History of the city of Almaty

The history of settlement on the territory of the modern city of Almaty goes back to the 20th-100th centuries BC. e. , as evidenced by archaeological excavations. The Saka tribes, which today are evidenced by burial mounds, inhabited the modern Alma-Ata region back in the XNUMXth-XNUMXrd centuries BC. Alma-Ata became the habitat of the Saka and later Uysun tribes. Saka mounds were discovered on the territory of Almaty and its environs. The largest mounds reached a height of XNUMX meters and a diameter of up to XNUMX meters. Such mounds were found by archaeologists along the banks of the Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinok, Vesnovka, and Aksay rivers. Various tribes of nomads gradually began to settle in these areas. The Great Silk Road passed through these places, which contributed to the formation of a large settlement. Presumably in the XNUMXth century one of the settlements was called Almaty.  Evidence of the development of trade in this region are the records of Genoese merchants of the 1980th-XNUMXth centuries. The most interesting things found during archaeological excavations at the site of the Border School (Military Institute) are pottery, bronze and iron products, and in XNUMX the remains of a medieval blacksmith's workshop of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries were discovered. All this indicates that in the X-XIV centuries there was a city here. The Mongol conquest of the Ili Valley brought destruction to many cities, including Almaty. The decline of the city also had a negative impact on the development of the city.Great Silk Road. By the end of the 16th century, only a small part remained of Almaty in the form of a large aul.

The history of the modern city of Almaty began in 1854, when it was decided to build a military fortification on the left bank of the Malaya Almatinka River. So in the spring of 1854, near the ruins of ancient Almaty, the construction of the Trans-Ili fortification, later called Vernoye, began. The construction was led by Major Peremyshelsky and engineer - Lieutenant Aleksandrovsky. By the autumn of the same year, construction work was completed. A year later, the Zailiysk fortification was renamed Verny. A few years later, the number of immigrants reached 5000 people, and its own infrastructure was formed. Peasant families, immigrants from Russia, Siberia, nomads of local areas, migrants from China, Dungans and Uyghurs, began to settle around the fortress. Near the fortification there are the Big and Small Almaty villages and the Tatar settlement. Now the central park culture and recreation was founded in 1856, and in 1857 the first water mill was built in the Tatarskaya Slobodka area. In the same year, the first brewery was launched, which marked the beginning of the local manufacturing industry. In 1860, the first post office and hospital opened. By 1867, the city of Verny turned into the administrative center of the Semirechensk region, and by the end of the 1875th century into the center of public life in Kazakhstan. Having become the center of the Semirechensk region, Verny began to develop industry and crafts. The largest enterprises in the city were the tobacco factories of Gavrilov (1900) and Kadkin (1913). Women's and men's schools, parish and vocational schools, and later men's and women's gymnasiums were opened in the city. Muslim schools operated at the mosques. By 41, about 1918 thousand people lived in the city of Verny. In 1921, Soviet power was established in Verny. The city and region became part of the Turkestan Autonomy of the RSFSR. In 1929 Verny was renamed Alma-Ata. After the capital of Kazakhstan was moved from Kzyl-Orda to Alma-Ata in 1936 and the railway was built, the city received a new impetus for development. Since 19 (since the formation of the Kazakh SSR), Alma-Ata was the capital of first the KazSSR, and then of independent Kazakhstan. During the Great Patriotic War, Almaty became a “front-line” hospital. Soldiers from the front were treated in Almaty, the city received many evacuees from the western part of Russia, from Moscow, from Leningrad. Factories and enterprises from all over the Soviet Union were transferred to Alma-Ata, 1941 enterprises in total. So, in 1942, the Lugansk Locomotive Plant was transported to Alma-Ata. On its basis the Almaty Heavy Engineering Plant (AZTM) was founded. Already in March XNUMX, the plant began fulfilling its first military order.

Today Almaty is the most important state, cultural and scientific center of the country. Over its century-long history, the settlement has turned into a modern metropolis.

1. History of the Kazakh SSR, A, 1979
2. K. Baipakov, “Medieval cities on the Great Silk Road”, A, 1998.
3. E. Duisenov, "Alma-Ata - capital of Kazakhstan", A, 1968.
4. S. Dzhusupbekov, “City of Faithful”, A, 1980.
5. “Foundation of the city of Verny”, Scientific notes / Kazakh State University, volume 31, issue 3, A, 1957
6. T. Kulbaev, “Foundation and development of Verny”, Vech.Almaty, 20.5.1998