Kazak Soviet Socialist Republic is a generally dry and treeless plain of 1,059,700 sq. mi. covered with grass and flowers in spring but burnt grey in the summer. Its people are mainly Kazakh herdsmen originally from Turkestan, now numbering more than 6,000,000. As in Utah and Arizona (but at a lower altitude), herds and flocks are gradually yielding ground to settled farming and pedigreed stock. Among the peasants 97 per cent are reported to be on collective farms, but a minority of the men remain herdsmen.
The republic also has rich deposits of lead, copper, zinc, gold, oil, coal, potassium and borax, which are beginning to be worked. It is served by three railroads; the Trans-Caspian of Nicolas II from Chkalov (Orenburg) to Tashkent; the Turkestan-Siberian from Tashkent to Alma-Ata and then northward to Novo-Sibirsk; and a new one from Petropavlovsk via Karaganda to Lake Balkash, soon to be extended to Alma-Ata.
The Kazak Republic is reported to have 17 universities, 170 newspapers and millions of books. The capital, Alma-Ata (meaning 'Father of Apples') lies on a height in the midst of many orchards and is one of the most beautiful cities of the Soviet Union.
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