Almaty

Almaty Алматы
Flag Seal
Almaty Location in Kazakhstan
Coordinates: 43°16′39″N 76°53′45″E / 43.27750°N 76.89583°E / 43.27750; 76.89583
Country	Kazakhstan
Province	Almaty Province
First settled	10th-9th century BC
Founded	1854
Incorporated (city)	1867
Government
• Akim (mayor)	Erbolat Dosaev
Area
• Total	324.8 km2 (125.4 sq mi)
Elevation	500 - 1,700 m (1,640 - 5,577 ft)
Population  (2005)
• Total	1,226,300
• Density	3,776/km2 (9,780/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+6 (BTT)
Postal code	050000 - 050063
Area code	+7 727[1]
Website	http://www.almaty.kz

Almaty (Kazakh: Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata (Алма-Ата), also Verniy, (Верный)) is the largest city in Kazakhstan. It has a population of over 1,700,000 people (as of 2015).^[2] Eight percent of the population of the country live in Almaty. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1927 to 1998. Almaty is the major commercial center of Kazakhstan.

The city is close to China, and was once on the northern silk route between China and the Middle East. Its name derives from the Turkic languages.

The city is in an earthquake zone. There have been three quite serious earthquakes in the last 150 years.

On 4 February 1854 the Russian Empire decided to build a fort Verniy on the west bank of the Malaya Almatinka river. Later Russian settlers arrived. In 1922 the Soviet Union renamed the city to Alma-Ata. In 1927 Alma-Ata became the capital of the Kazakh SSR.

Almaty has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa in the Koeppen climate classification).

Almaty TV tower is the highest TV tower above sea level (1130 m.). The tower is the highest building in the city (372 m.). This building able to withstand 10.0 magnitude.

The name "Almaty" comes from the Kazakh word for "apple" (алма). The name is often translated as a city "rich with apples". The older Soviet-era Russian name for the city, Alma-Ata, comes from a mistake (the name literally means "Grandfather of apples"). In the area around Almaty, there are many different species of the wild apples. The region is thought to be the ancestral home of the apple. A local species of apple, the wild Malus sieversii, may be the ancestor of the modern domestic apple.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Almaty.

1. ↑ "CODE OF ACCESS". Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
2. ↑ "С начала года население Алматы увеличилось на 1,4%" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2007.