Almaty

**Almaty** (; formerly known as *Alma-Ata* (**Алма-Ата**), also *Verniy*, (Верный)) is the largest city in Kazakhstan. It has a population of over 1,700,000 people (as of 2015). Eight percent of the population of the country live in Almaty. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1927 to 1998. Almaty is the major commercial center of Kazakhstan.

The city is close to China, and was once on the northern silk route between China and the Middle East. Its name derives from the Turkic languages.

The city is in an earthquake zone. There have been three quite serious earthquakes in the last 150 years.

## History 
On 4 February 1854 the Russian Empire decided to build a fort Verniy on the west bank of the Malaya Almatinka river. Later Russian settlers arrived. In 1922 the Soviet Union renamed the city to Alma-Ata. In 1927 Alma-Ata became the capital of the Kazakh SSR.

## Climate 
Almaty has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa in the Koeppen climate classification).

## Architecture 
### TV tower 
Almaty TV tower is the highest TV tower above sea level (1130 m.). The tower is the highest building in the city (372 m.). This building able to withstand 10.0 magnitude.

## Name 
The name "Almaty" comes from the Kazakh word for "apple" (алма). The name is often translated as a city "rich with apples".  The older Soviet-era Russian name for the city, Alma-Ata, comes from a mistake (the name literally means "Grandfather of apples"). In the area around Almaty, there are many different species of the wild apples. The region is thought to be the ancestral home of the apple. A local species of apple, the wild *Malus sieversii*, may be the ancestor of the modern domestic apple.

## Notable people 
* Zhansaya Abdumalik (born 2000), chess Grandmaster and prodigy
* Altynai Asylmuratova (born 1961), prima ballerina with the Mariinsky Ballet
* Eugen Bauder (born 1986), model in Germany
* Anatoly Bose (born 1988), Australian basketball player
* Alexander Brener (born 1957), movie star in Russia
* Sergei Chekmezov (born 1964), professional football coach and former player
* Zarina Diyas (born 1993), tennis player
* Alexandra Elbakyan (born 1988), intellectual property activist, maker of Sci-Hub
* Nagima Eskalieva (born 1954), singer and entertainer
* Dmitri Fofonov (born 1976), racing cyclist
* Alexey Korolev (born 1987), ski jumper
* Nikolay Karpenko (born 1981), ski jumper
* Ruslana Korshunova (1987–2008), model in Russia
* Olessya Kulakova (born 1977), volleyball player for Germany
* Regina Kulikova (born 1989), tennis player
* Dinmukhamed Konayev (1912–1993), politician
* Fuat Mansurov (1928–2008), Soviet and Russian conductor
* Dmitriy Ogai (born 1960), football trainer and Soviet football player
* Sergei Ostapenko (born 1986), football player
* Alexander Parygin (born 1973), Olympic athlete
* Alexander Petrenko (1976–2006), basketball player for Russia
* Boris Polak (born 1954), Israeli world champion and Olympic sport shooter
* Vadim Sayutin (born 1970), ice skater in Russia
* Thomas Schertwitis (born 1972), water polo
* Zhanar Sekerbayeva (born 1983), LGBT activist
* Olga Shishigina (born 1968), Olympic Champion in hurdling
* Konstantin Sokolenko (born 1987), Nordic combined skier/ski jumper
* Igor Sysoev (born 1970) open-source software engineer, founder of nginx, Inc.
* Elena Likhovtseva (born 1975), tennis player
* Denis Ten (1993-2018), figure skater
* Yernar Yerimbetov (1980), gymnast
* Anatoly Vaisser (born 1949), French chess grandmaster
* Radik Zhaparov (born 1984), ski jumper
* Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022), politician
* Elena Zoubareva (born 1972), opera singer
* Kinbōzan Haruki (born 1997), sumo wrestler and first Kazakhstani to reach the *makuuchi* division

## References