Holocaust Memorial

Al­maty, also Alma-Ata, ca­pi­tal and lar­gest city of Kaz­akhs­tan, on the Great and Little Al­maa­tinka ri­vers in the sou­theas­tern part of the coun­try. Al­maty is lo­ca­ted in the foot­hills of the Tien Shan (Tian Shan) Moun­ta­ins near China. The city is the pro­ces­sing cen­ter of a fer­tile fruit-producing re­gion. Be­si­des pro­ces­sed food, ma­nu­fac­tu­res in­clude mi­ning ma­chinery, electri­cal equip­ment, tex­ti­les, mo­tion pic­tu­res, and to­bacco pro­ducts. Known as one of the love­liest ci­ties of the for­mer Union of So­viet So­cia­list Re­pu­blics (USSR), Al­maty has opera and bal­let hou­ses, a sym­phony or­ches­tra, a state uni­ver­sity, and an aca­demy of sci­en­ces.

Foun­ded around the Rus­sian fort Zai­liys­koe in 1854, the city was known as Ver­noye from 1855 to 1921. Ear­t­h­qua­kes in 1887 and 1911 and a flood in 1921 badly da­ma­ged the city. In the 1920s Al­maty de­ve­l­o­ped into a major eco­no­mic cen­ter when it be­came a ter­mi­nus on the newly built Turkestan-Siberian Rail­road. In 1929 Al­maty was made the ca­pi­tal of the Kaz­akh So­viet So­cia­list Re­pu­blic (SSR), and since 1991 it has ser­ved as the ca­pi­tal of an in­de­pen­dent Kaz­akhs­tan. Po­pu­la­tion (1990 esti­mate) 1,147,000.