Once an obscure township on Kazakhstan’s wolf-plagued plains, Astana has outgrown its teen years and is now firmly established as the country’s capital city.
Rising From The Steppe: Kazakhstan’s Capital Turns 20
![An overview of today's Astana with Kazakhstan's White House-like presidential palace in the center. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/3b4efc29-1632-4972-b49c-e32aef6c329e_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An overview of today's Astana with Kazakhstan's White House-like presidential palace in the center.
![Today’s Astana began life in 1830 as a Cossack fortress looming over the Ishim River. By the end of that century, the outpost had grown into a bustling trading town, spiked with the spires of three Orthodox churches.](https://gdb.rferl.org/80dea9f3-5dab-44fc-af99-3877917f93a5_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Today’s Astana began life in 1830 as a Cossack fortress looming over the Ishim River. By the end of that century, the outpost had grown into a bustling trading town, spiked with the spires of three Orthodox churches.
![During the Soviet era, the town (pictured in 1979) was chosen as one of the centers for an ill-fated project to transform the steppes of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic into a sea of wheat.](https://gdb.rferl.org/2c757396-e0a7-4111-9adc-23527a507909_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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During the Soviet era, the town (pictured in 1979) was chosen as one of the centers for an ill-fated project to transform the steppes of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic into a sea of wheat.
![Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in a wheat field near today’s Astana in 1964. The town at the time was named Tselinograd, based on the Russian word “tselina,” meaning “virgin lands.”](https://gdb.rferl.org/f95c4195-e755-4cd4-b8a6-94788cb1d3cb_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in a wheat field near today’s Astana in 1964. The town at the time was named Tselinograd, based on the Russian word “tselina,” meaning “virgin lands.”