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Almaty is a beautiful city perched among the mountains in Southern Kazakhstan. Its name comes from the Kazakh word "alma" which means "apple;" apple orchards have long surrounded the city. The area has been inhabited since nearly the beginning of man. Archeological expeditions have uncovered artifacts such as "The Golden Man" which show the presence of an advanced society in the area as early as the 5th century B.C. These civilizations were largely nomadic, but a prosperous settlement called Almatu formed on the site to service the Silk Road perhaps 1000 to 1500 years ago. The site became one of contention between the Russians and the Mongols. The Khan of Kokhand still claimed the area, though the Russians had managed to build a fort near Almatu in 1854 and send Cossack and Siberian settlers to populate the region. The Mongols managed to lay the fort to waste, but lost control of the city which was renamed Verny after the fort Vernoe. Russians usually date the founding of the city to the founding of the fort, much to the contention of patriotic Kazakhs. The city was destroyed by earthquakes in 1887 and 1911 but because of its advantageous location, was always rebuilt. Settlement by the Russians continued at a fast pace, pushing the native Kazakhs out of the best tracts of land and causing economic hardship. After a 1916 decree forced Kazakhs into conscription, a revolt broke out, but failed because the Kazakhs had no weapons and were poorly organized. To avoid death, tens of thousands fled to China, leaving behind everything they owned. Those that remained faced brutal retribution. After the Revolution, Verny was the center of a White Army/Cossak garrison. The Bolsheviks, however, took advantage of the area's economic and social problems to start an uprising. They renamed the city to "Alma-Ata" which theoretically means "father of apples" in Kazakh. The meaning is only theoretical because it doesn’t follow Kazakh grammar and is likely a reflection of the Communists' attempts to "simplify" or "Russify" native languages. In 1929, Alma-Ata became the capital city of the newly formed Kazakh SSR. It saw great growth with the arrival of the Turksib Railway and during WWII many factories were relocated there. The city was again the site of major unrest as the Soviet Union crumbled in the 1980s and, in 1991, hosted the delegation that created the CIS, effectively destroying the USSR. In 1994 the city was renamed Almaty, which does follow Kazakh grammar. Although the city is no longer the political capital of Khazakhstan (an entirely new city called Atsana is now), it is still the economic capital. The population is mostly Russian and Ukranian, with several thousand foreigners (from American to Chinese and Korean) seeking economic opportunity in the booming oil town.
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