Guess which city holds the record for the most name changes?
It just rechristened itself for the fifth time in six decades
THE CAPITAL of Kazakhstan has had many names over the years. It started life as Akmolinsk, at its founding as a Russian military outpost in 1830. Then, from 1961, it was Tselinograd, Russian for “virgin lands city”, to mark its place at the centre of Soviet expansion to the steppe. At the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it was renamed Akmola, or “white tomb”. And in 1998, soon after it became the capital, it got a fresh name: Astana, or “capital”.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Capital punishment”
Asia October 1st 2022
From the October 1st 2022 edition
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