Semey, until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala, is a
city in Kazakhstan, in East Kazakhstan Region, and in the Kazakhstan part of
Siberia, near the border with Russia, around 1,000 kilometers north of Almaty,
and 700 kilometers southeast of the Russian city of Omsk, along the Irtysh
River. Population: 299,264; 269,574. History
The first Russian settlement in the area dates from 1718, when Russia built a
fort beside the river Irtysh, near a ruined Buddhist monastery. The
monastery's seven buildings lent the fort the name Semipalatinsk. The fort
suffered frequently from flooding caused by the snowmelt swelling the Irtysh, and
in 1778 the fort was relocated 18 kilometres upstream to less flood-prone
ground. A 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 in the early 20th century added
to the city's importance, making it a major point of transit between Central
Asia and Siberia. On 19 May 1854 Semipalatinsk became the capital of the
Semipalatinsk Oblast within the Russian Empire.
Between 1917 and 1920 the city operated as the capital of the largely
unrecognized Alash Autonomy, a state after the outbreak of the October
revolution in Russia. The city was called Alash-qala during the Alash
Autonomy years. Red Army forces loyal to Petrograd took control of the area in
1920. It was the center of the Semipalatinsk Governorate until 17
January 1928, then of the Eastern Kazakhstan Oblast between 17 January
1928 and 14 October 1939 and finally of the Semipalatinsk Oblast between 1939
and 1997. In 1949 the Soviet atomic bomb programme
selected a site on the steppe 150 km west of the city as the location for its
weapons testing. For decades, Kurchatov was home to many of the brightest stars
of Soviet weapons science. The Soviet Union operated the Semipalatinsk Test
Site from the first explosion in 1949 until 1989; 456 nuclear tests, including
340 underground and 116 atmospheric tests, took place 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. Modern Semey, a bustling university
town, has a population exceeding 300,000. Its proximity to the Kazakh
border with the Russian Federation, and the large expatriate scientific
community attached to the university and to the STS labs, allegedly gives Semey a
more Russian character than other Kazakh cities.
Semipalatinsk Oblast merged with the larger East Kazakhstan Region, whose
capital city is Oskemen, on 23 May 1997. The Semipalatinsk Bridge, a suspension
bridge across the Irtish River, connects the two major parts of Semey. It has a
main span of 750 metres and a total length of 1,086 metres. Construction
began in 1998 and the bridge opened to traffic in November 2000.
In 2007 the Semipalatinsk City Council voted unanimously in favour of changing
the name of the city to Semey. The Chairman explained that existing name
had negative associations with the atomic test-site.
Climate Semey has a semi-arid climate with warm
summers and very cold winters. Precipitation is low for the whole year,
except for July which has an average of 50 millimetres compared to less than 30
millimetres in other months. Snow is common, though light, in winter. The
lowest temperature on record is −48.6 °C, recorded in November 1938, and the
highest temperature is 42.5 °C, recorded in August 2002.
Famous residents Abay Qunanbayuli, father of modern
Kazakh poetry, received his Russian schooling at Semey.
Writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, whose exile included five years military service as
a corporal in the Seventh Line Battalion at the Semipalatinsk garrison, beginning
in 1854. Residents claim the details of particular descriptive passages in
Dostoyevsky's subsequent books, including his highly acclaimed The
Brothers Karamazov, are recognizable as taken from his time in Semey.
Writer Pavel Bazhov was a member of the Party Committee of the province of
Semipalatinsk from 1920 to 1923. Stanislav Kurilov grew up in
Semipalatinsk. An oceanographer and a good swimmer, he defected from the USSR
in 1974 by means of jumping off a cruise liner in the open ocean and swimming to
the Philippines. The Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko,
who was born there in 1976. The Russian saxophonist Sergey Letov was
born there. The city has a museum to commemorate
Abay Qunanbayuli, and has both a museum of and a street named after Dostoyevsky.
Population Higher education
Semey is famous for its intellectual medical community with leading Semey
State Medical University which provides region and country with highly
professional health specialists. International relations
= Twin towns and sister cities = Semey is twinned with:
Ypres, Belgium See also
Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan References
External links Official site
Britannica.com