Kazakhstan

It dawned on me that most of you - except for 'wanderingwelshman' Mikey - reading this know little about Kazakhstan, so thought I'd pass on a little education from what I have learned before and during my time here.

Area: 2.7 million sq km. (9th biggest in the world)
Population: 17 million.
Capital: Astana (since 1997), previously Almaty.
People: Inhabitants of Kazakhstan, have historically been nomadic groups from the East, the first known of which are the Saka people who lived in Southern Kazakhstan around 500BC. Around 200BC, Huns and Turkic peoples form Mongolia and China migrated here and the area was the westernmost part of the Kok Turk empire. The southern cities of Otrar and Turkestan developed into major trading points on the Silk Road until in the 13th century, Jenghiz Khan took control, when the biggest Mongol army in history invaded Otrar and the now Uzbekistan cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. The area now known as Kazakhstan was then split into two regions and shared between Khan's sons when he died, Westerna nd Northern Kazakhstan was known as the 'Golden Horde' and the rest was known as the 'Chaghatai Khanate'.

The Kazakh people emerged from the descendants of the Mongols and Turkic peoples. A group of Islamic Mongols that originally took their name from a former leader named 'Uzbek' were in control of the Golden Horde when the area disintegrated in the 14th and 15th centuries. Disagreements led to a split where the southern areas ruled from Bukhara gave their name to current day Uzbekistan, while those in Northern areas becane known as 'Kazakhs' and remained nomadic, taking their name from the Turkic word meaning 'free rider or adventurer'.

Leader: President Nursultan Nazarbaev has been in power since 1989, before Kazakhstan's breakaway from the former Soviet Union.

Local Foods: (the ones I have tried)
shashlyk (kebab), laghman (noodles), manty (steamed dumplings with mutton/vegetables), plov (rice, vegetables and lamb), baurshaki (fried dough like bread), kumys (horse's milk).