Almaty, Kazakhstan, Central Asia
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Almaty - Kazakhstan
Histrocally the city of Kazakhstan, Almaty was set on the place of the ancient settlement, which dates from the III century BC. In 1854 it was developed as a frontier fort at the border of the Russian Empire. For the first time the city has been named – Vernyi, later – Alma-Ata and now - it became Almaty.History of Almaty
Almost 150 years have passed since Almaty's first settlements were founded in Kazakhstan. Over these decades, many joyful and sad pages have been switched in the fate of the city Almati and in the lives of its dwellers,a lot happened as a result of political, social, and economic changes. It is very important to preserve heritage of Almaty, to reconstruct the portrait of the city and it's historical background, and to pass down the monuments of the epoch and events, faces, and buildings to new generations.About Almaty
Almati is situated in the centre of the Eurasian continent, in the south-eastern part of Republic of Kazakhstan, at a longitude of 77 degrees east and a latitude of 43 degrees north, at the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau Mountains, the northernmost ridge of the Tien Shan. Almati can vie with the mountain cities of Dushanbe, Karakol, or Erevan. Almaty is located on the same parallel with the well-known cities of Gagry and Vladivostok.
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The city of Almaty takes an area of over 170 square kilometres. It is located on old and fresh deposit driftovers from the rivers Boishaya and Malaya Almatinka and their tributaries comming down from the Trans-Ili Alatau glaciers and ravines to the Ili Valley (Balkhash Lake Basin). Main source of the water supply to the city of Almati is Mountain rivers and lakes. In the mountain gorges are a lot of waterfalls, and thermal radon and sulphuric sources that are used as the basis for balneological spas.
In the outskirts of the Almaty city constructed scientific mountain stations designed to study the Sun and cosmic rays at Bolshoi Almaty Lake and the Zhusaly-Kezen Pass, astrophysical observatories at the Kamenski Plateau and the Assy Pass, sports complexes at the skating stadium Medeu and the mountain-skiing station Shymbulak, mountaineering and tourist camps, health resorts, holiday homes, and campings of Kazakhstan.
Talgar (5017 m), Komsomol (today's Nursultan. 4376 m). and Bolshoi Almaty (3684 m) peaks prevail over the range of picturesque summits surrounding the city of Almati from the south. Some summits rising beyond the clouds are as high as European Mont Blanc, Caucasian Kazbek, and American Tajumulco.
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Almaty - Climate
The climate in Almaty is markedly continental, with considerable fluctuations in temperature not only between different seasons but between day and night also. From height of 500 metres, the streets lead to the north, to the steppe and semi-desert, coming close to the hot Kaskelen Moyunkuins. In the southern residential areas of Almti, at an altitude of 1520-1750 metres above sea level, in the Medau Tract and the Kamensky Plateau, you can feel the breath of glaciers of the "mountain Arctic".In average annual wind speed in Almati is twice as small as for example in Moscow. Average temperature of July is the same as on the islands of Sri Lanka or Kalimantan. Average temperature in January can be compared with north of Finland.
The length of daylight is long, up to 1590 hours a year; with up to 151 frost-free days. Considerable is the level of air temperature fluctuation at different heights: at the avarage of over 1400 meters above sea level, average annual air temperature in Almaty drops by 0.66° every 100 meters. These and other favourable natural and climatic factors provide great opportunity for popilarity sport and tourism in Kazakhstan.
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Flora and Fauna of Almaty, Kazakhstan
Rich and diverse is the animal and vegetable kingdom of the Trans-Ili Alatau. The environs of Almati are a part of the Ili-Alatau National Park in the territory of which nature reserves and wildlife are located. There one will find the habitat of many rare birds and animals now entered in the Red Data Book of Kazakhstan. Among which is a snow leopard that at present embellishes the emblem of the city Almati in Kazakhstan.At the foothills of the mountains, grain, melon and gourd, as well as tobacco plantations and vineyards give place to beautiful orchards and berry fields. It was the origin where Almaty aporto apples was cultivated. In the past an apple was the symbol of the old town which gave Almaty its' name. Alma in translation to English means an Apple.
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In order to protect the city against possible mud-and-rock flows and floods, protective structures were erected on the rivers Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinka and their tributaries; in 1973, Kazglavselzashchita Construction and Operational Agency was orogonated.
