of the Ural, where salt was produced in open pans . Ivan III , the grand prince of Moscow, captured Perm, Pechora and Yugra from the declining Novgorod Republic in 1472. With

3416-666: The Oirats , a federation of western Mongol tribes, including the Dzungar . The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little Horde participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungar Khanate , following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territory. Under the leadership of Abul Khair Khan , the Kazakhs won major victories over

3538-599: The Paleolithic era. The Botai culture (3700–3100 BC) is credited with the first domestication of horses. The Botai population derived most of their ancestry from a deeply European-related population known as Ancient North Eurasians , while also displaying some Ancient East Asian admixture. Pastoralism developed during the Neolithic . The population was Caucasoid during the Bronze and Iron Age period. The Kazakh territory

3660-701: The Saka and Massagetae . Other groups included the nomadic Scythians and the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the southern territory of the modern country. The Andronovo and Srubnaya cultures , precursors to the peoples of the Scythian cultures , were found to harbor mixed ancestry from the Yamnaya Steppe herders and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic. In 329 BC, Alexander

3782-706: The Saka , Massagetae , and Scythians dominated the territory, with the Achaemenid Persian Empire expanding towards the southern region. Turkic nomads entered the region from as early as the sixth century. In the 13th century, the area was subjugated by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan . Following the disintegration of the Golden Horde in the 15th century, the Kazakh Khanate was established over an area roughly corresponding with modern Kazakhstan. By

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3904-614: The Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe, true political consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century. Under the Mongol Empire , the first strictly structured administrative districts (Ulus) were established. After the division of the Mongol Empire in 1259, the land that would become modern-day Kazakhstan was ruled by the Golden Horde , also known as the Ulus of Jochi. During

4026-620: The Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (as Yekaterinburg used to be known), Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in Chelyabinsk. After the war, in 1947–1948, Chum – Labytnangi railway, built with the forced labor of Gulag inmates, crossed the Polar Ural . Mayak , 150 kilometres (93 mi) southeast of Yekaterinburg , was a center of the Soviet nuclear industry and site of

4148-564: The Virgin Lands Campaign designed to turn the traditional pasturelands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy brought mixed results. However, along with later modernisations under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (in power 1964–1982), it accelerated the development of the agricultural sector, which remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population. Because of

4270-530: The Western Turkic Khaganate were independent. The Western Khaganate reached its peak in the early 7th century. The Cumans entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. While ancient cities Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along

4392-705: The Western geography . The Middle and Southern Ural were still largely unavailable and unknown to the Russian or Western European geographers. In the 1550s, after the Tsardom of Russia had defeated the Khanate of Kazan and proceeded to gradually annex the lands of the Bashkirs, the Russians finally reached the southern part of the mountain chain. In 1574, they founded Ufa . The upper reaches of

4514-433: The north and west , China to the east , Kyrgyzstan to the southeast , Uzbekistan to the south , and Turkmenistan to the southwest , with a coastline along the Caspian Sea . Its capital is Astana , while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty . Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. It has a population of 20 million and one of

4636-411: The 18th century, the Kazakh Khanate had fragmented into three jüz (tribal divisions), which were gradually absorbed and conquered by the Russian Empire ; by the mid-19th century, all of Kazakhstan was nominally under Russian rule. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War , the territory was reorganized several times. In 1936, its modern borders were established with

4758-462: The 18th century, the mountains have contributed significantly to the mineral sector of the Russian economy . The region is one of the largest centres of metallurgy and heavy industry production in Russia. As attested by Sigismund von Herberstein , in the 16th century, Russians called the Ural range by a variety of names derived from the Russian words for rock (stone) and belt. The modern Russian name for

4880-659: The 1930s and 1940s, such as approximately 400,000 Volga Germans deported from the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in September–October 1941, and then later the Greeks and Crimean Tatars . Deportees and prisoners were interned in some of the biggest Soviet labour camps (the Gulag), including ALZhIR camp outside Astana, which was reserved for the wives of men considered "enemies of

5002-449: The 2022 report. On 19 March 2019, Nazarbayev announced his resignation from the presidency. Kazakhstan's senate speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won the 2019 presidential election that was held on 9 June. His first official act was to rename the capital after his predecessor. In January 2022, the country plunged into political unrest following a spike in fuel prices. In consequence, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as head of

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5124-487: The Dzungar at the Bulanty River in 1726 and at the Battle of Añyraqai in 1729. Ablai Khan participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungar from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a " batyr " ("hero") by the people. The Kazakhs suffered from the frequent raids against them by the Volga Kalmyks . The Kokand Khanate used the weakness of Kazakh jüzs after Dzungar and Kalmyk raids and conquered present Southeastern Kazakhstan, including Almaty ,

5246-466: The Golden Horde period, a Turco-Mongol tradition emerged among the ruling elite wherein Turkicised descendants of Genghis Khan followed Islam and continued to reign over the lands. In 1465, the Kazakh Khanate emerged as a result of the dissolution of the Golden Horde . Established by Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan , it continued to be ruled by the Turco-Mongol clan of Tore ( Jochid dynasty). Throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and

5368-430: The Great and his Macedonian army fought in the Battle of Jaxartes against the Scythians along the Jaxartes River, now known as the Syr Darya along the southern border of modern Kazakhstan. The main migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the 5th and 11th centuries when they spread across most of Central Asia. The Turkic peoples slowly replaced and assimilated the previous Iranian -speaking locals, turning

5490-400: The Kama and Chusovaya in the Middle Ural, still unexplored, as well as parts of Transuralia still held by the hostile Siberian Khanate , were granted to the Stroganovs by several decrees of the tsar in 1558–1574. The Stroganovs land provided the staging ground for Yermak 's incursion into Siberia . Yermak crossed the Ural from the Chusovaya to the Tagil around 1581. In 1597, Babinov's road

5612-412: The Karatau basin with 650 million tonnes of P 2 O 5 and the Chilisai deposit of the Aqtobe phosphorite basin located in northwestern Kazakhstan, with resources of 500–800   million tonnes of 9 percent ore. On 17 October 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) accepted Kazakhstan as "EITI Compliant", meaning that the country has a basic and functional process to ensure

5734-484: The Komi Republic, Bashkir and its former branch Shulgan-Tash in Bashkortostan, Visim in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Southern Ural in Bashkortostan, Basegi in Perm Krai, Vishera in Perm Krai and Denezhkin Kamen in Sverdlovsk Oblast. The area has also been severely damaged by the plutonium -producing facility Mayak , opened in Chelyabinsk-40 (later called Chelyabinsk-65, Ozyorsk ), in the Southern Ural, after World War II. Its plants went into operation in 1948 and, for

5856-458: The Nazis before the Red Army returned them to the Soviet Union. Many Karlag inmates were prisoners sentenced as "enemies of the people" under Article 58 RSFSR . Over 1,000,000 inmates in total served in Karlag over its history. One of the main reasons for creating Karlag camp was the establishment of a large agricultural base supported by free labor for rapidly growing industry in central Kazakhstan - Karaganda Coal Basin in particular. The camp

5978-409: The Polar Urals. Whereas in other parts of the Ural Mountains they grow up to an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), in the Polar Urals the tree line is at 250–400 metres (820–1,310 ft). The low polar forests are mixed with swamps, lichens, bogs and shrubs. Dwarf birch , mosses and berries ( blueberry , cloudberry , black crowberry , etc.) are abundant. The forests of the Southern Urals are

6100-410: The Russian language in all schools and governmental organisations. Russia's efforts to impose its system aroused the resentment of the Kazakhs, and, by the 1860s, some Kazakhs resisted its rule. Russia had disrupted the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy, and people were suffering from starvation, with some Kazakh tribes being decimated. The Kazakh national movement, which began in

6222-438: The Soviet Union. Elections to the Majilis in September 2004, yielded a lower house dominated by the pro-government Otan Party , headed by President Nazarbayev. Two other parties considered sympathetic to the president, including the agrarian-industrial bloc AIST and the Asar Party , founded by President Nazarbayev's daughter, won most of the remaining seats. The opposition parties which were officially registered and competed in

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6344-444: The United Kingdom (geologist Sir Roderick Murchison ), France (paleontologist Édouard de Verneuil ), and Germany (naturalist Alexander von Humboldt , geologist Alexander Keyserling ). In 1845, Murchison, who had according to Encyclopædia Britannica "compiled the first geologic map of the Ural in 1841", published The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains with de Verneuil and Keyserling. The first railway across

6466-508: The Ural Mountains are formed of limestone , dolomite and sandstone left from ancient shallow seas. The eastern side is dominated by basalts . The western slope of the Ural Mountains has predominantly karst topography , especially in the Sylva basin, which is a tributary of the Chusovaya . It is composed of severely eroded sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. There are many caves , sinkholes and underground streams. The karst topography

6588-426: The Urals ( Урал , Ural ), first appearing in the 16th–17th century during the Russian conquest of Siberia , was initially applied to its southern parts and gained currency as the name of the entire range during the 18th century. It might have been borrowed from either Turkic "stone belt" ( Bashkir , where the same name is used for the range), or Ob-Ugric . From the 13th century in Bashkortostan , there has been

6710-428: The Urals , are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through the Russian Federation , from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan . The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia , marking the separation between European Russia and Siberia . Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form

6832-422: The Urals had been built by 1878 and linked Perm to Yekaterinburg via Chusovoy , Kushva and Nizhny Tagil . In 1890, a railway linked Ufa and Chelyabinsk via Zlatoust . In 1896, this section became a part of the Trans-Siberian Railway . In 1909, yet another railway connecting Perm and Yekaterinburg passed through Kungur by the way of the Siberian Route. It has eventually replaced the Ufa – Chelyabinsk section as

6954-403: The Urals much of the orogen is buried beneath later Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments . The adjacent Pay-Khoy Ridge to the north and Novaya Zemlya are not a part of the Uralian orogen and formed later. Many deformed and metamorphosed rocks, mostly of Paleozoic age, surface within the Urals. The sedimentary and volcanic layers are folded and faulted . The sediments to the west of

7076-428: The area between 1906-1907. As a result, in 1931 those civilian settlements were forced to relocate by NKVD forces. Collectivization of the steppe, forced relocation, and confiscation pushed them to the city of Karaganda and its neighboring regions. Karaganda was just starting to build coal mines, so many of these resettled people were used as cheap labor. Confiscated sheep, camels, cattle, and horses were transported to

7198-400: The border between the Komi Republic and Perm Krai and the eastern slopes south of approximately 54°30'N drain into the Caspian Sea via the Kama and Ural basins. The tributaries of the Kama include the Vishera , Chusovaya, and Belaya and originate on both the eastern and western slopes. The rest of the Urals drain into the Arctic Ocean, mainly via the Pechora basin in the west, which includes

7320-446: The canyon provided a safe haven for a rare ash tree , Fraxinus sogdiana , which survived the Ice Age there and has now also grown in some other areas. Bigach crater , at 48°30′N 82°00′E  /  48.500°N 82.000°E  / 48.500; 82.000 , is a Pliocene or Miocene asteroid impact crater , 8 km (5 mi) in diameter and estimated to be 5±3 million years old. Kazakhstan's Almaty region

7442-461: The city of Yekaterinburg . Both factories were actually founded by Tatishchev's successor, Georg Wilhelm de Gennin , in 1723. Tatishchev returned to the Ural on the order of Empress Anna to succeed de Gennin in 1734–1737. Transportation of the output of the smelting works to the markets of European Russia necessitated the construction of the Siberian Route from Yekaterinburg across the Ural to Kungur and Yegoshikha (Perm) and further to Moscow, which

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7564-417: The country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterised by large areas of grasslands and sandy regions. Major seas, lakes and rivers include Lake Balkhash , Lake Zaysan , the Charyn River and gorge , the Ili , Irtysh , Ishim , Ural and Syr Darya rivers, and the Aral Sea until it largely dried up in one of the world's worst environmental disasters. The Charyn Canyon

7686-413: The country, situated in Atyrau , Pavlodar , and Şymkent . These are not capable of processing the total crude output, so much of it is exported to Russia. According to the US Energy Information Administration , Kazakhstan was producing approximately 1,540,000 barrels (245,000 m ) of oil per day in 2009. Kazakhstan also possesses large deposits of phosphorite . Two of the largest deposits include

7808-467: The decades of privation, war and resettlement, by 1959 the Kazakhs had become a minority, making up 30 percent of the population. Ethnic Russians accounted for 43 percent. In 1947, the USSR, as part of its atomic bomb project , founded an atomic bomb test site near the north-eastern town of Semipalatinsk , where the first Soviet nuclear bomb test was conducted in 1949. Hundreds of nuclear tests were conducted until 1989 with adverse consequences for

7930-415: The deposits on the Caspian shore are only a small part of a much larger deposit. It is said that 3.5 billion tonnes (3.4 billion long tons) of oil and 2.5 billion cubic metres (88 billion cubic feet) of gas could be found in that area. Overall the estimate of Kazakhstan's oil deposits is 6.1 billion tonnes (6.0 billion long tons). However, there are only three refineries within

8052-427: The eastern ones by 150–300 mm (5.9–11.8 in) per year. This is because the mountains trap clouds from the Atlantic Ocean. The highest precipitation, approximately 1,000 mm (39 in), is in the Northern Urals with up to 1,000 cm (390 in) snow. The eastern areas receive from 500–600 mm (20–24 in) in the north to 300–400 mm (12–16 in) in the south. Maximum precipitation occurs in

8174-421: The eastern regions because the former are warmed by Atlantic winds whereas the eastern slopes are chilled by Siberian air masses. The average January temperatures increase in the western areas from −20 °C (−4 °F) in the Polar to −15 °C (5 °F) in the Southern Urals and the corresponding temperatures in July are 10 and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F). The western areas also receive more rainfall than

8296-592: The easy accessibility of the mountains there are no specifically mountainous species. In the Central Urals, one can see a rare mixture of sable and pine marten named kidus. In the Southern Urals, badger and black polecat are common. Reptiles and amphibians live mostly in the Southern and Central Ural and are represented by the common viper , lizards and grass snakes . Bird species of Northern, Middle and South Urals are represented by Western Capercaillie , black grouse , hazel grouse , spotted nutcracker , Siberian Jay , Common and Oriental cuckoos . Unlike mammals,

8418-404: The elections won a single seat. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was monitoring the election, which it said fell short of international standards. In March 2011, Nazarbayev outlined the progress made toward democracy by Kazakhstan. As of 2010 , Kazakhstan was reported on the Democracy Index by The Economist as an authoritarian regime , which was still the case as of

8540-404: The excursions of 1483 and 1499–1500 across the Ural, Moscow managed to subjugate Yugra completely. The Russians received tribute, but contact with the tribes ceased after they left. Nevertheless, around the early 16th century, Polish geographer, Maciej of Miechów , in his influential Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis (1517) argued that there were no mountains in Eastern Europe at all, challenging

8662-602: The facility keeps producing plutonium. The Urals have been viewed by Russians as a "treasure box" of mineral resources, which were the basis for its extensive industrial development. In addition to iron and copper, the Urals were a source of gold, malachite , alexandrite , and other gems such as those used by the court jeweller Fabergé . As Russians in other regions gather mushrooms or berries, Uralians gather mineral specimens and gems. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak (1852–1912) and Pavel Bazhov (1879–1950), as well as Aleksey Ivanov and Olga Slavnikova, post-Soviet writers, have written of

8784-454: The first deposits of iron and copper ores, mica , gemstones and other minerals were discovered in the Ural. Iron and copper smelting works emerged. In particular, the Gumyoshevsky mine was established in 1702 at an ancient copper deposit known since Bronze Age — so-called "legendary" Copper Mountain which also produced malachite . Mining intensified particularly quickly during

8906-445: The first ten years, dumped unfiltered radioactive waste into the river Techa and Lake Karachay . In 1990, efforts were underway to contain the radiation in one of the lakes, which was estimated at the time to expose visitors to 500 millirem per day. As of 2006, 500 mrem in the natural environment was the upper limit of exposure considered safe for a member of the general public in an entire year (though workplace exposure over

9028-485: The formal capital in the first quarter of the 19th century. The Emirate of Bukhara ruled Şymkent before the Russians gained dominance. In the first half of the 18th century, the Russian Empire constructed the Irtysh line  [ ru ] , a series of forty-six forts and ninety-six redoubts, including Omsk (1716), Semipalatinsk (1718), Pavlodar (1720), Orenburg (1743) and Petropavlovsk (1752), to prevent Kazakh and Oirat raids into Russian territory. In

9150-562: The formation of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Kazakhstan was the last constituent republic of the Soviet Union to declare independence in 1991 during its dissolution . Kazakhstan dominates Central Asia both economically and politically , accounting for 60 percent of the region's GDP , primarily through its oil and gas industry ; it also has vast mineral resources. Kazakhstan also has

9272-407: The height of 60–80 centimetres (24–31 in). Much of the land is cultivated. To the south, the meadow steppes become more sparse, dry and low. The steep gravelly slopes of the mountains and hills of the eastern slopes of the Southern Urals are mostly covered with rocky steppes. River valleys contain willow , poplar and caragana shrubs. Forest landscapes of the Urals are diverse, especially in

9394-889: The highest Human Development Index ranking in the region. It is a unitary constitutional republic; however, its government is authoritarian . Nevertheless, there have been incremental efforts at democratization and political reform since the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2019, who had led the country since independence. Kazakhstan is a member state of the United Nations , World Trade Organization , Commonwealth of Independent States , Shanghai Cooperation Organisation , Eurasian Economic Union , Collective Security Treaty Organization , Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , Organization of Islamic Cooperation , Organization of Turkic States , and International Organization of Turkic Culture . The English word Kazakh , meaning

9516-490: The highest peaks and plateaus of Northern and Southern Urals are inhabited by some mountainous or tundra avian species, like Golden Plover , Dotterel , Ptarmigan and Willow Grouse , in Polar Urals also by Rough-legged Buzzard and Snowy Owl. The steppes of the Southern Urals are dominated by hares and rodents such as hamsters , susliks , and jerboa . There are many birds of prey such as lesser kestrel and buzzards . The continuous and intensive economic development of

9638-591: The highest peaks of the range: Mount Narodnaya (1,895 m (6,217 ft)), Mount Karpinsky (1,878 m (6,161 ft)) and Manaraga (1,662 m (5,453 ft)). They extend for more than 225 km (140 mi) south to the Shchugor . The many ridges are sawtooth shaped and dissected by river valleys. Both Polar and Nether-Polar Urals are typically Alpine; they bear traces of Pleistocene glaciation, along with permafrost and extensive modern glaciation, including 143 extant glaciers. The Northern Ural consist of

9760-405: The largest deposit of bituminous coal is in the north (Pechora field). The specialty of the Urals is precious and semi-precious stones, such as emerald , amethyst , aquamarine , jasper , rhodonite , malachite and diamond . Some of the deposits, such as the magnetite ores at Magnitogorsk , are already nearly depleted. Many rivers originate in the Ural Mountains. The western slopes south of

9882-639: The last centuries has affected the fauna, and wildlife is much diminished around all industrial centers. During World War II, hundreds of factories were evacuated from Western Russia before the German occupation, flooding the Urals with industry. The conservation measures include establishing national wildlife parks. There are nine strict nature reserves in the Urals: the Ilmen , the oldest one, mineralogical reserve founded in 1920 in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Pechora-Ilych in

10004-535: The late 18th century the Kazakhs took advantage of Pugachev's Rebellion , which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Russian and Volga German settlements. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand its influence into Central Asia. The " Great Game " period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 . The tsars effectively ruled over most of

10126-567: The late 19th century, sought to preserve the native language and identity by resisting the attempts of the Russian Empire to assimilate and stifle Kazakh culture. From the 1890s onward, ever-larger numbers of settlers from the Russian Empire began colonizing the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, in particular, the province of Semirechye . The number of settlers rose still further once the Trans-Aral Railway from Orenburg to Tashkent

10248-431: The lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (16 people/sq mi). Ethnic Kazakhs constitute a majority, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country with a sizeable Christian community . Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era . In antiquity, various nomadic Iranian peoples such as

10370-573: The main ridges by the Miass . The maximum height is 1,640 m (5,380 ft) ( Mount Yamantau ) and the width reaches 250 km (160 mi). Other notable peaks lie along the Iremel mountain ridge (Bolshoy Iremel and Maly Iremel) and Nurgush . The Southern Urals extend some 550 km (340 mi) up to the sharp westward bend of the river Ural and terminate in the Guberlin Mountains and finally in

10492-633: The main trunk of the Trans-Siberian railway. The highest peak of the Ural, Mount Narodnaya , (elevation 1,895 m [6,217 ft]) was identified in 1927. During the Soviet industrialization in the 1930s, the city of Magnitogorsk was founded in the South-Eastern Ural as a center of iron smelting and steelmaking . During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941–1942, the mountains became

10614-610: The most diverse in composition: here, together with coniferous forests are also abundant broadleaf tree species such as English oak , Norway maple and elm. The Virgin Komi Forests in the northern Urals are recognized as a World Heritage site. The forests of Urals are inhabited by animals typical of Eurosiberia, such as elk, brown bear, fox, wolf, wolverine , lynx , squirrel, Siberian chipmunk , flying squirrel , reindeer and sable (north only). The fauna of Polar Urals also includes species like Arctic Fox and lemmings. Because of

10736-512: The mountain chain into seven major units, each of which has its own typical pattern of mountain ridges. From north to south, these are the Pay-Khoy, Zapolyarnyy, Pripolyarnyy, Polyarnyy, Severnyy, Sredniy, Yuzhnny Ural and Mugodzhary. The average altitudes of the Urals are around 1,000–1,300 m (3,300–4,300 ft), the highest point being Narodnaya peak in the Pripolyarnyy Ural which reaches

10858-833: The mountain range in its entirety, stretching as far as the Arctic Ocean in the north. The first Russian mention of the mountains to the east of the East European Plain is provided by the Primary Chronicle , where it describes the Novgorodian expedition to the upper reaches of the Pechora in the year 1096. During the next few centuries, the Novgorodians engaged in fur trading with the local population and collected tribute from Yugra and Great Perm , slowly expanding southwards. The city-state of Novgorod established two trade routes to

10980-546: The mountain slopes and summits of the northern areas. The Central Ural are the lowest part of the Ural, with smooth mountain tops, the highest mountain being 994 m (3,261 ft) (Basegi); they extend south from the river Ufa . The relief of the Southern Ural is more complex, with numerous valleys and parallel ridges directed south-west and meridionally. The range includes the Ilmensky Mountains separated from

11102-437: The mountains and their systematic extraction began in the early 18th century, eventually turning the region into the largest mineral base of Russia. One of the first scientific descriptions of the mountains was published in 1770–71. Over the next century, the region was studied by scientists from a number of countries, including Russia (geologist Alexander Karpinsky , botanist Porfiry Krylov and zoologist Leonid Sabaneyev ),

11224-519: The nation's environment and population. The Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan became a major political force in the late 1980s. In April 1961, Baikonur became the springboard of Vostok 1 , a spacecraft with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin being the first human to enter space. In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs, later called the Jeltoqsan riot, took place in Almaty to protest

11346-621: The newly formed "Eastern Meats" (Vostok Myaso) organization, which processed it in order to feed the labor force. The empty lands of resettled people were soon filled with thousands of rows of inmates. Echelons of new prisoners came one after another from the central parts of the Russian SFSR . They quickly spread across the steppe building railroads, housing for livestock, housing for camp employees, barracks, and isolation units. Karlag wardens answered only to Gulag NKVD in Moscow. No Soviet, state or local government organizations had any influence on

11468-462: The operations of the wardens and supervisors of the camp. It resembled a colony, with a heavy management apparatus. Its departments included: administrative-agricultural, planning and control, culture-educational, human resources, trade, supply-chain, transport, finance, political, medical, and more. In Karlag, the inmates' efforts built a meat-processing plant and a leather/fur-processing plant which produced leather products, furs and valenki . In 2001

11590-562: The other hand, have achieved majority support for their assertion that 'ural' in Tatar means a belt, and recall that an earlier name for the range was 'stone belt'. As merchants from the Middle East traded with the Bashkirs and other people living on the western slopes of the Ural as far north as Great Perm , since the 10th century, medieval mideastern geographers had been aware of the existence of

11712-466: The people". Many moved due to the policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union and others were forced into involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union . The Soviet-German War (1941–1945) led to an increase in industrialisation and mineral extraction in support of the war effort. At the time of Joseph Stalin 's death in 1953, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural economy. In 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated

11834-613: The point of view of some authors of Classical antiquity, which were popular during the Renaissance . Only after Sigismund von Herberstein in his Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549) had reported, following Russian sources, that there are mountains behind the Pechora and identified them with the Riphean Mountains and Hyperboreans of ancient authors, did the existence of the Ural, or at least of its northern part, become firmly established in

11956-525: The population into the Great, Middle and Little (or Small) hordes ( jüz ). Political disunion, tribal rivalries, and the diminishing importance of overland trade routes between east and west weakened the Kazakh Khanate. The Khiva Khanate used this opportunity and annexed the Mangyshlak Peninsula . Uzbek rule there lasted two centuries until the Russian arrival. During the 17th century, the Kazakhs fought

12078-576: The population of Central Asia from largely Iranian , into primarily of East Asian descent. The first Turkic Khaganate was founded by Bumin in 552 on the Mongolian Plateau and quickly spread west toward the Caspian Sea. The Göktürks drove before them various peoples: Xionites , Uar , Oghurs and others. These seem to have merged into the Avars and Bulgars . Within 35 years, the eastern half and

12200-470: The powerful Security Council, removing his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev from the post. In September 2022, the name of the country's capital was changed back to Astana from Nur-Sultan. As it extends across both sides of the Ural River , considered the dividing line separating Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan is one of only two landlocked countries in the world that has territory in two continents (the other

12322-429: The region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south. At its height, the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania . The Kazakh Khanate's territories would expand deep into Central Asia. By the early 17th century, the Kazakh Khanate was struggling with the impact of tribal rivalries, which had effectively divided

12444-658: The region. The region served as a military stronghold during Peter the Great 's Great Northern War with Sweden, during Stalin's rule when the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Complex was built and Russian industry relocated to the Urals during the Nazi advance at the beginning of World War II, and as the center of the Soviet nuclear industry during the Cold War . Extreme levels of air, water, and radiological contamination and pollution by industrial wastes resulted. Population exodus followed, and economic depression at

12566-1096: The regular disclosure of natural resource revenues. Kazakhstan has an "extreme" continental and cold steppe climate , and sits solidly inside the Eurasian steppe , featuring the Kazakh steppe , with hot summers and very cold winters. Indeed, Astana is the second coldest capital city in the world after Ulaanbaatar . Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions, the winter being particularly dry. There are ten nature reserves and ten national parks in Kazakhstan that provide safe haven for many rare and endangered plants and animals. In total there are twenty five areas of conservancy . Common plants are Astragalus , Gagea , Allium , Carex and Oxytropis ; endangered plant species include native wild apple ( Malus sieversii ), wild grape ( Vitis vinifera ) and several wild tulip species (e.g., Tulipa greigii ) and rare onion species Allium karataviense , also Iris willmottiana and Tulipa kaufmanniana . Kazakhstan had

12688-512: The reign of Peter I of Russia . In 1720–1722, he commissioned Vasily Tatishchev to oversee and develop the mining and smelting works in the Ural. Tatishchev proposed a new copper smelting factory in Yegoshikha , which would eventually become the core of the city of Perm and a new iron smelting factory on the Iset , which would become the largest in the world at the time of construction and give birth to

12810-512: The relatively warm climate resulting in less snow and more evaporation. The mountains contain a number of deep lakes. The eastern slopes of the Southern and Central Urals have most of these, among the largest of which are the Uvildy, Itkul, Turgoyak, and Tavatuy lakes. The lakes found on the western slopes are less numerous and also smaller. Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, the deepest lake in the Polar Urals,

12932-694: The replacement of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR Dinmukhamed Konayev with Gennady Kolbin from the Russian SFSR . Governmental troops suppressed the unrest, several people were killed, and many demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and found expression under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 's policy of glasnost ("openness"). On 25 October 1990, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty on its territory as

13054-631: The second largest uranium , chromium , lead, and zinc reserves; the third largest manganese reserves; the fifth largest copper reserves; and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. It is also an exporter of diamonds. Perhaps most significant for economic development, Kazakhstan also has the 11th largest proven reserves of both petroleum and natural gas. One such location is the Tokarevskoye gas condensate field . In total, there are 160 deposits with over 2.7 billion tonnes (2.7 billion long tons) of petroleum. Oil explorations have shown that

13176-439: The southern part. The western areas are dominated by dark coniferous taiga forests which change to mixed and deciduous forests in the south. The eastern mountain slopes have light coniferous taiga forests. The Northern Urals are dominated by conifers, namely Siberian fir , Siberian pine , Scots pine , Siberian spruce , Norway spruce and Siberian larch , as well as by silver and downy birches . The forests are much sparser in

13298-527: The steppes after nearly 200 years. Officially, Kazakhstan is a democratic, secular, constitutional unitary republic ; Nursultan Nazarbayev led the country from 1991 to 2019. He was succeeded by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev . The president may veto legislation that has been passed by the parliament and is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces . The prime minister chairs the cabinet of ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and sixteen ministers in

13420-623: The summer: the winter is dry because of the Siberian High . The landscapes of the Urals vary with both latitude and longitude and are dominated by forests and steppes. The southern area of the Mughalzhar Hills is a semidesert. Steppes lie mostly in the southern and especially south-eastern Urals. Meadow steppes have developed on the lower parts of mountain slopes and are covered with zigzag and mountain clovers , Serratula gmelinii , dropwort , meadow-grass and Bromus inermis , reaching

13542-662: The territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" for dominance in the area against the British Empire , which was extending its influence from the south in India and Southeast Asia. Russia built its first outpost, Orsk , in 1735. Russia introduced

13664-593: The time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but in post-Soviet times additional mineral exploration, particularly in the northern Urals, has been productive and the region has attracted industrial investment. Kazakhstan Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan , is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia , with a small portion of its territory in Eastern Europe . It borders Russia to

13786-588: The traditional elite, along with forced collectivisation in the late 1920s and 1930s, brought famine and high fatalities, leading to unrest (see also: Famine in Kazakhstan of 1932–33 ). During the 1930s, some members of the Kazakh intelligentsia were executed – as part of the policies of political reprisals pursued by the Soviet government in Moscow. On 5 December 1936, the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (whose territory by then corresponded to that of modern Kazakhstan)

13908-512: The wide Mughalzhar Hills . The Urals are among the world's oldest extant mountain ranges . Some have estimated the age to be 250 to 300 million years, the elevation of the mountains is unusually high. They formed during the Uralian orogeny due to the collision of the eastern edge of the supercontinent Laurasia with the young and rheologically weak continent of Kazakhstania , which now underlies much of Kazakhstan and West Siberia west of

14030-472: Was a key constituent of the Eurasian trading Steppe Route , the ancestor of the terrestrial Silk Roads . Archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the region's vast steppes. During recent prehistoric times, Central Asia was inhabited by groups such as the possibly Indo-European Afanasievo culture , later early Indo-Iranian cultures such as Andronovo , and later Indo-Iranians such as

14152-560: Was built across the Ural from Solikamsk to the valley of the Tura , where the town of Verkhoturye (Upper Tura) was founded in 1598. Customs was established in Verkhoturye shortly thereafter and the road was made the only legal connection between European Russia and Siberia for a long time. In 1648, the town of Kungur was founded at the western foothills of the Middle Ural. During the 17th century,

14274-430: Was completed in 1763 and rendered Babinov's road obsolete. In 1745, gold was discovered in the Ural at Beryozovskoye and later at other deposits. It has been mined since 1747. The first ample geographic survey of the Ural Mountains was completed in the early 18th century by the Russian historian and geographer Vasily Tatishchev under the orders of Peter I. Earlier, in the 17th century, rich ore deposits were discovered in

14396-451: Was completed in 1906. A specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление) in St. Petersburg oversaw and encouraged the migration to expand Russian influence in the area. During the 19th century, about 400,000 Russians immigrated to Kazakhstan, and about one million Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century. Vasile Balabanov

14518-507: Was detached from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , a full union republic of the USSR, one of eleven such republics at the time, along with the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic . The republic was one of the destinations for exiled and convicted persons, as well as for mass resettlements, or deportations affected by the central USSR authorities during

14640-504: Was founded on uninhabited empty steppe and grew fairly quickly within the first couple of years with the help of neighboring regions of the north and south. The total territory of Karlag was about 1,780,650 hectares (6,875 sq mi), out of which only 77,700 hectares (300 sq mi) was dedicated to agriculture, while the rest was used for pasture. As Karlag territory expanded, it absorbed some civilian settlements which included ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Germans who had moved to

14762-455: Was placed on converting the country's economy to a market economy while political reforms lagged behind economic advances. By 2006, Kazakhstan was generating 60 percent of the GDP of Central Asia, primarily through its oil industry. In 1997, the government moved the capital to Astana , renamed Nur-Sultan on 23 March 2019, from Almaty , Kazakhstan's largest city, where it had been established under

14884-488: Was the administrator responsible for the resettlement during much of this time. The competition for land and water that ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of the Russian Empire . The most serious uprising, the Central Asian revolt , occurred in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and Cossack settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in

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