page_title: Kazakh Steppe
section_title: People
hierarchical_section_title: Kazakh Steppe / People
context_page_description: The Kazakh Steppe, also called the Great Dala, ecoregion, of the Palearctic temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, is a vast region of open grassland in northern Kazakhstan and adjacent portions of Russia, extending to the east of the Pontic steppe and to the west of the Emin Valley steppe, with which it forms part of the Eurasian steppe. Before the mid-nineteenth century it was called the Kirghiz steppe, 'Kirghiz' being an old name for the Kazakhs.
context_section_description: The western part of the Kazakh Steppe is very sparsely populated, with between two and three people per square kilometer. As one heads east across the plains, the population density increases to between four and seven people per square kilometer. Kazakh people make up the majority of the people living in the area. Russia leases approximately 7,360 square kilometers in the southern region of the steppe for the world's oldest space launch facility, Baikonur Cosmodrome.
caption: Kazakh nomads
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