Nur-Sultan: The Fascinating Rise of the “Dubai of Central Asia”
How a Small Steppe Town became the Capital of Kazakhstan
Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana, is the current capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Unlike most capitals, it is neither the biggest nor the most historically influential city in the country. It barely hits the “over one million” mark population-wise and had barely any relevance for most of its history. Despite this, Nur-Sultan became the capital of the 9th largest country on Earth. How did this happen?
The modern city of Nur-Sultan can draw its roots to the town of Akmolinsk. Akmolinsk was founded by Fyodor Shubin and 200 settlers in 1830 and was originally built as a fort. The main purpose of this fort was not to defend against military invasion but to police trade routes and provide a haven for soldiers fighting local rebels. Kazakhstan, which at the time was a brand-new addition to Russia’s empire, was littered with rebels who were everywhere, could be anywhere thanks to their nomadic lifestyle, and would rather retreat and attack a different part of the country than face an open-field engagement. They would constantly raid the sluggish and outnumbered caravans and then storm off on their horses before troops could arrive to engage them. This was expensive not only economically but morally as well, and to finally deal with this the Tsar ordered a fort to be built at the crossroads of multiple key points in Kazakhstan.
The fort lay at the crossroads of the mining town of Kargaly, the fellow Cossack settlements Kokshetav and Atbasar, the fort of Guryev on the mouth of the Ural River, then called Zhayik and the rest of Central Asia. This meant it could serve as a point where troops could resupply or redeploy and served as a landmark for soldiers marching through the steppe. The flat steppe looks the same no matter where you are, and towns that could be packed up and relocated did not help the soldiers orientate.
The first few years were rough on the outpost. It was stormed less than a decade later by rebels led by Kenesary Khan, who after having his demands for repealing some charters rejected burned and sacked the wooden fort nearly to the ground. Once Russian forces recaptured Akmolinsk it was rebuilt, this time with more guns and stronger walls. The fort saw no action until the Russian Civil War.
As Russia finished eating the last bits and pieces of Central Asia and the need for policing trade routes lessened Akmolinsk was turned into a town and named the capital of Akmolinsk uezd in Akmolinsk Oblast. The troublesome oblasts were not in the steppe but in the mountains, and Kazakhstan was no longer the frontier but a full part of the empire. The Great Game with Britain only served to take away interest from Kazakhstan and to the southern khanates.
To integrate northern Kazakhstan a railroad was built from Tyumen to Akmolinsk in 1879, and as part of the program, the city became a centre and stopping point for Russian settlers looking to build a new life in the steppe. About 73% of all land in the Akmolinsk oblast was given away to the settlers at the expense of the native Kazakhs of the Kazakh living there. In total it is estimated over 4.2 million desyatins (1 desyatin is 1.0952 hectares) of land was stolen from the Kazakhs. This program boosted Akmolinsk’s population from just over 300 to over 6,000, but at the same time saw the Russification of northern Kazakhstan, with over 328,000 Russian settlers populating the forests and steppes.
Akmolinsk saw some development during its time under the Russian Empire. By the end of the Empire, the town had 9 brick factories, 2 tanneries, and 29 other enterprises that employed 208 workers. All in all, it was a moderately developed city for Kazakhstan.
With the death of the Empire came the Civil War. Akmolinsk played a relatively minor role in the Russian Civil War. The town switched hands multiple times, and as it was home to one of the few pockets of population in the steppe it was strategically important for both sides. Kolchak himself visited the town in order to boost morale, but the town ultimately fell along with the rest of Central Asia when the White Army retreated East into Siberia.
During the Soviet Era, the city of Akmolinsk catapulted into prominence. During the Great Patriotic War, the city became an important stopping point for evacuated materials heading further east. Valuable tools and equipment were loaded onto freight trains and evacuated into faraway Siberia and Central Asia, where the factories were safe from the Luftwaffe’s bombing runs. With the factories safe, the USSR could focus on bouncing back and rebuilding its war machine after it lost much of its core to the Nazi invaders. Akmolinsk’s role wasn’t just limited to a transport hub; it was home to a division In total over a third of the population was sent to the front lines, with over 2/3 of that not coming back. Despite these casualties, the city’s population actually increased to over 69,000 people. This can be attributed to the mass deportation of peoples to Kazakhstan, and some of the descendants of these deportees still reside in Kazakhstan to this day.
In 1953, corn-lord Khrushchev proposed and passed the Virgin Lands Campaign, which would aggressively exploit the rich soil found in the steppe. This soil is part of the Chernozem Belt, a belt of land so fertile it could feed entire empires all by itself. Ukraine, which a good deal of chernozem in its borders, was known as the breadbasket of Europe because of the chernozem found in its lands. A new administrative region, Tselina krai, was formed and covered the lands planned to be cultivated as part of the campaign, with Akmolinsk serving as its capital. Akmolinsk would also be creatively renamed to Tselinograd, named after the Tselina harvested in the region.
The Virgin Land Campaign would prove to be a disaster. It brought massive ecological harm, the eroding of over 500 million metric tons of chernozem annually in Kazakhstan alone, and the destabilization of the local economy, as pastoral herders were forced to relocate as their traditional herding grounds were converted into farmland. The benefits however that Akmolinsk, now known as Tselinograd, would reap from this newly found importance would linger around for the years to come. As part of the Campaign, two agricultural machinery plants were built in Tselinograd, with one of them being the largest of its kind in Kazakhstan at that time. The city expanded greatly, mostly in the southeast, and both civilian and governmental buildings were built. By far the grandest project was Tsellinikov Palace. The palace was a television centre and was the second to only Moscow’s centre in terms of scale and equipment.
Today all of these buildings can still be found, albeit with some renovations or remodelling. The Palace of Virgin Lands was remodelled into the Astana Concert Hall, the Youth House turned into the Zhastar Palace and so on and so forth. Today Nur-Sultan’s right bank is home to many old Soviet-era Khrushchevkas that are still in use, a stark contrast to the flashy left bank.
The city started stagnating as the effects of the campaign wore off, and it even saw a minor dip in population once the USSR collapsed, as a lot of members of the Slavic population started a massive migration back to their motherland. Things would take a turn however when the newly independent Kazakhstan started showing great interest in its northern oblasts. Russians made up the majority in two oblasts and close minorities in many others, especially in Northern Kazakhstan (NK). This large Russian presence posed an existential threat to Kazakhstan, as what stopped the new Russian Republic to annex large swaths of the nation Crimea style to bring all Russians under one flag? The immediate migration of Kazakhs to NK was of national priority, and the best way to reaffirm that NK was Kazakh was to add an incentive for people to migrate there. On July 6th, 1994 a resolution adopted by the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan to begin moving the capital from Almaty, the nation’s largest city, to Akmola. This was after renaming the city to Akmola. In December of 1997 Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first president and current Elbasy, made the final decision to relocate the capital to Akmola, and half a year later the city officially became the capital of Kazakhstan.
The city was once again renamed, this time to Astana, which translates to “Capital” from Kazakh. It was short, sweet, and easy for foreigners to pronounce, making it a perfect choice for a rebuilt and modern city. It was actually a place holder name until something better was found, but the name stuck as everyone liked it. A large portion of the city was remodelled in a unique modern style, with top architects like Norman Foster designing brand new buildings in a neo-futurist style right in the middle of the city. There are no words that can fully describe the bizarreness of it all, instead, here’s a link to some pictures of Nur-Sultan’s architecture.
The city was changed so much that it’s described as a planned city despite it being built off the Akmola’s base. That’s the power of oil money if Dubai wasn’t enough to convince you.
The promotion to the capital city along with the designation of a new economic zone based on it saw Astana’s population rise from 270 thousand in 1990 to over 700 thousand in 2011, and today it has over 1.2 million people living in it. Most of these migrants came from surrounding areas, as the economic opportunities in Nur-Sultan are far greater than anything they can find in their towns and cities.
In March of 2019, the country’s leader Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned, and during Kasim Tokayev’s inaugural speech he proposed to rename Astana to Nur-Sultan, in honour of his predecessor. It’s important to note that while Nursultan the name is spelt without a hyphen, the city has a hyphen in between Nur and Sultan. It’s important as the name can actually be translated to “bright ruler” which is what it officially means, but the real meaning isn’t lost on anyone.
Today Nur-Sultan is the second-largest city in Kazakhstan and makes up the second-largest share of all trade conducted in Kazakhstan. Together with Almaty, they make up more than half of all trade in the country. About 10.2% of Kazakhstan’s GDP is located in Nur-Sultan, and the city leads the nation in the number of active construction projects. In the years since the city was crowned the capital, over 10 million square meters of housing was built, and the city was once again expanded to cover 722 square kilometres of land. The city, like most capitals, is separate from the surrounding oblast, and its Akim (governor) answers directly to the president.
Sources used:
История Города (History of the City) by the Akimat of Nur-Sultan
История Казахстана (XVIII-XIX вв.) Z. E. Kabuldinov, Zh. N. Kaliyev, and A. T. Beisembayeva
