Founded in 1830 in the center north of the country as the settlement of Akmola, this city (pop. 1.4 million) was chosen in 1997 because the location of previous capital (and still largest city) Almaty, in Kazakhstan's southeast corner, is too susceptible to earthquakes and too close to the border with China; in addition, the idea was to boost the economy of and spread the national wealth a bit more to the more northerly regions. Since then, this mostly planned city has become arguably Central Asia's most modern.

Read more in Tripatini member Tim Salivan's post Kazakhstan, the Rough Diamond.