Taldykorgan (Kazakh: Талдықорған, Taldyqorğan; Russian: Талдыкорган) is a city in Kazakhstan. It is the capital (main city) of the Jetisu Region.
About 143,000 people live in Taldykorgan.
The city was first a small village called Gavrilovka in the 19th century. It grew slowly at first. When the railway was built, more Russian farmers came to live there. Today, Kazakhs are the biggest group in the city, and Russians are the second biggest. People from about 70 different nationalities live in Taldykorgan.
Taldykorgan was the capital of Taldykorgan Region from 1944 to 1997. Then it was the capital of Almaty Region from 1997 to 2022. In 2022, the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said Taldykorgan would be the capital of the new Jetisu Region. This became official on 8 June 2022. At the same time, the capital of Almaty Region was moved to the city of Qonaev.
During World War II, many people from the west of the Soviet Union came to Taldykorgan. Many women and children from southern Ukraine, including many Jewish people from Odessa, traveled by ship to Novorossiysk and then by train to places like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to be safe.
Facilities
Taldykorgan has many places for education. There is a university, some institutes, technical colleges, secondary schools, and kindergartens.
The city also has 27 public health centers, a cinema, a theatre, libraries, amusement parks, a stadium, a sports complex, and swimming pools. Some of these places have not been well cared for since the end of the Soviet Union.
Demographics
According to the 2010 Kazakh Census, the people in Taldykorgan belong to these ethnic groups:
Ethnicity
Population
Percentage of Population
Kazakhs
93,156
64.96%
Russians
36,532
25.47%
Koreans
5,172
3.61%
Tatars
2,783
1.94%
Germans
1,581
1.10%
Ukrainians
1,071
0.75%
Uyghurs
962
0.67%
Chechens
354
0.25%
Uzbeks
302
0.21%
Belarusians
177
0.12%
Azerbaijanis
130
0.09%
Poles
123
0.09%
Kyrgyz
102
0.07%
Other/Unknown
962
0.67%
Total
143,407
100%
Climate
Taldykorgan has a hot, dry-summer continental climate (Dfa in the Köppen system). Most rain falls in spring and autumn. Winter and summer are usually dry.
The average yearly temperature is 7.7 °C (45.9 °F). The city gets about 370 mm (14.6 in) of rain each year.
