Travel Trivia - Astana City Park, Kazakhstan
Astana is located in the Priyesil Plain, in the low terrace area of the upper Ishim River, with a hilly and flat terrain. It has a temperate continental climate, with strong winds all year round, hot and dry summers, and long, cold winters. It is the second coldest city in the world. In the Stone Age, the ancestors of the present-day Astana region were already nomadic. In the 7th century, the Bozok settlement was formed. In 1830, the Akmoli settlement was established. In 1832, it was granted town status and renamed Akmolinsk. In 1961, it was renamed Tselinograd and became an agricultural area. In 1991, after Kazakhstan's independence, due to the limited development space of the original capital Almaty and the severe Russification of the northern region, the capital was moved to Akmola in the north in 1997. The following year, it was renamed Astana. In March 2019, it was renamed Nur-Sultan, and in September 2022, it was renamed Astana again. After the city became the capital, the master plan was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, and the shape of the city changed dramatically, highlighting internationalization and modernization.