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Semey (Семей, sometimes transliterated as Semij or Semei) is a city in north eastern Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia. It was known as Semipalatinsk (Семипала́тинск) until 1994; like a number of Kazak cities, the name was changed in the period following Kazakhstan gaining independence in 1991. It is the capital of the Shyghys Qazaqstan Oblysy (formerly called the Semipalatinsk Oblast). It is around 1000km north of Almaty, and 600km south of the Russian city of Novosibirsk.The first settlement was in 1718 when the Russians built a fort beside the river Irtysh, near a ruined Buddhist monastery. The monastery's seven buildings lent the fort (and later the city) the name Semipalatinsk ( Russian meaning Seven Chambered City). The fort suffered frequently from flooding caused by the snowmelt swelling the Irtysh, and in 1778 the fort relocated 18 km upstream to less flood-prone ground. The small city grew around around the fort, largely servicing the river trade between the nomadic peoples of central asia and the growing Russian Empire.
In 1949 a site on the steppe 150km (100 miles) west of the city was chosen by the Soviet atomic bomb programme to be the location for its weapons testing. The USSR operated the Semipalatinsk Test Site from the first Soviet explosion in 1949 until 1989. 456 nuclear tests, including 340 underground and 116 atmospheric tests were conducted. Semey has reaped a grim harvest from the time of its atomic prosperity; nuclear fallout from the atmospheric tests (and uncontrolled exposure of the workers, most of whom lived in the city) has given Semey huge rates of cancer, childhood leukemiaLeukemia leukaemia in international English) is a group of cancers of the blood-forming tissues. The word leukemia tends to be used as an umbrella term. In the 19th century, it was seen as one single, homogenous deadly disease, characterized by a white ap, and birth defects.
Modern Semey is a bustling university town with a population nearing 400,000. Its proximity to the border, and the large ex-patriate scientific community attached to the university and the STS labs, gives Semey a more Russian character than other Kazakh cities.
1 Famous residents
- Writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, whose exile included five years military service as a corporal in the Seventh Line Battalion at the Semipalatinsk garrison, beginning in 1854Events January 13 The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas. February 11 Major streets lit by coal gas for first time. February 14 Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas i.
- Abai KunanbaiuliAbai Ibragim Kunanbaiuli ( Kazak: Russian: . Because of Russian influence many people know him as Abai Kunanbaev ( August 10, 1845 July 5, 1904) was a Kazakh poet, composer, and philosopher, as well as an important cog in the development of Kazakh as a le, father of modern Kazakh poetry, received his Russian schooling at Semipalatinsk.
- Boxer Wladimir KlitschkoWladimir Klitschko (born March 25, 1976 in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan) is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer, living in Germany. His older brother Vitali is also a boxer. He is known as "Steelhammer" and "Doctor" (since he has a doctorate in physical science)., who was born there in 19761976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). Events January January 12 UN Security Council votes 11-1 to admit the Palestinian Liberation Organization January 15 Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is s.
The city has built a museum to commemorate Kunanbaev, and has both a museum of, and a street named after, Dostoyevsky.
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