Almaty

City (pop., 2008 est.: 1,324,739), southeastern Kazakhstan. Formerly the capital of Kazakhstan, it lost its capital status in 1995 to Aqmola (now Astana). The modern city was founded in 1854, when the Russians established a military fortification on the site of the ancient city of Almaty, destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. With the coming of the railroad in 1930, its population grew rapidly. In World War II (1939–45), heavy industry expanded widely as factories were evacuated to the site from European Russia. The city remains a major industrial centre.