Statue of Nurken Abdirov in downtown Karaganda

Karaganda (Russian: Караганда) or Qaraghandy (Kazak: Қарағанды) is the capital of Qaraghandy Province in Kazakhstan. It is located at 49°53′N 73°10′E. It is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty and Astana, with a population of 437,000 (1999 census). In the 1940's up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic Germans. Most of the ethnic Germans are descendants of Soviet Germans who were collectively deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan on Stalin's order when Hitler invaded Poland. Until the 1950s many were interned in labor camps often only due to their heritage. The population of Qaraghandy fell by 14% from 1989-1999. One hundred thousand people have since emigrated to Germany. Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 512 KB)Statue of Nurken Abdirov in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. ... Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 512 KB)Statue of Nurken Abdirov in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. ... Statue of Abdirov in his home city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan Nurken Abdirov (Kazakh: Нуркен Абдиров) was a Kazakh pilot who served for the Soviet Union in World War II, and was killed in the Battle of Stalingrad. ... Kazakh, also Kazak, Qazaq, Khazakh, Kosach, and Kaisak (Қазақ тілі in Cyrillic, Qazaq tili in the Latin alphabet, and قازاق تءىلءي in the Arabic alphabet) is a Western Turkic language closely related to Kyrgyz, Nogai and Karakalpak. ... Qaraghandy is a province of Kazakhstan. ... Map showing Almatys location in Kazakhstan Almaty Orthodox church Mosque Almaty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Vernyj, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,185,900 (2004) (8% of the population of Kazakhstan) citizens. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ...

The name "Qaraghandy" is derived from a "caragana" bushes (Caragana arborescens, Caragana frutex) which are abundant in the area. Karaganda is an industrial city, built to exploit nearby coal mines using the slave work of prisoners of labor camps. In the early 1990s, it was briefly considered as a candidate for the capital of the (then) recently independent Republic of Kazakhstan, but its bid was turned down in favor of Astana. In support of this bid, a large international airport was built, which today goes mostly unused. Species See text Caragana is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to Asia and eastern Europe. ... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in forced labor. ... See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from the late 1980s and shortly after the year 2000. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

It is the birthplace of the late Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov. It is also the home city of Kazakh World War II hero Nurken Abdirov. A statue in Abdirov's honor is located in the center of the city. Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ... Akhmat Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov (Russian: Ахмат Абдулхамидович Кадыров (August 23, 1951 – May 9, 2004) was the president of the Chechen Republic (elected on October 5, 2003). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Statue of Abdirov in his home city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan Nurken Abdirov (Kazakh: Нуркен Абдиров) was a Kazakh pilot who served for the Soviet Union in World War II, and was killed in the Battle of Stalingrad. ...

The original site of Karaganda is now labeled on city maps as the "Old Town," but almost nothing remains on that site. In exploiting the rich coal deposits next door, the Soviets undermined the entire city, and the town had to be abandoned completely and moved several miles to the south.

Trivia

Landsat composite satellite image of Qaraghandy

Karaganda is often used as the punchline in a popular joke in the former USSR. The city is fairly isolated in a vast area of uninhabited steppe, and is thought by many to be "the middle of nowhere". When used in the locative case, the final syllable rhymes with the Russian word for "where", as well as with a Russian obscenity used to answer to an unwanted question "Where?". Thus the exchange: "Where is it?" "In Karaganda!" — has a rhyming and silly sound, and its nuance could be approximated in American English as: "Where are you going?" "To Kalamazoo!" or "Timbuktu!" Download high resolution version (1280x948, 249 KB)NASA landsat photo of Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan I made this with World wind programme File links The following pages link to this file: Karaganda Categories: NASA images ... Download high resolution version (1280x948, 249 KB)NASA landsat photo of Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan I made this with World wind programme File links The following pages link to this file: Karaganda Categories: NASA images ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - step, Ukrainian: - step, Kazakh: - dala), pronounced in English as step, is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being... Locative is a case which indicates a location. ... Kalamazoo is a city located in Kalamazoo County in southwest Michigan. ... Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city in Mali, West Africa. ...

A local legend tells of founding of the city: Many years ago, a group of nomadic Kazakhs were breaking down their campsite, and throwing rocks on the fire to extinguish it. A boy threw a rock onto the fire, and it burst into flame. Thus were the coal deposits found, and the city was built nearby. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Karaganda suffered the most severe electromagnetic pulse effects ever observed in history, when its electrical power plant was set on fire by currents induced in a 1,000 km long shallow buried power cable by USSR Test ‘184’ on 22 October 1962. The test was part of ‘Operation K’ (ABM System A proof tests), and consisted of a 300-kt burst at 290-km altitude over Dzhezkazgan. Prompt gamma ray-produced EMP induced a current of 2,500 amps measured by spark gaps in a 570-km stretch of overhead telephone line to Zharyq, blowing all the protective fuses. The late-time MHD-EMP was of low enough frequency to enable it to penetrate the 90 cm into the ground, overloading a shallow buried lead and steel tape-protected 1,000-km long power cable between Aqmola and Almaty, firing circuit breakers and setting the Karaganda power plant on fire [1]. Currently the facts of such events are not proved officially by the authorities of Kazakhstan. Example of an electromagnetic pulse, in this case caused by the electrical discharge required to fire the Z machine. ... Dzhezkazgan (Kazak: Zhezqazghan), is a city in central Kazakstan, on a reservoir of the Kara-Kengir River. ...

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