KAZAKHSTAN

Since 1991 Kazakhstan has been a sovereign state and presidential republic.
The territory of Kazakhstan is 2,717,300sq.km v that is more than twice as big as the four other Central Asian republics put together. Kazakhstan lands spread from the Caspian Sea to China and from Siberia to Tien-Shan ridge. Kazakhstan borders on Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and China.
Capital is Astana.
Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and the former capital of the Republic. Nowadays the population of the city runs over 1,300,000 people.

Relief. The landscape of Kazakhstan is diverse. The northern forest-steppe turns into steppe, half-deserts and deserts in the South.

Geographical zones: deserts, semi-deserts, steppes, forest-steppes, mountains.

Climate: Continental. Average temperature in the north in winter v 19v24 0C, in summer v(+) 22v28 0C; in the south in winter v 3v9 0C, in summer v (+) 26v29 0C.

Language: Official language of the country v Kazakh. Russian is the language of interethnic communication.

The religion. The Republic is a multinational state inhabited with representatives of more than 120 nationalities and the two main professing religions are Islam and Christianity, besides that one can find Catholicism and even Buddhism.

Kazakhstan presents itself as a land, filled interminable steppes, deserted areas and inaccessible ranges of snow mountains emitting crystal clear water falling down and feeding fruitful lands. Remnants of ancient caravan routes reveal how the East and West were united in past times, traverse country-s southern areas verged on great deserts of the Central Asia. The world is not different with its customs and morality, in particular if you look at the architecture and unfamiliar dishes. First of all, a separate multifaceted universe rises up at your eyes, based once on the dazzled bright contracts, and on the other hand v on the peaceful halftones. Here you will find practically all climatic zones, from torrid deserts to eternal snows of the mountain heights beyond the clouds. This adds a peculiar coloring to the nature and landscape of this land.