Q 01/05

What is the capital of Kazakhstan?

A) Karaganda

B) Almaty

C) Astana

D) Shymkent

Answer · why

C) Astana

The city on the Ishim river has also been called Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Aqmola and, from 2019 to 2022, Nur-Sultan.

Q 02/05

Which city was Kazakhstan's capital until 1997 and remains its largest?

A) Aktobe

B) Astana

C) Shymkent

D) Almaty

Answer · why

D) Almaty

It sits in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau near the Kyrgyz border and has more than two million residents.

Q 03/05

From 2019 to 2022 Kazakhstan's capital bore what name, in honour of the first president?

A) Nazarbayev City

B) Nur-Sultan

C) Aqmola

D) Tselinograd

Answer · why

B) Nur-Sultan

President Tokayev's first official act was the renaming; it was reversed in September 2022 after the January unrest.

Q 04/05

Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country and ranks where overall by land area?

A) Seventh

B) Twelfth

C) Fifth

D) Ninth

Answer · why

D) Ninth

At about 2.7 million km2 it is roughly the size of Western Europe, with fewer than 8 people per square kilometre.

Q 05/05

Kazakhstan and which other country are the only landlocked states with territory in two continents?

A) Mongolia

B) Turkey

C) Azerbaijan

D) Georgia

Answer · why

C) Azerbaijan

The Ural River, which crosses western Kazakhstan, is taken as the dividing line between Europe and Asia.