Kazak State University of International Relationship
and World Languages
Great Britain
&
Kazakhstan
made: Shashkin Pavel Group № 207
Almaty 1999
Plan
I Great Britain
1.
London
2.
Birmingham
3.
Liverpool
4.
Manchester
II Sights of London
1.
Westminster Palace or Houses of Parliament
2.
Buckingham Palace
3.
Saint James`s Palace
4.
National Gallery
5.
Hyde Park
III Kazakhstan
1.
The new capital
2.
The Commercial capital
3.
Nuclear zone
4.
Space center
5.
Caviar capital
6.
Jewel of the Caspian Sea
7.
The heart of Kazakhstan
I Great Britain
1. London
London is the capital
of Great Britain, SE England, on both sides of the Thames River. Greater London
(1991 pop. 6,378,600), c.620 sq mi (1,610 sq km), consists of the Corporation
of the City of London and the following 32 boroughs: Westminster, Camden,
Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth,
Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea (the inner
boroughs); Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham,
Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon
Thames, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Barnet, Haringey, and
Enfield (the outer boroughs). Greater London includes the area of the former
county of London, most of the former county of Middlesex, and areas that were
formerly in Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. Each of the boroughs of
Greater London elects a council. The Corporation of the City (1991 pop. 4,000),
1 sq mi (2.6 sq km), the core of London historically and commercially, elects a
lord mayor, aldermen, and councilmen.
Economy
London is one of the world's foremost financial, commercial,
industrial, and cultural centers. The Bank of England, Lloyd's, and numerous
banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the
City. It is a center for international finance, especially for large investment
houses looking for a strong foothold in the European Community. London is one
of the world's greatest ports. It exports manufactured goods and imports
petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat. London is
also a great manufacturing city. Many London area workers are employed in
manufacturing. Clothing, furniture, precision instruments, jewelry, cement,
chemicals, and stationery are produced. Engineering and scientific research are
also important. London is rich in artistic and cultural activity with numerous
theaters, cinemas, museums, galleries, and opera and concert halls. London also
has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, with large groups of
immigrants from Commonwealth nations.
Points of Interest
The
best-known streets of London are Fleet Street, the Strand, Piccadilly,
Whitehall, Pall Mall, Downing Street, Lombard Street, and Bond and Regent
streets (noted for their shops). Municipal parks include Hyde Park, Kensington
Gardens, and Regent's Park. Besides the British Museum, the art galleries and
museums of London include the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery,
and the Tate Gallery. The Univ. of London is the largest in Great Britain. The
new Lloyd's building was opened in 1986. Among the more recent developments is
the Canary Wharf office complex, which is only partially completed.
History
Little is known of London prior to
A.D. 61, when, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, the followers of Queen
Boadicea rebelled and slaughtered the inhabitants of the Roman fort Londinium.
Roman authority was soon restored, and the first city walls were built,
remnants of which still exist. After the final withdrawal of the Roman legions
in the 5th cent., London was lost in obscurity. Celts, Saxons, and Danes
contested the general area, and it was not until 886 that London again emerged
as an important town under the firm control of King Alfred, who rebuilt the
defenses against the Danes and gave the city a government.
London put up some resistance to
William I in 1066, but he subsequently treated the city well. During his reign
the White Tower, the nucleus of the Tower of London, was built just east of the
city wall. Under the Normans and Plantagenets (see Great Britain), the city
grew commercially and politically and during the reign of Richard I (1189–99)
obtained a form of municipal government from which the modern City Corporation
developed. In 1215, King John granted the city the right to elect a mayor
annually.
The guilds of the Middle Ages gained
control of civic affairs and grew sufficiently strong to restrict trade to
freemen of the city. The guilds survive today in 80 livery companies, of which
members were once the voters in London's municipal elections. Medieval London
saw the foundation of the Inns of Court and the construction of Westminster
Abbey. By the 14th cent. London had become the political capital of England. It
played no active role in the Wars of the Roses (15th cent.).
In the 16th cent. many monastical
buildings were destroyed or converted to other uses by Henry VIII, who founded
several grammar schools for the poor. The reign of Elizabeth I brought London
to a level of great wealth, power, and influence as the undisputed center of
England's Renaissance culture. This was the time of Shakespeare and the
beginnings of overseas trading companies such as the Muscovy Company. With the
advent (1603) of the Stuarts to the throne, the city became involved in
struggles with the crown on behalf of its democratic privileges, culminating in
the English Civil War.
In 1665 the great plague took some
75,000 lives. A great fire in Sept., 1666, lasted five days and virtually
destroyed the city. Sir Christopher Wren played a large role in rebuilding the
city. He designed more than 51 churches, notably the rebuilt Saint Paul's
Cathedral. Much of the business as well as literary and political discussion
was transacted in coffeehouses, forerunners of the modern club. Until 1750,
when Westminster Bridge was opened, London Bridge, first built in the 10th
cent., was the only bridge to span the Thames. Since the 18th cent. several
other bridges have been constructed.
In the 19th cent. London began a
period of extraordinary growth. The area of present-day Greater London had
about 1.1 million people in 1801; by 1851 the population had increased to 2.7
million, and by 1901 to 6.6 million. During the Victorian era London acquired
tremendous prestige as the capital of the British Empire and as a cultural and
intellectual center. Britain's free political institutions and intellectual
atmosphere continued to make London a haven for persons unsafe in their own
countries. The Italian Giuseppe Mazzini, the Russian Alexander Herzen, and the
German Karl Marx were among many politically controversial figures who lived
for long periods in London.
Many buildings of central London
were completely destroyed or partially damaged in air raids during World War
II. These include the Guildhall (scene of the lord mayor's banquets and other
public functions); No. 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister's
residence; the Inns of Court; Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament;
St. George's Cathedral; and many of the great halls of the ancient livery
companies. Today there are numerous blocks of new office buildings and
districts of apartment dwellings constructed by the government authorities. The
growth of London in the 20th cent. has been extensively planned. One notable
feature has been the concept of a “Green Belt” to save certain areas from
intensive urban development.
2. Birmingham
Birmingham is the city and county
district (1991 pop. 934,900), West Midlands, central England. The city is
equidistant from Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, and London, England's main
ports, and near the Black Country iron and coal deposits; it is connected to
the Staffordshire mines by the Birmingham Canal, built in the 18th cent.
Birmingham is Britain's second-largest city (in both area and population) and
is the center of water, road, and rail transportation in the Midlands. The
chief industries are the manufacture of automobiles and bicycles and their
components and accessories. Other products include electrical equipment, paint,
guns, and a wide variety of metal products. By the 15th cent., Birmingham was a
market town with a large leather and wool trade; by the 16th cent. it was also
known for its many metalworks. In the English Civil War the town was captured
by the royalists. Birmingham's industrial development and population growth
accelerated in the 17th and 18th cent. In 1762, Matthew Boulton and James Watt
founded the Soho metalworks, where they designed and built steam engines.
Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, lived for a time in Birmingham. In
1791 a mob, incensed at his radical religious and political views, burned his
home. The town was enfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832 and was incorporated
in 1838. John Bright represented it in Parliament from 1857 to 1889. During the
1870s, while Joseph Chamberlain was mayor, Birmingham underwent a large program
of municipal improvements, including slum clearance and the development of gas
and water works. Birmingham was among the first English localities to have a
municipal bank, a comprehensive water-supply system, and development planning.
The area of the city was enlarged in 1891 and again in 1911 under the Greater
Birmingham scheme. Birmingham was severely damaged in World War II. Subsequent
rebuilding has resulted in modernization, especially of the city center.
Notable buildings include the town hall, built in 1834, modeled after the
temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome; the 18th-century baroque-style Cathedral
of St. Philip; and the 19th-century Cathedral of St. Chad, the first Roman
Catholic cathedral to be built in England after the Reformation. Bull Ring, in
the center of Birmingham, is the site of the city's oldest market. The city
library includes an excellent Shakespeare collection. There is a museum and art
gallery (noted for its pre-Raphaelite collection) and a museum of science and
industry. Annual music festivals date from 1768. In the suburb of Edgbaston are
the Univ. of Birmingham and the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a Roman Catholic
shrine that was formerly the parish house of John Henry Cardinal Newman. In the
center of the city is the Univ. of Aston.
3. Liverpool
Liverpool is the county
district (1991 pop. 448,300), Merseyside, NW England, on the Mersey River near
its mouth. It is one of Britain's largest cities. A large center for food
processing (especially flour and sugar), Liverpool has a variety of industries,
including the manufacture of electrical equipment, chemicals, and rubber. Its
first wet dock was completed by 1715; today, Liverpool's docks are more than 7 mi
(11.3 km) long. Once Britain's greatest port, Liverpool suffered extreme
setbacks with the advent of container ships, which it could not handle, and the
shift in Great Britain's trade focus from the United States to the European
Community. The city is connected by tunnel with Birkenhead across the Mersey.
Liverpool was once famous for its pottery, and its textile industry was also
prosperous; however, since World War II its cotton market has declined
considerably. In the mid-1980s, unemployment rose to 21% in the metropolitan
area, 28% in the city, and close to 60% among people under the age of 27. In
1207, King John granted Liverpool its first charter. In 1644, during the
English Civil War, Liverpool surrendered to the royalists under Prince Rupert
after several sieges. Air raids during World War II caused heavy damage and
casualties. Liverpool Cathedral, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, was
begun in 1904 and completed in 1978. A Roman Catholic cathedral was consecrated
in 1967. St. George's Hall is an imposing building in a group that includes
libraries and art galleries. The Walker Gallery has a fine collection of
Italian and Flemish paintings, as well as more modern works. The Univ. of
Liverpool was incorporated in 1903. There is a separate school of tropical
medicine. The statesman William Gladstone, the artist George Stubbs, and the
members of the musical group the Beatles were born in Liverpool.
4. Manchester
Its saw mills and
paper mills date from before the Revolutionary War. The city was also known for
its production of grandfather clocks. Among its more contemporary manufactures
are automobile parts, soap, tools, and dairy and paper products. Hartford's
Bradley International Airport is located nearby. 2 City (1990 pop. 99,567),
Hillsboro co., S N.H., on both sides of the Merrimack River; settled 1722, inc.
as a city 1846. It is the largest city in New Hampshire. Among its various
manufactures are textiles, shoes, and electrical and electronic products. The
Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack provided power for the first textile mills. In
1838 textile interests founded the city and established a huge
textile-manufacturing company. Until the depression of the 1930s and the moving
of much of the textile industry to the south, Manchester was heavily dependent
on this industry. The city is the seat of St. Anselm's College and the Currier
Gallery of Art. John Stark lived and is buried in Manchester. A state park and
a number of ski areas are in the vicinity.
II Sight of London
1.
Westminster
Palace or Houses of Parliament
Westminster Palace
or Houses of Parliament is in Westminster, London. The present enormous
structure, of Neo-Gothic design, was built (1840–60) by Sir Charles Barry to
replace an aggregation of ancient buildings almost completely destroyed by fire
in 1834. The complex served as a royal abode until the 16th cent., when it was
adopted as the assembly place for the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The Great Hall was built by William II at the end of the 11th cent. The
superbly constructed hammer-beam roof spanning its width of 68 ft. (20.7 m),
part of a subsequent rebuilding of the hall by Richard II, was the finest
extant example of medieval open-timber work; it was burned by incendiary bombs
in 1941. Westminster Hall was the only portion of the palace to survive intact
from the fire of 1834 and now serves as the entrance of the building. In it the
House of Lords, sitting as the highest English court of law, met for centuries.
Among the numerous events of historic renown enacted there were the deposition
of Richard II, the sentencing of Charles I, and the trials of Sir Thomas More
and Warren Hastings. Damage inflicted during air raids during World War II has
since been completely repaired.
2. Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
is th eresidence of British sovereigns from 1837, Westminster
metropolitan borough, London, England, adjacent to St. James's Park. Built
(1703) by the duke of Buckingham, it was purchased (1761) by George III and was
remodeled (1825) by John Nash; the eastern facade was added in 1847. The great
ballroom was added in 1856, and in 1913 Sir Aston Webb designed a new front.
The palace has nearly 600 rooms and contains a collection of paintings,
including many royal portraits, by noted artists.
3. Saint James's Palace
Saint James's Palace is in Westminster, London, England, on St. James's Street and
fronting on Pall Mall. Henry VIII built the palace and established the park
around it. It was the London royal residence after the burning of Whitehall in
1697 until the time of Queen Victoria. Although the palace is now seldom used
except for certain ceremonials, the British court is still designated as the
Court of St. James.
4. National
Gallery
London, one of the
permanent national art collections of Great Britain. Its building, in Greek
style, stands in Trafalgar Square. It was designed and erected (1832–38) by
William Wilkins and was shared for 30 years with the Royal Academy of Arts. In
1876 a new wing was added, designed by E. M. Barry. The nucleus of the
collection was formed in 1824 with 38 pictures from J. J. Angerstein's
collection. The gallery is rich in Italian paintings of the 15th and 16th cent.
and has fine collections of French, Flemish, and Dutch masters. The National
Portrait Gallery, whose collection dates from 1858, has adjoined the National
Gallery since 1896. Originally controlled by the National Gallery, the Tate
Gallery attained complete independence in 1955 by an act of Parliament. An
extension designed by Robert Venturi was completed in the early 1990s.
5. Hyde Park
This is 615 acres (249 hectares) in
Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old
Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. Races were
held there in the 17th cent. In 1730, Queen Caroline had the artificial lake,
the Serpentine, constructed. It curves diagonally through Hyde Park; in
Kensington Gardens the lake is called the Long Water. Distinctive features of
the park are Hyde Park Corner (near the Marble Arch), the meeting place of
soapbox orators, and Rotten Row, a famous bridle path.
III Kazakhstan
1. Astana - The
new capital
Other names for
Astana include Akmola, Aqmola, Tselinograd and Akmolinsk. This city was
originally founded as a fortress in 1824 and named Akmolinsk. It was renamed
Tselinograd (Russian for Virgin City) during the rule of Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev. The main reason for this name change was to promote more permanent
agriculture in Northern Kazakstan during the Virgin Lands Program. The cities
name was again changed in 1991 to Aqmola, when Kazakstan gained it's freedom.
Because the name Aqmola sounded too much like "White Grave",
Nazerbayev changed the name to Astana (literally "Capital") in 1998.
Astana has been an important rail junction in Northern Kazakstan. It is located
along the Ishim River and they produce agricultural machinery, chemicals and
has meat-packing plants. Due to it's location in Northern Kazakstan, there is
speculation, that has been officially denied, that the reason for the move of
the capital to the north is to exert a more Kazak influence on the more
russified Northern Kazakstan.
2. Almaty - The ”City of apples”
The “City of Apples,” Kazakhstan’s
capital of Almaty -- a.k.a. Alma-Ata, from 1922-1991 -- is a thoroughly Russian
city, from its foundation back in 1854, as an imperial frontier outpost, to its
decidedly orderly Soviet-style architecture and street plan.
Situated near the Kyrgyzstan border
at the foot of the Tian Shan ("the mountains of heaven"), a
magnificent range connected with the Himalayas, Almaty is a popular destination
for skiers, climbers and other mountain sports enthusiasts.
Almaty is also renowned for its
orchards, and it is indeed a city of trees, with wide boulevards lined with
leafy guardians. It’s a big city, sprawling out over some 12.5 miles. Populated
by about 1.5 million residents (Kazakhstan’s total population is around 16
million), most of whom speak Russian, Almaty’s growth has been exponential in
this century, especially after the Turk-Sib Railway was completed in 1930. That
event catapulted the population from 46,000 in 1926 to more than 220,000 in
1939.
Unlike many cities in Central Asia,
Almaty itself does not have a long history. It has the look of a new city, at
least in part thanks to a pair of earthquakes which twice leveled it -- first
in 1887 and again in 1911, leaving little standing. The city was originally
known as Verny, though its name was changed to Alma-Ata in 1921, then shortened
to Almaty after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
But the city’s site has a smoother
history -- an early Silk Road oasis, Almatu, destroyed by the Mongols, once
stood in the area where Almaty was founded. Today’s Almaty reflects some of its
trading roots. As a modern city seen as a crossroads between East and West, it
bustles with trading consortiums and businesses seeking to bridge the
continental gap. The city also boasts several important museums, including the
State Museum of the Arts, which showcases Kazak artworks, and the Museum of
Kazak Musical Instruments, featuring harmoniously exhibited displays of
traditional music-makers such as bagpipes, the three-stringed
"kobiz," and wooden harps.
3. Semy - Nuclear zone
Another name for
Semy has been Semipalatinsk. Semey was originally established as a fortress in
1718 in a location close by it's current location. In 1778 it was moved to it's
current location along the Irtysh River. Semey is perhaps best known for the
nuclear testing that was done nearby. This was the major nuclear testing sight
for the Soviet Union. Much of the testing was done above ground, causing the
spread of radiation throughout the area. Reservoirs were even made using a
nuclear explosion to provide water for the residents. Over 470 nuclear bombs
were exploded here between 1949 and 1989. Semey is only 93 miles (150 km) from
where most of the testing occurred. Because of the lack of environmental
concerns, many of the citizens of Semey suffer some form of radiation
poisoning.
4. Baykonur - Space center
Other ways Baykonur is known is
Baikonur, Leninsk, or Tyuratam. Baykonur has long been known as a place upon
where the Soviets' heroes left this earth and became the first in space. It is
from this launching point in central Kazakstan that Sputnik was launched in
October 4, 1957. It is also from here that the first person to orbit the earth,
Yuri Gagarin, started the "Space Race" with the United
States.Baykonur has been the foundation of the Soviet space program. While
there were two other launching pads, Plesetsk (Northern Russia) and Kasputin
(Central Russia) , this was the primary launching point for manned missions.
Currently, Russia has agreed to lease Baykonur from the independent country of
Kazakstan for 20 years at $115 million in annual rent.
5. Atyrai - Caviar capital
Other names for
Atyrai include Atyraü and Guryev. This city was founded as a Russian
military base on the east bank of the Ural River in 1645. It has grown to
expand on both sides of the river, leaving half of the city in Europe and the
other half in Russia. Today, it is known for its oil refineries (from the rich
oil deposits in the Caspian Sea) and for providing much of the caviar for the
former Soviet Union.
6. Aqtau - Jewel of the Caspian Sea
Another name for
Aqtau was Shevkenko. Aqtau did not begin it's existence until 1963. I was
originally built as a "Soviet Model" of how cities should be built.
It has wide, straight streets and sandy beaches. It was called Shevkenko for
awhile because of a poet who was exiled there as a political prisoner. Aqtau
means "white mountain" in Kazak, so named after the vast, flat
steppes surrounding the city! It has become somewhat of a tourist location
because of it's location along the Caspian Sea. Just don't plan on taking a
bath while you are there as the water comes out of the tap brown. Currently,
there is very little industry still in Aqtau. The main industry is oil. A few
foreign oil companies have established offices in Aqtau as they extract oil
from the steppe of Mangistau Oblast. It is far from any other cities with few
ways to travel to them. Most of the cities supplies are freighted in by air.
7. Kyzl Orda - The heart of Kazakhstan
Other names for
Kyzl Orda include Qyzylorda, Ak-Mechet and Perovsk. Kyzl Orda is a truly
Kazakstan city. It was originally founded as the far western fortress Ak-Mechet
for the Kokand khanate (state). In 1853, Russian forces took it over and
renamed it Perovsk. From 1925 until 1929, Kyzl Orda was the capital of the
Kazak Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR).
Today, Kyzl Orda is
the capital of the Kyzl Orda Oblast (or state). Located along the Syrdariya
River, it is a fertile rice growing area. Unlike many of the other areas along
the Syrdariya, they are unable to grow cotton because of their northern
latitude. The climate of Kyzl Orda has also under gone a change since the
Soviets took power. Talking to Kazaks who have lived there for many years, they
have noticed that the winters are colder and the summers hotter. Much of this
may be attributable to the shrinking of the Aral Sea.
Of the cities in
Kazakstan, Kyzl Orda is one of the most Kazak cities. Over 90% of the
population speaks Kazak as the mother tongue and it is one of the few large
cities in Kazakstan that one can get around in using only Kazak.