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    Geography news

    New name for the capital of Kazakhstan. Wonder if they'll change the name of the cycling team

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47638619

    #2
    Or the national airline.

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      #3
      Is Astana/Nursultan a real city at all? In my mind it was an entirely fake planned city created as a capital after independence when the real capital should have been Almaty/Alma Ata, one of those place like Naypyidaw or Yamoussoukro that seem to be created to get government away from a potentially restive population center. Yet a quick glance online suggests it has a population of over a million!

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        #4
        Yes, it has become quite real.

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          #5
          It was real, if smaller, in the Soviet period.

          Quite a long history of name changes. Originally Akmoly, then Russianised to Akmolinsk, then Tselinograd, then post-USSR it was Akmoly again, then Astana from 1998 and now Nursultan after the Leader of the Nation.

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            #6
            Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
            Is Astana/Nursultan a real city at all? In my mind it was an entirely fake planned city created as a capital after independence when the real capital should have been Almaty/Alma Ata, one of those place like Naypyidaw or Yamoussoukro that seem to be created to get government away from a potentially restive population center. Yet a quick glance online suggests it has a population of over a million!
            Yes as ursus says it is very much real. I haven't been but know a number of people who have, and regularly see photos on facebook (and to be honest, in that kind of post-Soviet, central Asian way it is pretty fucking impressive). It's been architected up the wazoo, and in that respect I would say most resembles Brasilia.

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              #7
              So I was in a conversation with Fussbudget and her brother and sister a couple of years back discussing their cousin who is a diplomat, speaks Russian and apparently did her dissertation on Kazakhstan and quick as a flash I asked, 'what was her Alma-Ata (alma mater)?'
              My joy at such a quip was compounded by Fussbudget's face displaying delight at my quick wit at the same time as horror that she was going to have to explain my bon mots​​​ to her siblings.

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                #8
                I read a book about Kazakhstan once. Amongst other things like them claiming to have invented the apple (kinda) and that the Knights of the Round Table were Kazakhs (ehhhhh), I learned that they built Astana because Almaty was too close to the Chinese border and they didn't like the cut of China's jib.

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                  #9
                  The Kazakhs are probably quite fond of their leader, and as an act of vanity it's only the same as Washington DC or Leningrad, but the logistical knock-ons from this will be enormous, won't they? Everything from google maps to airline codes and timetabling?

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by HeavyDracula View Post
                    I read a book about Kazakhstan once. Amongst other things like them claiming to have invented the apple (kinda) and that the Knights of the Round Table were Kazakhs (ehhhhh), I learned that they built Astana because Almaty was too close to the Chinese border and they didn't like the cut of China's jib.
                    Wow, it's not really that close (Google maps tells me it's approx 350kms from the border. In Kazakhstan terms that's pretty close, but it's really not that close)

                    Alma-Ata must mean father of the apple or something like that based on Turkish and Hungarian

                    I once arrived in Alma Ata at around 4am and once I got to my fairly dodgy hotel, I asked the receptionist if there was anywhere I could get a drink (a friend and colleague had arrived at the same time on a different flight, so we wanted to get a beer together). He directed us to a "bar" which was their night bar which was just in one of the rooms of the hotel. Clearly we were the only ones there. The woman who "served" us was quite the most miserable unfriendly person I have ever seen in all my years (and I have met a number of grumpy people). And the beer was shit too. We only had one.

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                      #11
                      My expectations for Kazakh beer would be very low. Have I overestimated it?

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                        #12
                        One for the Sporcle memory bank.

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                          #13
                          That man was trooly the son of Gaaad.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Reginald Christ

                            Not sure about Kazakhs but isn't there some historical truth to the idea that the group that gave rise to the myths of the Arthurian knights were in fact Roman shock troops imported from their then-colonies in the Caucasus and the Asian steppes? I know the the 2004 movie King Arthur - a supposedly gritty retelling of the Arthurian legend - was based on that conceit.

                            I probably shouldn't be using mediocre Hollywood action films from two decades ago as a point of reference for anything, should I?

                            The idea is they would have been Iranian speaking Sarmatians by background. Some of these were stationed in Roman Britain, the supposition is they would have become warlords/"protectors" in post-Roman chaos. There's a whole lot of supposition there though, as with everything Arthurian.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
                              My expectations for Kazakh beer would be very low. Have I overestimated it?
                              You may have. Usually though you can get Baltika which is bearable.

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                                #16
                                As always I'd recommend Black Sea by Neal Ascherson Reg. It's a beautiful thing on Ancient/Modern history.

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