The two largest cities in Kazakhstan are Almaty and Astana, and both have been the capital in the last hundred years. Astana has been the capital since 1997, but even in that time it's had three different names - one of them now in its second stint!
Almaty was effectively founded in 1854, when Russia built a fort to defend the boundary of its empire. The fort was named Verny.
In 1867 a town was developed (according to Wikipedia) around the fort. It was named Almatinsk, but soon reverted to the name Verny. Then in 1921 it was renamed Alma–Ata – one of its ancient names (according to Wikipedia – presumably referring to some time before the fort of Verny was built by the Russians). In 1927 it became the capital of the Kazak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic; it continued to be known as Alma–Ata until 1993, when it was renamed Almaty.
Four years later, the capital was moved to the city that was then called Akmola (now known as Astana).
The city known today as Astana was founded in 1830 and named Akmola. In 1832 it was granted town status and renamed Akmolinsk. In 1961 it was renamed Tselinograd (Russian for 'virgin lands city') by the Soviets; then in 1991, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the name was changed back to Akmola.
In May 1998 – five months after becoming the country's capital – Akmola became known as Astana – Kazakh for 'capital city'. Then in 2019 it was renamed Nur–Sultan, in honour of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who'd just resigned after 29 years as the country's president. The last change (up to the time of writing) came in September 2022, when the name reverted back to Astana.
According to Wikipedia, Astana is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the capital city with the most name changes in modern times.
It was during the 19th century that Russia began to expand its influence into central Asia – including what is now Kazakhstan, which was effectively ruled by the Russian Tsars from around 1813. In 1920, following the Russian Revolution, Kazakhstan became part of the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic – an autonomous republic within the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. Its first capital was Orenburg, but in 1925, when the republic was renamed Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, Orenburg joined Russia and Kyzylorda became the new capital. Alma–Ata (now known as Almaty) became the capital in 1927 (or 1929) after the construction of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway. Seven years later, the republic was promoted to union republic status as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
| 1920–25 | Orenburg (capital of the Kirghiz ASSR) |
| 1925–27 | Kyzylorda (capital of the Kazakh ASSR) |
| 1927–93 | Alma–Ata (capital moved) |
| 1993–7 | Almaty (name change) |
| Dec 1997 – May 1998 | Akmola (moved to a different city) |
| 1998–2019 | Astana ('capital city' in Kazakh) |
| 2019–22 | Nur–Sultan (after retiring President Nursultan Nazarbayev) |
| Sep 2022 to date | Astana |
© Haydn Thompson 2022–3