Astana became Kazakhstan’s capital again in 2022 after briefly being called Nur-Sultan.
The city was known as Astana from 1998 until 2019, when Kazakhstan renamed it Nur-Sultan in honour of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first president. In September 2022, Kazakhstan restored the name Astana. The word astana means “capital” in Kazakh.
Astana became Kazakhstan’s capital in 1997, replacing Almaty. The move shifted the political centre toward the country’s north-central steppe and supported the development of a purpose-built administrative city. Astana is known for bold modern architecture, including the Baiterek monument and the tent-shaped Khan Shatyr complex.
Almaty remains Kazakhstan’s largest city and an important cultural and economic centre, which often causes confusion in capital-city quizzes. Astana’s severe continental climate also makes it one of the world’s coldest national capitals.