Kokshetau

• Koks­he­tau po­pula­ti­on — 125,200 (2007);
• Koks­he­tau pho­ne co­de — +7–7162;
• Koks­he­tau pos­tal co­de — 020000.

Koks­he­tau, al­so spel­led Kok­ce­tav, is a ci­ty and ad­mi­nist­ra­tive cent­re of Ak­mo­la re­gi­on of Ka­zakh­stan. Koks­he­tau li­es along the so­ut­hern ed­ge of the Is­him Step­pe of Ka­zakh­stan. Koks­he­tau ori­gin of na­me is from ka­zakh word «koks­he­tau» which me­ans «sky-co­lored mo­un­ta­in». Koks­he­tau was fo­un­ded in 1824 as an ad­mi­nist­ra­tive out­post when the Rus­si­ans ex­tended the­ir cont­rol over the Ka­zakhs.

Koks­he­tau be­came a dist­rict ad­mi­nist­ra­tive cent­re in 1868 and an ob­last cent­re in 1944, but Koks­he­tau gre­atest ex­pansi­on oc­curred in the 1960s fol­lo­wing the cam­pa­ign to open vir­gin lands in Ka­zakh­stan to ag­ri­cul­tu­re and the cons­truc­ti­on of im­portant new fac­to­ri­es in the re­gi­on. Koks­he­tau is now a subs­tan­ti­al in­dust­ri­al cen­ter and the junc­ti­on of the Trans-Ka­zakh­stan and Midd­le Si­beri­an ra­il­wa­ys.