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- Also spelled:
- Aktobe
- Formerly:
- Aktyubinsk
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Aqtöbe
Monument commemorating World War II veterans, Aqtöbe (Aktobe), Kazakhstan.
Aqtöbe
Kazakhstan
Also known as: Aktyubinsk
Aqtöbe, city, northwestern Kazakhstan, on the Ilek River. It was founded in 1869 as Aktyube (“White Hill”), a small Russian fort; the first Russian peasant settlers arrived in 1878. In 1891 it became the capital of an uyezd (canton) and in 1932 of an oblysy (region). During World War II a ferroalloys plant was built to smelt the nickel and chromium ores of the Mughalzhar (Mugodzhar) Hills. Now an important industrial centre, Aqtöbe produces chromium compounds, X-ray apparatus, and parts for agricultural machinery and has stockyards and flour mills. Cultural assets include a teacher-training and a medical institute, a theatre, several museums, and a planetarium. Pop. (2009) 345,687; (2021 est.) 512,452.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Zeidan.
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