Ekibastuz
Ekibastus ( Kazakh Екібастұз / Ekibastus; Russian Экибастуз / Ekibastus ) is a city in Kazakhstan.
Naming
The following legend explains how the town got its name:
A shepherd was built in the steppe his camp and put two dark stones together to create between them to make the fire pit. He did not know that there were two pieces of coal, which began to glow. In the morning he then marked the spot where he found these miracle stones, with two head-shaped salt stones. At this point then arose Ekibastus. Therefore Ekibastus says: eki = two, bas = head, status = salt.
Geographical Location
The city is located southwest of the regional center in Pavlodar Pavlodar region.
Population
In 2012 lived in Ekibastus 128 980 inhabitants. In the agglomeration 146 839 inhabitants.
Ethnic composition
The census from 1 January 2010 resulted in a following ethnic composition:
- 49.60 % Kazakhs
- 36.01 % Russians
- 4.79% Ukrainians
- 2.80% Tatars
- 2.14% Kasachstandeutsche
- 0.85% Belarusians
- 0.46% Bashkirs
- 0.43% Moldavians
- 0.25 % Korean
- 0.22% Chechens
- 0.22% Poland
- 1.61 % Other
Religions
Ekibastus is characterized by denominational diversity. In the city of 17 different religious communities are represented.
The dominant religion is Sunni Islam, the majority belong to the Kazakhs. The Sunni Muslims have in the city on the seven churches. A mosque was opened in September 1998.
The Russian Orthodox Church has in Ekibastus of a cathedral, which was built in the 1990s. The inauguration of the Cathedral took place on 21 September 2000.
In addition, there are also Roman Catholic and Protestant communities.
History
The town was founded in 1898. 1957 got Ekibastus granted town rights, after the population had grown to over 25,000. In Stock Ekibastus Alexander Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned, where his story A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was created.
Economy
The city was built next to one of the largest coal reserves in the world. The coal mining is the main economic activity of the city. In Ekibastus the Kazakh coal mining companies Bogatyr Komir is headquartered. It operates two large coal opencast mine near the town.
Near Ekibastus is the power plant Ekibastus, one of the world's biggest power stations, with the highest chimney of the earth ( 419.7 m). The electricity generated is dissipated through the three-phase line Ekibastus - Kokshetau - the high-voltage line with the highest transmission voltage in the world ( 1150 kV).
Infrastructure
It has a branch of the State University of Pavlodar, a cultural center with modern cinema, a bazaar, a mosque and an Orthodox church and a domestic airport ( IATA code EKB).
Popular recreation of the inhabitants of Ekibastus is not far distant nature park Bayanaul - a small mountain with bizarre rock formations and picturesque lakes.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Tatjana Asarowa ( born 1985 ), athlete
- Dmitri Schomko (* 1990), football player