Eastern Ring

Eastern Kazakhstan history is the book one can read completely absorbed. Even native people living here constantly will be surprised and amazed at the discoveries they can make while devouring its pages. We are happy to open some of its mysterious pages for you.

When you look at some remarkable parts of the planet, you can’t but be amazed at how rich and generous the land given to us by our fate’s will is. Undoubtedly, we must be proud of living here.

In 1720 Ust-Kamennaya fortress was founded by Peter the Great’s order at the edge of stony mountains, where the blue-eyed river Ulba flows into the Irtysh greenish water. Later, it grew into Ust-Kamenogorsk, the largest city of Eastern Kazakhstan. The place for it was chosen at random. It has always been a treasure store. The Area is not only rich in its deposits, but also in its various plants and wild life. After visiting Ust- Kamenogorsk some foreigners called it a wonder-city: it is not a secret that not everyone can boast of living at a two big rivers’ juncture.

Some time later, in 1786, a mining engineer Philip Rider sent his letter to a mining expedition. According to it, a new mine has been discovered. It was then that Ridder, a mysterious and unique city, appeared. Now it proudly lies in the huge mountain hands under the shelter of spruce-trees, fir-trees, and cedars. All the rivers, springs, and taiga there are preserved quite the same as they were ages ago. It is there that the first Altai silver was mined. It was used to make legendary Russian Prince Alexander Nevsky’s tomb, which is now kept at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

The town of Zyryanovsk is another unrepeatable place rich in mining ore. It was named after a thoughtful and intelligent deposit searcher Zyryanov who in 1791 discovered non-ferrous ore deposits in the Bukhtarma valley for which he got an Emperor court’s award that could be inherited by his heirs. At present mining industry involvs not only local people, but also the world famous industrial magnates. Kazakhstan largest plants ‘UMZ’,’Kazzink’,’AES’and many others have joint ventures with enterprises from the USA, Sweden, England, Ireland… With all those who can realize how valuable our region is.

Actually, it has not discovered all its mysteries and treasures yet. A small town of Serebryansk will amaze you with its charm. It was founded when the Bukhtarma Power Station was being constructed. The town is quite hospitable. Every day it receives lots of tourists who came there to have a good rest and enjoy the view of an unusually beautiful ‘hand made sea’.

We invite you to make an exiting trip by ‘Vostochnoye Koltso’ to the parts where modern plants towering their chimneys high into the sky border untouched beauty of nature. You may get a feeling of this unique land and visit its abandoned mines that haven’t been used for ages. Such is Vostochnoye Koltso, the road connecting scattered towns of Eastern Kazakhstan with each other, once built for just 42 days.

• Match English and Russian equivalents:

1. to be surprised and amazed 1. горный инженер

2. mysterious page 2. неповторимое местечко

3. at the edge of stony mountains 3. слияние великих рек

4. big rivers’ juncture 4. рудоискатель

5. a mining engineer 5. у устья каменных гор

6. unrepeatable place 6. загадочная страница

7. deposit searcher 7. быть удивленным и пораженным

• Translate into English:

1. Глядя на эти незабываемые уголки планеты, удивляешься, насколько богаты и щедры наши земли.

2. В 1720 году в устье каменных гор была заложена крепость Усть-Каменная.

3. Чужестранцы, посетив Усть-Каменогорск, называют его чудо-городом.

4. Сегодня в рудодобывающей промышленности задействованы не только коренные, но и известные мировые магнаты.