| Semey Семей |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
|
Semey
|
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Kazakhstan | ||
| Province | East Kazakhstan Province | ||
| Urban okres | |||
| Founded | 1718 | ||
| Incorporated (city) | 1782 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Akim (mayor) | Aybek Karimov | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 210 km2 (81.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| • Total | 298,100 | ||
| Time zone | BTT (UTC+6) | ||
| Postal code | 071400 | ||
| Area code(s) | +7 7222 | ||
Semey (Kazakh: Семей / Semey), formerly known as Semipalatinsk (Russian: Семипала́тинск, until 2007) and Alash-kala (Kazakh: Алаш-қала / Alaş-qala, 1917–1920), is a city in Kazakhstan, in the northeastern province of East Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia, around 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) north of Almaty, and 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of the Russian city of Omsk, along the Irtysh River.
Contents |
The first settlement was in 1718, when the Russians built a fort beside the river Irtysh, near a ruined Buddhist monastery. The monastery's seven buildings lent the fort (and later the city) the name Semipalatinsk (Russian for Seven-Chambered City). The fort suffered frequently from flooding caused by the snowmelt swelling the Irtysh, and in 1778 the fort was relocated 18 km upstream to less flood-prone ground. The small city grew around the fort, largely servicing the river trade between the nomadic peoples of Central Asia and the growing Russian Empire. The construction of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway added to the city's importance, making it a major point of transit between Central Asia and Siberia.
Between 1917 and 1920, it was the capital of the largely unrecognized Alash Autonomy, a state formed during the Russian Civil War. The city was called Alash-qala during the Alash Autonomy years. It was recaptured by Red Army forces loyal to Petrograd in 1920.
In 1949, a site on the steppe 150 km (93 mi) west of the city was chosen by the Soviet atomic bomb programme to be the location for its weapons testing. For decades, Kurchatov (the secret city at the heart of the test range named for Igor Kurchatov, father of the soviet atomic bomb) was home to many of the brightest stars of Soviet weapons science. The Soviet Union operated the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) from the first explosion in 1949 until 1989; 456 nuclear tests, including 340 underground and 116 atmospheric tests, were conducted there.
Semey has suffered serious environmental and health effects from the time of its atomic prosperity: nuclear fallout from the atmospheric tests and uncontrolled exposure of the workers, most of whom lived in the city, have given Semey and neighboring villages high rates of cancer, childhood leukemia, impotence and birth defects.[2]
Modern Semey is a bustling university town with a population exceeding 300,000. Its proximity to the border, and the large expatriate scientific community attached to the university and the STS labs, gives Semey a more Russian character than other Kazakh cities.
The oblast of Semipalatinsk has been merged with the bigger East Kazakhstan Province, whose capital city is Oskemen.
The Semipalatinsk Bridge, a suspension bridge across the Irtish River, connects two major parts of Semey. It has a main span of 750 metres (2,460 ft) and a total length of 1,086 metres (3,563 ft).[3] It was built between 1998 and 2002 and is currently in use by road traffic.
| Climate data for Semey | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −12 (11) |
−11 (12) |
−4 (25) |
11 (52) |
22 (71) |
27 (80) |
29 (84) |
27 (81) |
21 (69) |
11 (51) |
−2 (29) |
−10 (14) |
9.0 (48.3) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −23 (−9) |
−22 (−8) |
−16 (3) |
−3 (27) |
6 (43) |
12 (54) |
14 (58) |
12 (54) |
6 (43) |
−2 (29) |
−11 (12) |
−19 (−3) |
−3.8 (25.3) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 15 (0.6) |
25 (1) |
30 (1.2) |
15 (0.6) |
23 (0.9) |
30 (1.2) |
48 (1.9) |
30 (1.2) |
15 (0.6) |
30 (1.2) |
25 (1) |
25 (1) |
315 (12.4) |
| Source: Weatherbase [4] | |||||||||||||
The city has a museum to commemorate Abay Qunanbayuli, and has both a museum of and a street named after Dostoyevsky.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1881 | 17,820 |
| 1897 | 26,353 |
| 1910 | 34,400 |
| 1926 | 56,100 |
| 1939 | 109,700 |
| 1959 | 149,800 |
| 1979 | 270,400 |
| 1989 | 317,100 |
| 1999 | 269,600 |
Semey is famous for its intellectual medical community with leading Semey State Medical University which provides region and country with highly professional health specialists.
|
||||||||||||||