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''This article is about Alma-Ata, also spelled in Kazakh " Almaty ", former capital of Kazakhstan . For information on the 1978 WHO - UNICEF Alma-Ata Declaration, please see Primary Health Care .'' Alma-Ata (official spelling legitimised by the Academy of Sciences of Russian Federation) also known as ''Vernyj'', ''Vyernyi'' (Верный) in Imperial Russia ) is the largest city in Kazakhstan located at ; 850m above sea level at the foot of the Tian Shan mountain range. Alma-Ata's population is: 2,205,100 (1994) Ethymology of the word "Alma-Ata" roots in Kazakh for "The place where apples are born", literal translation would say something like "The Father of Apples", name that acknowledges Alma-Ata's long-standing fame for unrivalled Genetic Diversity of the Alma , the wild apples, impliying that this area of South-East Kazakhstan is where the domesticated Apple comes from as far as this region of Eurasia is concerned. Fortress Vernyj was founded in 1854 by Russian Cossack s in response to Kazakh khans' request for protection from Tatar-Mongol Alma-Ata developed into an important cultural centre largely due to Soviet Union's completion in early 1920s of the famous Turkestan-Siberia Railway that connected Central Asia to main Russian routes. These developments contributed to Alma-Ata becoming Kazakhstan's capital in 1929. The city was known for strong processing industry infrastructure that was well balanced with services sector. Alma-Ata enjoys a unique location as the city perimeter is surrounded by mountains, while seven rivers taking course through the area give it an alternative name of "Semirech'ye". Being an active seismic zone, Semirech'ye survived a number of devastating earthquakes, of which 1867, 1911 and 1923 were the strongest. Russian Orthodox Cathedral has been the only building that survived all earthquakes without sustaining any damage whatsoever. Unlike most cities of Soviet Union, Alma-Ata was economically efficient, rapidly developing cultural centre having its expansion well-controlled by a prudent ecological policy. One implementation saw tourism and services sector expanding as Alma-Ata became the site of world's fastest open skating rink, also one of the world's fastest speed skiing track. All these developments mostly took place in late 70s-mid 80s, creating multiple recreation complexes in Semirech'ye's multiple picturesque mountaneous locations, all accessible via a short bus ride. 1991 saw Soviet Union disintegrating in a round of anti-social activity as regional heads decided to get rid of central controls to be able to steal wealth away from people. That process led to Alma-Ata's infrastructure being underfunded, ecological policy turning disfunctional while primitive production and street trade came to bloom. A green city with outstanding environment was quickly turned into a mess. To help this development, the family of Kazakh governors decided to move administrative capital to largely unknown and mostly Russian-populated Tselinograd (Astana), 2000 km to the north. As the capital was moved, a large proportion of ethnically Kazakh population moved there as the governing family prescribed. It should be noted that Kazakhstan's population prior to 1991 comprised over 60% of native Russian speakers, a proportion that changed drastically due to ever-growing emigration. This is why a citizen of Kazakhstan is not a Kazakh: there are at least 150 ethnic groups that make up Kazakhstan's population, mainly these are native Russian speakers (Russians, Ukranians, Byelorussians, Germans, various caucasian ethnicities), native Kazakh speakers (Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Ujghurs, various Asian ethnicities) and two large Korean and Chinese diasporas . None of these people were given a choice of citizenship in 1991, so they ended-up holding Kazakhstan's passport, mostly against their will... Alma-Ata today remains the largest city in Kazakhstan and the country's major commercial center. In 2005, the city launched an Olympic application to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in the year 2014. SEE ALSO SISTER CITIES EXTERNAL LINKS
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