Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of former Soviet Union Republics, is a country in Central Asia and Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world as well as the world's largest landlocked country, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km² (greater than Western Europe). It is bordered by Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and China. The country also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea.

In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand, and spread into Central Asia. The "Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, a second less intensive phase followed. The tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Although there was a brief period of autonomy during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Russian Empire, many uprisings were brutally suppressed, and the Kazakhs eventually succumbed to Soviet rule. In 1920, the area of present-day Kazakhstan became an autonomous republic within Russia. In 1936 Kazakhstan became a Soviet republic.

The period of World War II marked an increase in industrialization and increased mineral extraction in support of the war effort.

Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in October 1990 and declared independence on December 16, 1991. It was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence.