Almaty Province

Almaty ( ) is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Taldykorgan, which has a population of 118,400. The province itself has 1,603,700 people.

Geography

Almaty Province is the province which surrounds the city of Almaty. The province borders Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang in the People's Republic of China. The province also touches three other Kazakh provinces: Jambyl Province to the West, Karagandy Province to the Northwest and East Kazakhstan Province to the north. Almaty Province has an area of 224,000 square kilometres.

Lake Balkhash (Balqash Koli in Kazakh) takes up part of the northwest of the province. The Trans-Ili Alatau branch of Tian Shan Mountains extend from China and Kyrgyzstan into Almaty Province, along its southern border with Kyrgyzstan.

Charyn Canyon, Ili river, Bartogai and Kapshagay lakes, Kaindy and Kolsai lakes, Lake Issyk are located in the province.

History

Alma-Ata Province, the predecessor of today's Almaty Province, was created from the historical region of Zhetysu on March 10, 1932. Its capital was Alma-Ata (Almaty). Several times during the Soviet period, the north-eastern part of the province, centred on Taldykorgan, was separated from Alma-Ata Province, forming a separate Taldy-Kurgan Province, only to be merged into Alma-Ata Province again several years later.

In April 2001 the administrative center of the Almaty Province was moved from Almaty to Taldykorgan. Thus Taldykorgan has become a provincial capital again - this time without splitting a...
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