A City A Day

Ulan Bator     / ˌ uː l ɑː n   ˈ b ɑː t ər /  or  Ulaanbaatar  ( Mongolian :  Улаанбаатар ,  [ʊɮɑːŋ.bɑːtʰɑ̆r] ,  ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ ,  Ulaγanbaγatur , literally "Red Hero") is the  capital  and by far the largest city of Mongolia . An independent municipality, the city is not part of any  province , and its population as of 2008 is over one million. [1] Located in north central Mongolia, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the  Tuul River . It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is the centre of Mongolia's road network, and is connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway  in Russia and the  Chinese  railway system. [2] The city was founded in 1639 as a movable (nomadic)  Buddhist   monastic  centre. In 1778 it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. B...

The history of Ekibastuz begins in the 19th century, when Kosym Pshembayev, a native  Kazakh  who was commissioned by Russian merchants to look for mineral resources in that region, alighted on a coal field southeast of  Pavlodar . [ citation needed ]  The commercial exploitation of the field started soon after. The field afterwards was sold to a British businessman named Urquart. The railway connection was constructed and the village Ekibastuz was established in 1899, named after the nearby lake of the same name, which means 'two-headed lake' in  Kazakh  ( eki  'two' +  bas  'head' + tuz  'salt'). [2] The  revolution in the Russian Empire , as well as two World Wars, distracted the attention of the state from the exploitation of the field. The village was totally deserted. However, in 1948 the first team (only 50 people) started construction of the future town. The borders of the future open-cast coal fields were also mar...

Founded in 1720 at the confluence of the  Irtysh  and  Ulba  rivers as a  fort  and  trading post  named Ust-Kamennaya . [2]  The city was established in 1720 according to the order of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great, who sent a military expedition headed by major Ivan Vasilievich Likharev in the search of Yarkenda gold. Likharev’s expedition directed up the Irtysh river to Zaysan Lake. There, at the confluence of the Ulba and the Irtysh rivers the new fortress was laid – the Ust-Kamennaya Fortress. The Ust-Kamennaya Fortress appeared on the map of the Russian Empire, the very southern end of the Irtysh line. [3]  In 1868 the city became the capital of the Semipalatinsk Oblast. It was the site of  Georgy Malenkov 's 30-year internal  exile , during which he managed a local hydroelectric plant. [4] The city developed into a major  mining  and  metallurgical  center during the  Soviet  pe...

Temirtau  ( Kazakh :  Теміртау  /  Temirtaw ,  Russian :  Темиртау ) is a city in the  Karaganda region of  Kazakhstan . Pop 180,000.

One of the oldest cities in northern Kazakhstan,  Pavlodar  was founded in 1720 as  Koryakovsky , an Imperial Russian outpost. The settlement was created to establish control over the region's salt lakes, an important source of valuable salt. In 1861 the settlement was renamed  Pavlodar  and incorporated as a town. Pavlodar's significance was due in large measure to the substantial agricultural and salt-producing industries that had developed there despite the town's relatively small population. Pavlodar's population numbered only about 8,000 in 1897. The name  Pavlodar  signifies The Gift of Paul , and was chosen to commemorate the birth of the  Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia . [2] After 1955, the Soviet Government's  Virgin Lands Campaign  provided the impetus for the rapid growth and development of modern Pavlodar. As part of the program, large numbers of young men and women from throughout the Soviet Union settled in...

Kostanay  ( Kazakh :  Қостанай  /  Qostanay ), formerly known as  Kustanay  ( Russian :  Кустанай , until 1997) and  Nikolayevsk  (Russian:  Николаевск , until 1895), is a city located in the northern part of  Kazakhstan  at the  Tobol River . Kostanay is the administrative center of  Kostanay Province . Population: 214,916 (2009 Census results); [2] 222,816 (1999 Census results). [2] Kostanay is rich in objects with a historical-cultural heritage. The regional center includes the  Sunni   Muslim   mosque , the Building of Regional Administration, Kostanay State University, Altynsarin Regional memorial museum, the Kazakh Drama Theatre, the Central Square, and the railway station. Historical monuments include:  I. Altynsarin  monument, the Bust to Two Heroes of  Soviet Union  (I. F. Pavlov and L. I. Beda), the  A. Baitursynov  monument, the Memorial complex of mem...

Kentau  ( Kazakh :  Кентау  /  Kentaw ,  Russian :  Кентау ), is a town in  South Kazakhstan Province  of Kazakhstan . It is located at the foot of the Karatau mountains 30 km northeast of the city of Turkestan (City) . Kentau was formed in August 1955. In Soviet times, the population of the city was mainly from Russia, the descendants of the repressed:  Greeks ,  Russians ,  Germans ,  Koreans , Jews ,  Chechens , etc., as well as  Uzbeks , and majority of population comprising an ethnic  Kazakhs . Major mining ore operations are supported by excavator and transformer plants. The late 1980s or early 1990s saw massive emigration of population and the closures of mines and industrial enterprises. Today, the population is approximately 80 thousand, mostly Kazakhs.