Taskala or Kamenka is a small town in north-western Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 on the border with Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It is the seat of Taskala District

Taskala District

Taskala is a district of West Kazakhstan Province in western Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the town of Kamenka.-References:...

 in West Kazakhstan Province

West Kazakhstan Province

West Kazakhstan Province is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Oral , a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.-Geography:...

. Population 6,800 (1998).

Geography

The town is located in north-western part of West Kazakhstan region on the Derkul River (tributary of the Chagan River) at a distance of 80 km from the city of Oral

Oral, Kazakhstan

Oral , Uralsk in Russian, formerly known as Yaitsk , is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 350,000...

 (Uralsk). Surrounding villages includes Kuznetsova (5 km), and Aktau.

The climate is sharply continental with dry, hot summers and snowy, cold winters. The town is situated on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe with mostly flat grassland and rolling hills.

History

In 1925, archaeologist P. Rykov (1884–1942) lead an excavation in the town and discovered burial grounds with gold ornaments. Based on the evidence from this excavation, it seems likely that the area has been inhabited since the second to fourth century BCE.

In the 19th century the town was populated by Cossacks.

Economy

In the town there are a number of companies. There is a notable asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 plant and mill and other facilities in the area.

Public institutions include the KGKP District Hospital, TB hospital, two Kazakh schools and one Russian school, music school, nursery school, technical college, and a district library and cultural and sports complex.
Computerization of schools is at 100%, with access to the Internet in all four schools. The computers subscribe to JSC run by Kazakh Telecom with access to high-speed Internet Megaline. Some homes have cable television installed, operating from a base station operator, Beeline.

Transport

The town is centred on the railway, built in 1894. In the center of town is the railway station and there are regular passengers transporting by rail to the old capital of Kazakhstan, the city of Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, the capital of Russia, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, and the capital of Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. In 2004, the building of the railway station was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in a year.