The , or '''Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic''', today called
Kazakhstan , was the second largest constituent
Republic of the
Soviet Union , in
Central Asia , which is now the independent state
Kazakhstan . It was 2,717,300 square kilometres (1,063,200 square miles) in area and its capital was
Alma-Ata .
The country is named after the
Kazakh people,
Turkic -speaking
Nomad s who sustained a powerful
Khanate in the region before
Russia n and then Soviet domination. The Soviet Union's
Spaceport , now known as the
Baikonur Cosmodrome was located in this republic at
Tyuratam , with the secret town of
Leninsk being constructed to accommodate the workers at the Cosmodrome.
Established on
August 26 1920 , initially it was called ("A"-for ''Autonomous'') and was a part of the
Russian SFSR . On April 15-19, 1925 it was renamed into '''Kazakh ASSR''' and on
December 5 1936 it became a separate republic of the
USSR , called ''Kazakh SSR'' . During the
1950s and
1960s Soviet citizens were urged to help settle the "Virgin Lands" of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The influx of
Immigrants (mostly
Russians , but including some
Deported minority nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. The other nationalities included
Ukrainians ,
Germans ,
Belarusians ,
Koreans , and others; the Germans at the time of independence formed about 8% of the population, the largest concentration of Germans in the entire Soviet Union.
Independence has caused many of these newcomers to emigrate.
On
December 10 1991 ''Kazakh SSR'' was renamed into ''Republic of
Kazakhstan '' and six days later became independent.
The native population consisted of
Kazakhs (4,234,000 in
1970 ). In
1970 , the republic had a sizable number of
Russians (5,522,000) and
Ukrainians (933,000). In the northern
Kazakhstan wilderness, there were
Tatars (288,000),
Uzbeks (216,000),
Belarusians (198,000), and
Uyghur s (121,000).
