23.06.2013 Views

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Appendix 2<br />

country data<br />

Kazakhstan<br />

Area: 2,717,300 square kilometers (1,049,150 square miles); Kazakhstan<br />

is the second largest republic of the former Soviet Union (and now of<br />

the CIS, Commonwealth of Independent States), after Russia, and also<br />

the largest of the seven units discussed in our book; its size can be visualized<br />

by comparison with Sinkiang (1,646,800 square kilometers),<br />

Mongolia (1,565,000 square kilometers), Turkey (780,000 square kilometers),<br />

Ukraine (603,700 square kilometers), France (551,000 square<br />

kilometers), and Uzbekistan (447,400 square kilometers).The country<br />

extends 1,900 kilometers from west to east and 1,300 kilometers from<br />

north to south.<br />

Population (in 1995, according to the United Nations Food and<br />

Population Agency): 17,100,000; this makes Kazakhstan the fourth most<br />

populous republic of the CIS, after Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.<br />

Density per square kilometers: 6.2.<br />

Ethnic composition (in 1994): Kazakh 44.3%, Russian 35.8%, Ukrainian<br />

5.1%, German 3.6%, Uzbek 2.2%, Tatar 2.0%, Belarusian 1.1%. These<br />

ratios are rapidly changing, chiefly due to the higher birthrate of the<br />

Kazakh component but also to the emigration of the Europeans.<br />

Official language: Kazakh, a Turkic language of the Kipchak group,<br />

written in the Cyrillic script; and Russian, which enjoys a special status<br />

as the “language of interethnic communication.”<br />

Religion: Islam, of the Sunni denomination.It gradually asserted itself<br />

among the Kazakhs since the late Middle Ages.In the Soviet period,<br />

331

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!