Kostanay

Kostanay or Qostanai (Kazakh: Қостанай; Qostanai (listenⓘ), Russian: Костанай) is a city located on the Tobol River in northern Kazakhstan. Kostanay is the administrative center of the Kostanay Region. As of 24 March 2022, the city's governor is Marat Zhundubayev.[2] Kostanay was founded by Russian settlers in 1879 and named Nikolaevsk, in honor of Tsar Nicholas II.[3] In 1888, the town had more than 3,000 inhabitants involved in the building of a mill and a brewery, which are still operational. In 1893, Kustanay was granted city status. The Red Army took control in 1918 and changed the city's name to Kustanay. The Kustanay Region was established in 1936 with its administrative center in Kustanay. Six years after fall of Soviet Union, Kazakhstan renamed it to Kostanay. In 2009, the city population was 214,916 (2009 Census results).[4] The city is located in the steppe zone in the north of the Turgay plateau, in the south-eastern part of the West Siberian Plain, on the Tobol River, 571 km north-west of Astana city (704 km along the highway). The nearest city with at least a million inhabitants is Chelyabinsk in Russia, located 260 km north-west of Kostanay.