Almaty (Kazakh: Алматы; formerly known as "Alma-Ata" (Алма-Ата), also "Verniy", (Верный)) is the largest city in Kazakhstan. It has a population of 1,226,000 people (as of 2005)). Eight percent of the population of the country live in Almaty. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1998. Although it is not the capital today, Almaty is still the major commercialcenter of Kazakhstan.
Name.
The name "Almaty" comes from the Kazakh word for "apple" (алма). The name is often translated as a city "rich with apples". The older Soviet-era Russian name for the city, Alma-Ata, comes from a mistake (the name literally means "Grandfather of apples"). In the area around Almaty, there are many different species of the wild apples. The region is thought to be the ancestral home of the apple. A local species of apple, the wild "Malus sieversii", may be the ancestor of the modern domestic apple.
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