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Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana and
Shymkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is ...
. Population: 497,777 (2020 Estimate); Karaganda is approximately 230 km south-east of Kazakhstan's capital Astana. In the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
. Most of the ethnic Germans were Soviet
Volga German The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Sarato ...
s who were collectively deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan on Stalin's order when Hitler invaded Soviet-annexed eastern Poland and the Soviet Union proper in 1941. Until the 1950s, many of these deportees were interned in labor camps, often simply because they were of German descent. The population of Karaganda fell by 14% from 1989 to 1999 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union; it was once Kazakhstan's second-largest city after Almaty. Over 100,000 people have since emigrated to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. There is also a concentration of ethnic Poles in the city.


Etymology

The name "Karaganda" is derived from " caragana" bushes (''
Caragana arborescens ''Caragana arborescens'', the Siberian peashrub, Siberian pea-tree, or caragana, is a species of legume native to Siberia and parts of China (Heilongjiang, Xinjiang) and neighboring Mongolia and Kazakhstan. It was taken to the United States by ...
'', ''Caragana frutex''), which are abundant in the area.


History


Old Town

Modern-day Karaganda dates back to 1833, when local shepherd allegedly found coal on the site of the city, prompting a coal mining boom. By the late 19th century, the local mines had attracted workers from nearby villages, Russian merchants, and entrepreneurs from France and England. After this initial boom, the mines were abandoned, but is often still labeled on
city map A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city (or part of a city) created to enable the fastest possible orientation in an urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is therefore usually greatly simplified, and reduce ...
s as the "Old Town", but almost nothing remains on that site.


20th century


Re-settlement

Coal mining in the area resumed in 1930, and temporary structures were built for miners and their families. The new area for the city was to the south of the initial mines. In 1931, Karaganda was incorporated as a village, and in 1934, was declared a city. Lead by planner
Alexander Ivanovich Kuznetsov Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, masters plans for Karaganda were laid out from 1934 until 1938. During the late 1930s, the Karlag Prison was built. During the Stalinist purges, peoples from many different nationalities, including
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush,
Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...
, and Crimean Tatars were sent to Karlag. Robert F. Kennedy (later US Attorney General and
US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...
), alongside US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, visited "five Soviet Central Asian Republics":
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...
,
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
, Tadzhikistan, Kirghizia, and Kazakhstan. While on the six week trip (e.g., Bukhara, 300 to 1 mosque after Soviet rule), his biographers reported that their delegation was not allowed to visit the city of Karaganda which was one of the sites of the most notorious labor camps within the confines of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. The delegation was diverted to Siberia after four denials of visas.


EMP incident

Karaganda suffered the most severe
electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic f ...
effects ever observed when its electrical
power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...
was set on fire by currents induced in a long shallow buried power cable by Soviet Test ‘184’ on 22 October 1962. The test was part of the Soviet Project K nuclear tests ( ABM System A proof tests), and consisted of a 300- kiloton high-altitude nuclear explosion at an altitude of over Zhezkazgan. Prompt
gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...
-produced EMP induced a current of 2,500 amps measured by
spark gap A spark gap consists of an arrangement of two conducting electrodes separated by a gap usually filled with a gas such as air, designed to allow an electric spark to pass between the conductors. When the potential difference between the conductor ...
s in a 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 into the ground, overloading a shallow buried lead and steel tape-protected long power cable between Aqmola (now called Nur-Sultan) and Almaty. It fired
circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow to protect equipment and to prevent the ris ...
s and set the Karaganda power plant on fire.


Late 20th century

Kuznetsov's master plan for the city was intended to accommodate 300,000 inhabitants, which was surpassed by the late 1960s. This prompted planners to devise a new plan with the goal of accommodating 600,000 people. By the 1980s, the city's population surpassed 600,000 people, creating the need for further expansion. In 1983, the Karaganda Circus was constructed, which was criticized for its high cost. In the early 1990s, Karaganda was briefly considered as a candidate for the capital of the (then) newly independent Republic of Kazakhstan, but its bid was turned down in favour of Astana.


Archaeological findings

In July 2019, remains of a young couple buried face to face dated 4,000 years back were unearthed in Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan by a group of archaeologists led by Igor Kukushkin from Saryarka Archaeological Institute in Karaganda. It is assumed that the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
couple were 16 or 17 years old when they died. Kukushkin supposes that they were from a 'noble family' thanks to the buried gold and jewelry artifacts, ceramic pots, woman's two bracelets on each arm beads, remains of horses and knives found in the grave.


Geography


Climate

Karaganda has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Dfb'') with warm summers and very cold winters. Precipitation is moderately low throughout the year, although slightly heavier from May to July. Snow is frequent, though light, in winter. The lowest temperature on record is , recorded in 1938, and the highest temperature is , recorded in 2002.


Industry

Karaganda is an industrial city, built to exploit nearby coal mines using the slave work of prisoners of labour camps during Stalin's reign. Flora Leipman, a British citizen, spent several years unlawfully detained in a number of other nearby camps (built for prisoners of war, foreign citizens accused of espionage, and political prisoners), and described her experiences in the book "The Long Journey Home" (published 1987). The labor camp described in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich where the author
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repr ...
had served some time was located near Karaganda. Commercial extraction of coal continues to be an important activity in the region even today. Since local water resources are not sufficient for the needs of a major industrial city, the Irtysh–Karaganda Canal was constructed in the 1960s, to supply the Karaganda metropolitan area with water from the Irtysh River more than 400 km away.


Culture


Religion

The city is the seat of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Karaganda The Roman Catholic Diocese of Karaganda is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church, suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Mary Most Holy in Astana, yet remains subject to the missionary Congregation for the Evangeliz ...
.


Theater

The Miners Palace of Culture is a major landmark in Karaganda.


Sports

FC Shakhter Karagandy is a football club based in the city who play at Shakhtyor Stadium. They finished 7th in the Kazakhstan Premier League in 2022. They last won the competition in the 2012 season and also won the Kazakhstan Cup in 2013. One of the biggest accomplishments of the club is a victory against
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...
from Scotland in the Champions League qualifying rounds in 2013. The score was 2–0.
Saryarka Karagandy Hockey Club Saryarka ( kk, Saryarqa Qaraǵandy, «Сарыарқа» Қарағанды хоккей клубы), commonly referred as Saryarka Karagandy, is a professional ice hockey team based in Karagandy, Kazakhstan. They Currently play in the ...
is a very successful ice hockey team who are the current Kazakhstan Pro Hockey League champions and who used to play in the Russian-based Supreme Hockey League (VHL)


Monuments

On May 28, 2011, a monument to the famous catchphrase "Where-where? In Karaganda!" On May 31, 2022, on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in the Karaganda Ethnopark, a new monument to the victims of the Holodomor was opened. The monument is located near the mosque on the territory of the Ethnopark, created from granite by Zharmukhamed Tlegenuly. The height of the monument on the pedestal is 1.2 m.


Other

* Qaraghandy Zoo


Education

*
Karaganda Technical University Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana ...
*
Karaganda University Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana ...
* Karaganda State Medical University


Other

Karaganda was often used as the punchline in a popular joke in the former
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. Karaganda is fairly isolated in a vast area of uninhabited
steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...
, and is thought by many to be "the middle of nowhere". When used in the locative case (Караганде), the final syllable rhymes with the Russian word for "where" (где), as well as with a Russian obscenity used to answer to an unwanted question "Where?". Thus the exchange: "Где?" — "В Караганде!" ("Where is it?" — "In Karaganda!")


Transport

Sary-Arka Airport is 20 kilometers south-east of the city. The city is also served by trains with all of them stopping at
Karaganda railway station The Karaganda railway station () is located in the city of Karaganda that is owned and operated by the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. The railway station consists of two waiting rooms for passengers, lounges and a room for a mother and child, contact poin ...
.


Notable residents

* Nurken Abdirov, Soviet
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
pilot and
Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
. A statue in Abdirov's honor is in the center of the city. *
Anjelika Akbar Anjelika Akbar (born 1969) is a Turkey, Turkish composer, pianist and writer. Biography Born Anjelika Rosenbaum to a Jewish people, Jewish family. Her mother was a professional musician, and her father, Stanislav Konstantinovich Timchenko, was a ...
, pianist *
Toktar Aubakirov Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov ( kk, Тоқтар Оңғарбайұлы Әубәкіров (''Toqtar Oñğarbaiūly Äubäkırov''), russian: Токтар Онгарбаевич Аубакиров, born on 27 July 1946) is a retired Kazakh Air ...
, former cosmonaut (
Soyuz TM-13 Soyuz TM-13 was the 13th expedition to Mir space station. Lasting from October 1991 to March 1992, the mission included cosmonauts from Austria and the soon-to-be independent region of Kazakhstan, as the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991. ...
) and member of Kazakhstan parliament *
Boris Avrukh Boris Leonidovich Avrukh ( he, בוריס ליאונידוביץ' אברוך; russian: Борис Леонидович Аврух; born 10 February 1978 in Karaganda, Soviet Union) is an Israeli chess grandmaster. He was the World Under-12 champ ...
, chess grandmaster *
Konstantin Engel Konstantin Engel (russian: Константин Энгель; born 27 July 1988) is a Kazakh professional footballer of German descent who plays as a defender for SSV Jeddeloh. Career Engel was born in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR. He made his profe ...
, professional football player * Inna German, female volleyball player. * Gennady Golovkin, boxer, former WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO Middleweight Champion, holds the greatest knockout ratio in middleweight championship history and silver medalist in the 2004 Summer Olympics * Katia Ivanova, glamour model, reality TV star, UK Celebrity Big Brother contestant 2009 (born in Karaganda in 1988) * Akhmad Kadyrov, former President of the Chechen Republic * Dimitri Kotschnew, professional ice hockey player * Andrei Krukov, Olympic figure skater (
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...
) *
Juri Litvinov Juri Litvinov (also romanized as Yuriy Litvinov, born May 6, 1978) is a Kazakhstani former competitive figure skater. He is a multiple national champion of Kazakhstan and competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics, World Championships, and Four Cont ...
, Olympic figure skater (1998 Winter Olympics) and national champion *
Aslan Maskhadov Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (russian: Асла́н (Хали́д) Али́евич Масха́дов; ce, Масхадан Али-воӀ Аслан (Халид), Masxadan Ali-voj Aslan (Xalid); 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was ...
, third President, Chechen Republic of Ichkeria * Valery Oisteanu, writer, photographer, and performance artist *
Aleksandr Shustov Aleksandr Andreyevich Shustov (russian: Александр Андреевич Шустов), born 29 June 1984) is a male high jumper from Russia, best known for winning the gold medal in the men's high jump at the 2007 Summer Universiade in Ban ...
, gold medal-winning high jumper * Dmitriy Karpov, bronze medal-winning decathlon and heptathlon athlete ( 2004 Summer Olympics) * Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, Director of Number 31 mine (1943-1957) and
Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
as a folk hero mine worker with 14 times quota production *
Pavel Vorobiev Pavel Sergeyevich Vorobyev (russian: Павел Сергеевич Воробьёв; born May 5, 1982) is a Russian former professional ice hockey right winger who last played for Ukrainian Hockey League side Dnipro Kherson. Vorobyev previously i ...
, professional ice hockey player *
Joseph Werth Joseph Werth SJ (russian: Иосиф Иоганнович Верт; born October 4, 1952 in Karaganda) is Bishop of Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (Russia). Named as the Latin Church Apostolic Administrator of Siberia—a see that encompassed 4. ...
, Bishop of Transfiguration,
Novosibirsk, Russia Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Census, ...
*
Anatoli Zarapin Anatoli Petrovich Zarapin (russian: Анатолий Петрович Зарапин; born 13 June 1947) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player. External links *Career profile at Footballfacts 1947 births Footballers fr ...
, Russian professional football coach and former player


Sister cities

* Songpa-gu,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
(since 1994) * Kamianske,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
* Arak,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(since 2008)


See also

* Karlag * Karaganda Region


References

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Kazakhstan Populated places in Karaganda Region Cities in Central Asia Populated places established in 1931 1931 establishments in the Soviet Union