Kazakhstan

State · 1992–2026 CE · at its largest around 2006 CE

Independent Kazakhstan grew rich on oil, gas and uranium and built a gleaming new capital, Astana, on the open steppe. Home to Baikonur, the launch site of Soviet and Russian spaceflight, it blends Kazakh, Russian and many other cultures left by Soviet-era deportations.

On its lands while it lasted

Tulip Revolution (2005 CE): Protests in Kyrgyzstan that overthrew President Askar Akayev.